Over the weekend, the women’s and men’s ski teams took second in the 2013 Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA) Championships and NCAA West Regional hosted in Bozeman, Mont. The Pioneers finished with a total of 859 points behind UniColorado in first place with 905.5 points.
“The men and the women each won the overall and all the others,” said head coach Andy LeRoy. “Combining alpine with the Nordic course scores, that was a solid meet in preparation for the championships.”
On Friday, the team was in fourth place with 188 points at the end of the first day of action after competing in Nordic classical races. Leading the Pioneers that day was freshman Silje Benum, who finished fifth with a time of 17:04 in the women’s 5k classical. Senior Andrew Dougherty led the men with a sixth-place finish of 29:16:8.
Nordic competition continued on day two, as the alpine races commenced. By the end of the day, the Pioneers were 95 points behind CU with a score of 616.
“The alpine [team] did great; they went through some challenging conditions in Montana, but they continued to do better and qualify,” said LeRoy. “We won every single day with every gender on the alpine side.”
Freshman alpine skier Kristine Haugen placed first for DU in the giant slalom with a time of 1:39.23, followed by sophomore Devin Delaney with a time of 1:41.28, securing seventh place.
On the men’s side for alpine, sophomore Espen Lysdahl took first with a time of 1:39.43 to take third place. Following in fourth place was senior Grant Jampolsky and sophomore Max Marno in sixth.
“We were able to win three of four events, so we won both the slaloms for men and women,” said LeRoy. “It was one of our better team performances besides individual performances.”
In the final races for the Nordic team on Saturday, senior Makayla Cappel placed fifth with 52:30.2 in the 15k freestyle, and Dougherty finished eighth for the men with a time of 59:49.7.
On the final day of competition, the Pioneers were able to finish first in men’s and women’s in the alpine slalom race. Haugen finished with a time of 1:36.81 for the women while Lysdahl finished at 1:50.37 for the men.
“Usually in Montana there’s a lot of snow, and it’s usually pretty challenging, because conditions are tough,” said Lysdahl. “You really start to get a feel for how the conditions are, so I just tried to ski smart but also have a balance between that and being fast.”
Lysdahl was named RMISA Men’s Alpine MVP last week. In addition to his first place in Sunday’s slalom, he also placed first in slalom at the Utah Invitational and the New Mexico Invitational. He has not finished lower than third in a slalom race this season.
“I had a pretty solid season, and I finished all of the college races,” said Lysdahl. “I’m glad I did, because it was one of my goals coming into this season. I’ve tried to carry everything from my training over to the races, and I think I’m better this year than last year.”
The Pioneers will continue to train until their next competition, which takes place March 6-9 in Middlebury, Vt., for the NCAA Championships.
“To be honest, the regional championship are the last step before the NCAA Championships, so we are putting a lot of time into tactics and final preparation by making sure everyone is healthy, conditioned and rested,” said LeRoy.
LeRoy said the skiers will also have to focus on finishing their exams and stay ahead on their school work in order to maintain success both on the slopes and in the classroom. According to Lysdahl, the team is excited for the championship.
“We’re looking forward to it; I think we have a strong team coming into it, so we just have to try to do the same as we have been doing in training and races and make it stronger,” said Lysdahl.
“I’m hoping to do well individually, but coming into the championship, we all have to perform; it’s not just relying on one person. If everyone does their individual job, we should be good, but I’m going to focus on doing mine.”
