CU Boulder wins first two RMISA Invitationals

By Published On: January 16th, 2017Comments Off on CU Boulder wins first two RMISA Invitationals

The University of Colorado Boulder (CU) won the University of Utah Invitational held at Snowbasin Resort Jan. 7-14. They were led by freshman David Ketterer, who has now won back-to-back RMISA slaloms and picked up his first collegiate giant slalom podium. 

On Friday, Ketterer finished 0.28 seconds behind University of Utah’s (UU) Samuel Dupratt, who won the event with a combined time of 2:17:51. Addison Dvoracek from Montana State University (MSU) finished third, 0.31 seconds behind in the giant slalom.

“I am really pleased with how my slalom skiing is going right now,” Ketterer said. “Also I had a good race in the GS, finishing second. I am happy with how this are going right now”

Ketterer previously skied for the German Europa Cup team, and at age 23, he is lighting up the university circuit as a freshman at CU. He said it was a really good result for him individually, but it’s just as important for his team. He noted that CU only had four men in the GS race, and it was really nice to get a solid result.

Racing as a team is certainly new to all freshman, but Ketterer said he likes the fact that he has a group of guys that supports each other and races for one another.

The next day the men took to the slalom course, and Ketterer did not have to wait long for his return to the podium. He dominated the first run, winning by 0.73 seconds over the University of New Mexico’s (UNM)  Vegard Busengdal. Ketterer would take the win at the end of the day by a staggering 1.74 seconds followed by Busengdal. University of Denver’s (DU) Erik Read recovered from a first run that put him in 18th and ended on the podium in third, 2.22 seconds behind.

The women’s GS was well contested. The top four women finished within 0.10 seconds of each other.

UU’s Chloe Fausa finally found her way onto the podium after two fourth-place finishes in the Montana State Invitational. She led the women in the GS with a combined time of 2:27:64. She was followed by CU’s Tonje Healey Trulsrud, who finished just 0.01 seconds behind her. DU Pioneer Tuva Norbye came in third, 0.05 behind. Westminster College’s Ann-Kathrin Breuning finished just off the podium, 0.08 seconds behind, though she wouldn’t stay away for long.

Breuning won the Utah Invitational slalom two days later, her third win of the season and fourth podium. Breuning finished with a time of 1:50:72, followed by two MSU Bobcats, Benedicte Oseid Lyche and Jocelyn McCarthy who finished 0.23 and 0.39 seconds behind respectively.

“The girls had a pretty great day,” Lyche said of her and her team’s performance. “I think we just went into it hammering down pretty much. I didn’t really expect too much. I went into it pretty neutral. I just thought of it as training to get as much out of it as I could. I think we all just went into it as we usually do as a group, to just try to get the best out of the day and the situation that we each are in.”

With help from their nordic team, CU scored 610 points to take the win in Utah followed by DU with 601 points and the University of Utah with 554 points. The University of New Mexico and MSU rounded out the top five with 489 and 450 points, respectively.

The Montana State Invitational also finished up this weekend with the nordic races being held Jan. 14-15, and CU has now officially taken the first two events of the season. The final rankings for the Montana State Invitational was nearly identical to that of the Utah Invitational. CU Boulder led with 670 points, followed by Utah with 603.5, Denver with 602, New Mexico with 440 and Montana State with 435.5.

The RMISA circuit travels north to Alaska for the Alaska Anchorage Invitational and the Seawolf Invitational. The alpine races will be held between Jan. 25-28 and the nordic races will be Feb. 7-12.

Complete results are available here.

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About the Author: Chris Keating

Chris Keating grew up in Vermont and skied at Boston College where he served as captain during his senior year. He is currently a staff writer at The Valley Reporter in Waitsfield, Vt., and will be covering the NCAA and NorAm circuits for SkiRacing.com this winter.