Utah Skiing Continues Season at New Mexico Invitational

1/28/2015 12:00 AM | Skiing

Jan. 28, 2015

Utah Athletics on Twitter
Utah Athletics on Facebook
Utah Athletics on YouTube
Utah Athletics on Instagram

Utah Skiing on Facebook
Utah Skiing on Twitter

SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah Ski team continues its season this weekend at the New Mexico Invitational, Jan. 30-31.

The Nordic teams will compete in the men's and women's 10-km classical races on Friday, Jan. 30, and the women's 5-km and men's 10-km freestyle races on Saturday, Jan. 31. The alpine teams will compete in a pair of slalom races on Friday and Saturday. The Nordic races will be held at the Enchanted Forest XC Ski Area with alpine headed to the Red River Ski Area, both in Red River, N.M.

"The Ute squads are excited to travel to Red River," Utah Director of Skiing Kevin Sweeney said. "We have skied well there in the past and I think we are in pretty good shape to do so again. I am looking for consistency, scoring three in the top 10 in each discipline. There is pressure to do this, but we need this experience for the NCAA Championships. I want the new team members to continue to grow and experience the collegiate race format.

"Heath wise, we are ok. We do have a couple injuries we are treating from the CU races. Fortunately we have a few days to rest and recover. The team has a good perspective on what we need to do. This should be a fun weekend of racing hosted by the Lobos."

Following this weekend, the collegiate circuit takes nearly three weeks off before a week in Alaska, Feb. 23-28, for the Alaska-Anchorage Invitational and RMISA Championship/NCAA West Regional.

In women's Nordic, Veronika Mayerhofer has not finished lower than fourth this year through Utah's four races. She earned her first career win in the 15-km classic in Colorado last weekend and was also third in the 5-km freestyle to earn RMISA Skier of the Week honors. Mayerhofer has three podium finishes this year. Sloan Storey and Mayerhofer have been a solid combo this year, with Storey finishing sixth or better in each race this year with one podium finish. Anna-Lena Heynen has two top-10 finishes this year.

For the men, Kevin Bolger continues to be Utah's most consistent finisher, scoring a top 10 in all four races this year. Niklas Persson and Noé Bellet both have three top 10's each. Persson is coming off a strong weekend in Colorado, finishing with the men's first podium of the year in the 20-km classic race (3rd) and finishing fifth in the 10-km freestyle. Nick Hendrickson has two finishes in the top six this season.

"The Nordic team has been making steady upward progress this season, so with each race weekend I look forward to seeing how we can continue to improve," Utah head Nordic coach Abi Holt said. "The 10,000+ elevation always makes for challenging racing and recovery in New Mexico, however, this year we are all looking forward to a new racing format. On Friday we will compete in a team start, which means that each school will start its entire team together, with one team starting every two minutes. This potentially adds a whole new element of strategy to the race, and the entire Utah team is excited to see what we can do with this format. Stay tuned!"

In women's alpine, Chloe Fausa and Kristiina Rove continue to pace the Utes, however, Fausa will not be racing this weekend after a crash in the RMISA qualifier on Tuesday. Fausa has two wins, three podium finishes and five top-10 finishes in six races while Rove also has three podium finishes, four top-five finishes and five top 10's. Fausa won the giant slalom last weekend at the Colorado Invite. Ana Kobal also has a podium finish this year. With Fausa not racing this weekend, the Utes will look to Lauren Samuels and Teagen Palmer to boost the team scoring with strong finishes.

For men's alpine, Andy Trow has been the most consistent finisher with five top-10 finishes and one podium finish in six races. Dominic Demschar has four top-10 finishes with two podium finishes, including one victory. Endre Bjertness also has four top-10 finishes while Joergen Brath has two top 10's.

"We are excited to be back in Red River," Utah head alpine coach Jaka Korencan said. "Conditions are great for racing and we are expecting a good fair competition. The team is ready to compete and we are excited to get back in the starting gate. Unfortunately, Chloe will not be racing after a hard crash in Eldora yesterday, and we are already missing Sasha [Zaitsoff, who has been out all season with a knee injury] on the men's side. We will miss those two but it provides the opportunity for the rest of the athletes to step up and show the depth of the team."