Utah Skiers Finish Third At NCAA Ski Championships

Wednesday, March 6

Anchorage, Ala.(XC)

TBA

University of Utah

NCAA Championships

Utah Skiers Finish Third At NCAA Ski Championships

3/9/2002 12:00 AM | Skiing

After four days of intense competition at the NCAA Ski Championships, the University of Utah ski team held on to a podium third-place finish behind Denver and Colorado.

"We are trying to be optimistic, but there is a definate dissapointment in the end result," said head coach Kevin Sweeney. "We made a few mistakes along the way, but we kept charging and just came up short in the end."

In Saturday's final events, Olympian Torin Koos led the men's cross country team with a sixth-place finish in the 20-K freestyle. After finishing eighth in the classical race on Thursday, Petter Svendsen followed with another top-10 showing by placing ninth in the freestyle. Ryan Quinn wrapped up Utah's scoring in 26th.

The women's team was led by Jaana Kettunen, who placed 10th in the 15-K. Sara Svendsen contributed a 25th-place finish to Utah's scoring. Jorunn Oye, who has three podium finishes in the freestyle this season, including a first-place victory at the Denver Invitational, did not finish the race due to illness. The DNF gave Utah zero points for a third scorer.. Colorado placed three women's skiers in the top-10 to help them edge the Utes out of second place.

"It is a compliment that the top four teams were from the western region. We were proud to be in the mix. Illness and bad luck caught up with us in the end, but we kept charging and gave it our best effort," Sweeney said.

The Utes, who had finished fourth in the last three NCAA Championships, earned their first podium finish at the NCAA's since 1998. The Utes look strong for next season, losing just three seniors and returning an all-star lineup of skiers with NCAA experience.

"We have a lot of depth and experience coming back, so that's something that we can look forward to," said Sweeney. "We are very thankful for the staff that we had this year. They provided us with good equipment and helped keep our group charging."