Utes on top at Utah Invitational

After a six-week hiatus, the RMISA Alpine skiers were back on the race hill at the Utah Invitational in Park City this past weekend. It was sunny skies and a great race crew that made the weekend a success, according to racers.

Out of the gate, CU’s Mikaela Tommy took the lead in the GS, up half a second from DU’s Storm Klomhaus. Utah’s Kathryn Parker and Eirin Engeset were close behind sitting in third and fourth, ready to make moves in the second run.

“The conditions were really good, the race organizers did a good job,” said Engeset on the conditions for the day.

In the second run, Team X athlete Foreste Peterson blazed from a sixth place first run to third place overall with the combined time of 2:05.84. Utah’s Engeset snagged her season-best race with second place overall as Tommy maintained her lead with the time of 2:04.33.  As for team scoring, the Utah women placed three in the top five winning the event as a team.

“The girls had a strong performance with three in the top five! It was fun to see everyone perform like we have been in training,” said Engeset. “I got my best result of the season and felt really good about my skiing.”

Following suit from the women’s team, the Utah men showed their depth as a team as well. Joachim Lien of Utah showed his speed as he skied into the top spot first run with the time of 55.83. Utah teammate Addison Dvoracek skied into second following the first run and DU’s Tobias Kogler raced into third.

“I had a solid first run without any mistakes, but it was hard to focus before second run due to the warm weather,” remarked Lien.

In the second run CU skier Filip Fortejek had a speedy run to move him from fifth place to second overall with the combined time of 1:52.31. The Utes took first and third with Lien keeping his lead in first and Dvoracek in third. 

“I just let it go and it was awesome to take the win in front of a big crowd at the home invitational,” said Lien on his win.  The Utah men skied away with a GS team victory.

Utah Invitational SL

The Denver Pioneers had a great slalom day at Park City winning as a team for both the men and women.

On the women’s side DU’s Amelia Smart proved her slalom abilities with a fast performance. She won first run by over a half second ahead of CU’s Stef Fleckenstein and third place’s Andrea Komsic.

“The conditions were good, I got lucky drawing bib one for first run,” said Smart. 

However luck played no factor second run as Smart sped to the finish winning the run and the overall time. Smart took gold with a two second advantage over second place Fleckenstein (CU) and third place Mikaela Tommy (CU). 

“I’m happy with my skiing today and happy that I put two good runs together,” exclaimed Smart following her victory.

In the men’s race the previous day’s winner Joachim Lien proved he is more than just a GS skier as he skied into first ahead of Aage Solheim (MSU) and Colby Lane (DU). 

“The snow was aggressive and the hill is nice. It is one of the longer slaloms that I have raced in,” said Lane on Sunday’s slalom conditions.

Despite the length, RMISA athletes were able to ski full throttle second run. Moving from fourth to second overall was MSU’s Louis Muhlen-Schulte, Colby Lane was able to snag third place overall, and Lien finished with back-to-back wins, taking the gold with a second advantage.

“Fun to grab back to back at the home invite in front of all the staff and donors that make this program possible, it ended up being a great day for me and the Utes. Can’t let anyone beat us on the Utah snow,” said Lien.

For Alpine and Nordic standings the Utah Utes win the Utah Invitational with 743 points. Denver comes in second and Colorado in third.

RMISA Qualifier SL

The RMISA Qualifier slalom brought familiar names to the podium on day three of the Utah series. Out of the gate Amelia Smart (DU) screeched down to win the first run with a 53.61. Teammate Andrea Komsic was close behind sitting in second for college along with Kaitlyn Vesterstein of Utah. However, they were no match for Smart who lead the way again taking first on the second run and overall with a 1:47.21. Andrea Komsic took second for college and Engeset took third. Eleri Smart grabbed fourth for college as well showing the depth of the Pioneers.

In the men’s race Westminster College’s Mikkel Solbakken sped down to the finish winning first run with a 56.54 with Filip Forejtek (CU) and Colby Lane (DU) on his tails just a few tenths back. However, it was the previous winner of the past two races that was looking for another gold. Joachim Lien blazed down to win the second run and moved up from fourth place to first overall with the combined time of 1:55.03. 

This is Lien’s third win of the weekend, sweeping all three days for the Utes. Forejtek took second, and Lane showed his slalom consistency ending up third for the second day in a row.

The action continues Thursday as Montana State hosts an RMISA Qualifier as well as the RMISA Championship series at Bridger Bowl.

GS Women: Results

GS Men: Results

SL Women: Results

SL Men: Results

RMISA SL Women: Results

RMISA SL Men: Results