Skiers dominate 3-day Rocky Mountain Championships

The Colorado ski team increased their lead throughout the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Championships in Bozeman, Montana over the weekend and went home with a decisive 905.5-point victory.

On Friday, the women’s team swept the 5-kilometer classic Nordic race with senior Joanne Reid in first place at 16:35.9, senior Eliska Hajkova in second place at 16:45.5 and freshman Maria Nordstroem at 16:51.9.

This marked the first time in school history that a women’s Nordic team has finished with a 1-2-3 sweep in any event since the addition of women’s skiing in 1983. And they didn’t stop there.

The women snagged their second straight 1-2-3 sweep in the 15-kilometer race on Saturday with Hajkova coming in at first, Reid at second and Nordstroem at third.

After her phenomenal performance in the 5K race and in turn her eighth win in nine races, Reid was recognized as the Rocky Mountain Women’s Nordic Most Valuable Skier.

At the end of the first day, the women’s team won by a margin of 141-90, largely in thanks to their 5K Nordic sweep.  Utah claimed the men’s 10-kilometer race with a score of 125, only 11 points over the Buffs men’s team, who finished Friday with 114.

The Buffs finished the first day with 255 points to Utah’s 215 and widened that 40-point lead to 86 the second day, finishing Saturday with 711 points.

Utah’s men’s team claimed the second-day victory  for the 20-kilometer race after four of their skiers placed in the top five with the exception of CU’s junior Rune Oedegaard, who finished second.

After a difficult giant slalom challenge, the men’s team had two skiers finish in the top ten with junior Andreas Haug taking fifth place at 1:39.47 and freshman Cameron Smith taking eighth in 1:39.80.  First place went to New Mexico’s Christopher Acosta, who finished in 1:38.39.

The women achieved a similar feat in their giant slalom race with freshman Brooke Wales coming in fourth place at 1:40.75 and freshman Jessica Honkonen coming in at ninth with 1:41.65.  The race marked the fourth time that Wales has finished in the top five this season and the eighth time that Honkonen has finished in the top ten.

Although Sunday’s races didn’t go as smoothly for the Buffs, they managed to take advantage of Saturday’s 86-point cushion to pull out a win at the meet, scoring 905.5 points overall.

The men’s slalom team finished with two skiers in the top ten with Haug in seventh at 1:51.32 and with Smith in tenth at 1:51.54.

Honkonen led the women’s slalom race for CU after finishing in fourth place at 1:39.35 followed by freshman Thea Grosvold, who came in ninth at 1:40.68.

This victory marked the 12th time in coach Richard Rokos’ 23-year career at CU that the team has won the Rocky Mountain Championships. Under Rokos, the Buffs have won 60 of 139 meets, including six NCAA titles, and have come in second place 45 times.

Contact CU Independent staff writer Alissa Noe at alissa.noe@colorado.edu.