STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – Freshman
Yannick Zellweger picked up his second consecutive podium finish, and the Denver Pioneers ski team is in the hunt for the overall meet title going into the final day of the Spencer James Nelson Colorado Invitational.
Denver combined for four top-10 placements and had seven skiers inside the top 15 on Friday in the Nordic 20-kilometer freestyle mass start race at Howelsen Hill Ski Area. Denver tied with host CU for the second-most points on the day with 146 points and are just nine points back of the Buffaloes going into the 7.5K classic on Saturday.
Two other DU freshmen registered top-10 finishes with
Synne Bollingmo coming in sixth and
Ruby Serrouya placing seventh in the women's race, and senior
Krystof Zatloukal recording his second consecutive men's top 10 in 10th.
"It was one of the toughest days of racing we've ever had in Colorado, but I'm so proud and impressed with our group and everyone's results today," said Denver Head Nordic Skiing Coach
Eliska Albrightsen. "They fought through super wet and deep snow conditions and warm weather with flat light. The team was so tough and battled through the eight laps on an extremely hilly course. Great fight from Yannick as he led the pack for several laps, and super impressed with Synne and Ruby—two freshmen that don't have a lot of 20K races under their belt but put together impressive performances."
After winning the 7.5K freestyle interval start last Sunday at the Denver Invitational, Zellweger finished Friday's distance event in 57:11.8 and was within eight seconds off the lead. Utah's Zachary Jayne (57:03.8) won a sprint to the finish over Simon Chappaz of Montana State (57:04.7).
Joining Zellweger and Zatloukal as Denver's men's scorers was sophomore
Eemil Juntunen, who came in 15th. Senior
Micah Steinberg did not finish while sophomore
Joe Graziadei and graduate student
Sondre Oestervold didn't start the 20K.
Bollingmo (1:11:28.9) and Serrouya (1:11:29.3) crossed the finish line at nearly the same time, with Bollingmo edging her fellow rookie teammate by just four-tenths of a second. Sophomore
Anna Stewart was the third scorer for the DU women in 12th and senior
Eve-Ondine Duchaufour was 14th. Junior
Maja Moland and frosh
Estelle Darbellay came in 20th and 23rd, respectively.
Utah finished with three women in the top five and five in the top 10, but Erica Laven (1:06:51.9) was the only Utes skier on the podium as she snagged her fifth individual win of the season in as many races. The other two podium spots were taken by Buffaloes with Nina Schamberger in second and Tilde Baangman in third.
Utah finished with the most points on the day with 154 but is in third place in the overall meet standings with 454 points, 39 behind second-place Denver.
UP NEXT: The Colorado Invitational concludes on Saturday morning with the Nordick 7.5K classical at Howelsen Hill Ski Area. The women get the interval start race going at 9:30 a.m. MT while the men hit the trails beginning at 10:30 a.m.
DENVER MEN 20K FREESTYLE INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
3.
Yannick Zellweger, 57:11.8
10.
Krystof Zatloukal, 58:07.8
15.
Eemil Juntunen, 59:03.4
DNF:
Micah Steinberg
DNS:
Joe Graziadei,
Sondre Oestervold
DENVER WOMEN 20K FREESTYLE INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
6.
Synne Bollingmo, 1:11:28.9
7.
Ruby Serrouya, 1:11:29.3
12.
Anna Stewart, 1:12:41.6
14.
Eve-Ondine Duchaufour, 1:15:33.6
20.
Maja Moland, 1:18.34.8
23.
Estelle Darbellay, 1:19:01.9
TEAM STANDINGS (through 6-of-8 events): 1. Colorado 502;
2. Denver 493; 3. Utah 454; 4. Montana State 338.5; 5. Alaska Anchorage 305; 6. Nevada 207.5; 7. Westminster 136; 8. Colorado Mountain College 120; 9. Alaska Fairbanks 97
MEN'S 20K FREESTYLE TOP 10 (24 finishers): 1. Zachary Jayne, UU, 57:03.8; 2. Simon Chappaz, MSU, 57:04.7;
3. Yannick Zellweger, DU, 57:11.8; 4. Philipp Moosmayer, UAF, 57:27.6; 5. Corbin Carpenter, UAA, 57:41.7; 6. Gavin Galyardt, MSU, 57:42.1; 7. Matyas Pavek, UAF, 57:55.1; 8. Blake Hanley, UAF, 57:58.4; 9. Erling Bjoernstad, UAA, 58:07.2;
10. Krystof Zatloukal, DU, 58:07.8.
WOMEN'S 20K FREESTYLE TOP 10 (25 finishers): 1. Erica Laven, UU, 1:08:36.3; 2. Nina Schamberger, CU, 1:08:36.3; 3. Tilde Baangman, CU, 1:09:36.7; 4. Witta-Luisa Walcher, UU, 1:09:49.6; 5. Sofia Pedersen, UU, 1:11:28.7;
6. Synne Bollingmo, DU, 1:11:28.9; 7. Ruby Serrouya, DU, 1:11:29.3; 8. Astri Lunde, CU, 1:11:29.7; 9. Ally Wheeler, UU, 1:11::47.5; 10.
Selma Andersen, UU, 1:12:26.6.
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