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| [h=1]Reid Wins Fourth Straight Race; Buffs Second At UNM[/h] Release: 02/02/2013 Courtesy: Curtis Snyder, Associate SID | ||||||
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| RED RIVER, N.M. – Senior Joanne Reid won her fourth consecutive race and fifth of the season, this time earning medalist honors in the 10K freestyle race here Saturday at the Enchanted Forest Cross Country Ski Area as part of the 2013 New Mexico Invitational. The Buffs remain in second behind Utah at the mid-point of the meet. Much like Friday’s classical races, the Utes won the men’s race while the CU women won its race. Utah holds a 27-point advantage over Colorado, which then holds a 27-point advantage over third place Denver (457-430-403). Montana State is fourth with 372 points while host New Mexico is tied with Alaska Anchorage in fifth place with 350 points. “Overall, I thought it was an average kind of day, other than Joanne, nothing spectacular,” CU Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer said. “Eliska (Hajkova) fought back hard to finish fifth and Rune (Oedegaard) had fewer technical issues today, so that was good. “Utah is obviously in top form on the Nordic side. It’s been Denver who we’ve battled with the first two meets so we’ll see how these two meets bunched up here play out. In the end, we are still doing a lot of volume training right now with the thought of being in top form near the end of the month for NCAA Championships and Regionals, and not right now.” On the women’s side, it was the closest race of the season, as Reid won in a time of 28:37.9, just 2.6 seconds ahead of Alaska Anchorage’s Marine Dusser (28:40.5). Those two beat the rest of the field by more than a minute, as Utah’s Rose Kemp (29:40.6) beat out Denver’s Makayla Cappel (29:40.7) for the final podium spot and Hajkova finished fifth in a time of 29:52.7 as the only five skiers to beat the half-hour mark. “I felt like Marine and I were going back and forth the whole race,” Reid said. “We were splitting very evenly the whole race. I don’t know if it was because I went a little crazy on the last hill or if it was because the splits maybe weren’t perfect that made the difference. I feel like we both gave our all and maybe today I just had a little more.” Reid’s four consecutive wins matches the longest streak of victories for a CU skier since Matt Gelso won five straight near the end of the 2010 season, and it’s the most for a women’s skier since Maria Grevsgaard won four straight in the middle of the 2009 season. Reid has now swept the races at two straight meets, the first time that’s happened on the women’s side since Grevsgaard accomplished that feat twice in the 2008 season when she won 11 out of 12 races on the season. Reid’s five wins on the season puts her into a tie for 10th most in a season since skiing went co-ed in 1983. In those 30 seasons, she is just the 14th skier to win five or more races in a season, a feat accomplished most recently by Rune Oedegaard last season. She now has seven career wins and 15 career podium appearances. As a women’s Nordic team, the Buffs have now won all six races on the season to go with 11 podium appearances (out of 18), 13 top five finishes and 19 top 10 finishes from its four skiers. Hajkova’s fifth-place finish gives her three straight and is her 30th career top five finish in 42 career races. Freshman Maria Nordstrom, who fell and injured her shoulder in Friday’s freestyle race, Saturday finished 18th in a time of 31:26.8. Senior Mary Rose did not make the trip to New Mexico as she is recovering from illness. “Maria wasn’t 100 percent,” Cranmer said. “She was a little sore, and given the fact she’s still figuring out how to race at altitude, she did fine. We do nothing but go lower and lower for the rest of the season so that’s good for her.” On the men’s side, Oedegaard rebounded after a frustrating race Friday to earn another podium appearance, finishing third in a time of 25:30.6, behind a pair of Utah skiers. Oedegaard now has five podium appearances in six races this season and now has 15 podium appearances in 18 career races. Freshman Michael Vigers finished 13th in a time of 26:42.7, just ahead of senior Ian Mallams, who took 14th in a time of 26:55.4. Junior Andreas Hoye finished 16th in a time of 27:13.8 while sophomore Arnaud Du Pasquier finished 18th in a time of 27:22.1 and freshman Charlie Von Thaden give the Buffs six top 20 finishes, taking 19th in a time of 27:23.0. Freshman Gustav Nordstroem, who had a break-through fifth place finish, did not race. “We’re maybe still waiting for a couple of guys to break through,” Cranmer said. “Gustav could’ve gone if it was more important of a race. I’d love to have had him in there, but I didn’t think it was worth the risk to push him today when he wasn’t feeling strong. We turn around and leave Wednesday, so I’d rather see him healthier at Soldier Hollow and Montana for qualification purposes.” Cranmer also hopes to have senior Mary Rose back for the Utah races later this week. “Mary was definitely sick with the flu, the actual flu and not just a cold. I hope she can go, she’s been working hard to get better.” The action now returns to the alpine side with the start of the Utah Invitational at Loveland Ski Resort on Wednesday and Thursday and will then make a quick trip here to close out the New Mexico Invitational with slalom races on Saturday and Sunday. The Nordic teams, meanwhile, head to Midway, Utah, where they will compete in the Utah Invitational Friday and Saturday. New Mexico Invitational Team Scores (through four of eight events)—1. Utah 457; 2. Colorado 430; 3. Denver 403; 4. Montana State 372; 5. New Mexico & Alaska Anchorage 350; 7. Wyoming 204. Men’s 10K Freestyle (28 collegiate finishers)- 1. Miles Havlick, UU, 24:17.7; 2. Einar Ulsund, UU, 25:24.2; 3. Rune Oedegaard, CU, 25:30.6; 4. Lukas Ebner, UAA, 25:47.9; 5. Tyler Reinking, MSU, 25:48.2; 6. Andrew Dougherty, DU, 25:52.7; 7. Mats Reasland, UNM, 26:00.3; 8. Niklas Persson, UU, 26:02.7; 9. Noe Bellet, UU, 26:02.8; 10. Pat Madden, MSU, 26:05.8. Other CU Finishers: 13. Michael Vigers, 26:42.7; 14. Ian Mallams, 26:55.4; 16. Andreas Hoye, 27:13.8; 18. Arnaud Du Pasquier, 27:22.1; 19. Charlie Von Thaden, 27:23.0. Women’s 10K Freestyle (28 collegiate finishers)- 1. Joanne Reid, CU, 28:37.8; 2. Marine Dusser, UAA, 28:40.5; 3. Rose Kemp, UU, 29:40.6; 4. Makayla Cappel, DU, 29:40.7; 5. Eliska Hajkova, CU, 29:52.7; 6. Mari Elden, DU, 30:08.1; 7. Jessica Yeaton, MSU, 30:08.4; 8. Sloan Storey, UU, 30:08.6; 9. Anni Nord, UNM, 30:19.8; 10. Silje Benum, DU, 30:27.8. Other CU Finishers: 18. Maria Nordstrom, 31:26.8. |
