WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. – Håkon Hjelstuen and
Guro Jordheim won the men's and women's freestyle races to close out the Utah Invitational on Friday afternoon as the Utah ski team finished third overall in the team standings.
In the men's 20-km race, it was Hjelstuen's first career victory and podium finish. He has been in the top five in four races this year. He is just the third different men's Nordic skier to win on the RMISA circuit this year, joining Utah's
Martin Bergström (three wins) and Denver's Dag Trolleboe (two wins). Bergström finished fourth and has been in the top four in all six races this year.
Bjørn Riksaasen placed sixth for his fourth-straight top-10 finish.
Logan Diekmann placed 10
th for his second top-10 finish of the weekend.
Jacob Engström finished 16
th for the Utes. The Utes were the top scoring team in the race with 98 points.
Jordheim has won back-to-back freestyle RMISA races after also winning at last week's Montana State Invitational. Also in the women's 15-km races was
Leah Lange in ninth and
Mariah Bredal in 10
th. All three women finished in the top 10 in both races.
Karianne Moe did not race.
Denver won the overall meet with 650 points. Colorado finished second with 636 points with the Utes third (599.5). Montana State was fourth (527.5) with New Mexico fifth (396). Colorado barely edged Utah for the overall Nordic title with 363 points to Utah's 360 points.
The races were originally scheduled in Utah but were moved to Montana due to local ski conditions.
The Utes have off from collegiate competition next weekend, returning to action on Saturday, Feb. 3, at the New Mexico Invitational.