Ute Ski Team Places Second at MSU

Saturday, January 4

Big Sky, Mont.

TBA

University of Utah

Montana Invitational (Alpine)

1/4/2003 12:00 AM | Skiing

Jan. 4, 2003

BIG SKY, Mont. - As the second day of competition ended, the University of Utah ski team held on to a second-place finish in the Montana Invitational. The Utes wrapped up the invitational finishing with a combine overall score of 280.5, while Colorado accumulated 282 points to take home the first-place victory.

The Ute men placed second in the slalom event, while the women finished fifth. It was junior Pierre Olsson who led the Utes with his first-place finish. The Sweden native came out with another strong race as he finished with a combined time of 1:41.76. Senior Jernej Bukovec added to the scoring with his impressive third-place finish. Freshman Benjamin Thornhill added a 25th place performance.

Senior Petra Svet headlined the women's alpine team, as she skied to a sixth-place finish. Teammate Elisha Stephens placed 16th, while sophomore Rowena Bright and junior Lina Johansson rounded out the 33rd and 34th spots. Although the Utes stumbled a little in the last day of competition, they persevered to secure the second-place finish.

"I'm enthusiastic with the teams performance," said Head Coach Kevin Sweeney. "To see Pierre, Petra and Jernej continue to ski remarkably well is a big plus for us. It is good to see consistency from my top guys and it's good to stay on track for the upcoming events."

Next up, the Ute ski team will host the Alaska-Utah-WinterGames Invitational. This Invite will be skied Saturday through Monday, Jan. 11-13. The giant slalom (Jan.11) and the slalom (Jan. 12) events will be held in Park City, Utah, while the freestyle (Jan. 12) and the classical (Jan. 13) events will be skied in Soldier Hollow, Utah.