Vermont leads Colorado after Day Three at NCAAs

HANCOCK, Vt. — The University of Vermont used strong finishes in both the men’s and women’s slalom on Friday, March 8, to extend its lead in the team standings at the 2013 NCAA Skiing Championships.

After Day Three of the championships, the final day of alpine racing at the Middlebury College Snow Bowl, the UVM Catamounts, with 564 points, led their closest competitors, the Buffaloes of the University of Colorado, by 54 points. With just one more day of nordic races to go, the University of Denver was in third place (484), just ahead of the University of Utah (481). The University of New Mexico was in fifth with 449 points.

The day at the Snow Bowl featured most of the weather that Vermont has to offer in March. It was snowing steadily during the women’s first run, and cold and gray for the men’s first run. The second runs for both men and women took place under blue skies and bright sunshine.

In the women’s race, Kristine Haugen of Denver made it a sweep of the women’s alpine events, but this time it was close. Haugen, who won the GS by 1.33 seconds, took the first run of the slalom and then held off a hard-charging group in the second. With a two-run time of 1:37.97, she wound up just five hundredths ahead of UVM’s Kristina Riis-Johannessen (1:38.02). Riis-Johannessen had an impressive championships, adding her runner-up finish in slalom to a third place in GS. Third place in the slalom went to Haugen’s Denver teammate Tianda Carroll (1:38.27), fourth to Lizzie Kistler of Dartmouth College (1:38.35) and fifth to Utah’s Ana Kobal (1:38.42).

“I never thought I would come here and win,” said Haugen. “I knew there
were a couple of girls who are so fast in slalom. It’s just great. …
And my teammate [Carroll] just came in third place—couldn’t be better.”

The team championship in women’s slalom went to Denver with 102 points, followed by Dartmouth College (90), Utah (86) and  UVM (84).

In the men’s slalom, New Mexico’s Joonas Rasanen reeled in first-run leader David Donaldson of host Middlebury College, and had a two-run time of 1:38.96. Donaldson was 0.28 back, with the University of New Hampshire’s Sam Coffey third (1:39.75). Giant slalom champ Jonathon Nordbatten of UVM came from well back with a strong second run to finish fourth (1:39.83). Fifth place went to UNH’s Taylor Vest-Burton (1:39.89).

“I knew I couldn’t back off,” said Rasanen, the second-ranked slalom
skier in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association this season.
“I’m three tenths out first run so and I wanted to win. Our nordic[skiers] got a second place, Mats Resaland, and I decided he’s not gonna
be the best Lobo here, so we had to step it up at [in] alpine. We did
pretty good today.”

With Donaldson in second, Hig Roberts in sixth and Andrew McNealus, despite some big second run mistakes, hanging on for 19th, the home standing Panthers took the team competition in the men’s slalom with 103 points, just ahead of UNH (95) and New Mexico (91). It’s the second straight year that Middlebury has captured the men’s slalom title.

“It’s funny because I never would have expected Mac and Hig and myself
to have bad days all on the same day at our giant slalom, but somehow it
happened,” said Donaldson, who felt that one bad turn in the second run
cost him a victory. “And it’s pretty special to have Mac and I on our
last day — Hig’s just a junior — but we’re glad that it went as well as it
did. The sun came out finally … and we couldn’t be happier to go out
in front of several hundred students who got to enjoy some great Vermont
weather.”

NCAA action concludes on March 9 at Middlebury’s Rikert Nordic Center, with the men’s 20km freestyle and the women’s 15km freestyle, both mass start races — and with Vermont trying to win back-to-back titles for the first time since 1989-90.

Top photo: Kristine Haugen of Denver, center, made it an individual sweep by winning the slalom, and with teammates Devin Delaney, left, and Tianda Carroll captured the slalom team competition.

Bottom photo: Joonas Rasenen of New Mexico skis to an NCAA title in slalom.

NCAA Skiing Championships
March 8, 2013

Day Three Team Standings

1. University of Vermont (UVM) 564.0
2. University of Colorado (CU) 510.0
3. University of Denver (DU) 484.0
4. University of Utah (UU) 481.0
5. University of New Mexico (UNM) 449.0
6. Dartmouth College (DAR) 405.0
7. University of New Hampshire (UNH) 390.5
8. University of Alaska-Anchorage (UAA) 367.5
9. Middlebury College (MID) 302.0
10. Montana State University (MSU) 300.0
11. Colby College (CBC) 132.0
12. Northern Michigan University (NMU) 111.0
13. Williams College (WIL) 93.0
14. St. Lawrence University (SLU) 86.0
15. University of Alaska-Fairbanks (UAF) 52.0
16. Bates College (BAT) 47.5
17. Harvard University (HAR) 39.0
18. St. Michael’s College (SMC) 24.0
19. University of Maine-Presque Isle (UMP) 15.0
20. College of St. Scholastica (CSS) 2.0
21. Bowdoin College (BOW) 0.5

Women’s Slalom

1. Kristine Haugen, DU, 1:37.97
2. Kristina Riis-Johannessen, UVM, 1:38.02
3. Tianda Carroll, DU, 1:38.27
4. Lizzie Kistler, DAR, 1:38.35
5. Ana Kobal, UU, 1:38.42
6. Kate Ryley, UVM, 1:38.91
7. Sara Kikut, DAR, 1:39.05
8. Geordie Lonza, WIL, 1:39.08
9. Mateja Robnik, UNM, 1:39.21
10. Randa Teschner, UNH, 1:39.29
11. Kristina Rove, UU, 1:39.55
12. Catherine Blanchard, UNH, 1:39.77
13. Kate Williams, UNM, 1:40.39
14. Ashley Kate Durham, SLU, 1:40.41
15. Cassady Roberts, CBC, 1:40.69

Men’s Slalom

1. Joonas Rasanen, UNM, 1:38.96
2. David Donaldson, MID, 1:39.24
3. Sam Coffey, UNH, 1:39.75
4. Jonathon Nordbotten, UVM, 1:39.83
5. Taylor Vest-Burton, UNH, 1:39.89
6. Hig Roberts, MID, 1:40.13
7. Andy Trow, UU, 1:40.18
8T. Christopher Acosta, UNM, 1:40.28
8T. Kasper Hietanen, CU, 1:40.28
10. Max Marno, DU, 1:40.41
11. Travis Dawson, UVM, 1:40.52
12. Hunter Black, DAR, 1:40.58
13. Henrik Gunnarsson, CU, 1:40.76
14. Marc Massie, CBC, 1:40.81
15. Michael Mackie, MSU, 1:41.30