SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah ski team enters the home stretch of the season with the RMISA Championships and NCAA West Regional, hosted Feb. 23-25 by Colorado in Steamboat Springs.
The meet kicks off with the men's and women's slalom races on Friday, Feb. 23. On Saturday, the Nordic teams compete in the women's and men's 5- and 10-km classic races. The meet concludes on Sunday, Feb. 25, with the men's and women's giant slalom races as well as the 15 and 20-km freestyle races.
Also during the weekend the alpine teams will compete in the season's second RMISA giant slalom qualifier on Saturday, Feb. 24. The RMISA alpine qualifier races do not count towards any team scoring and are used as an extra opportunity for skiers to earn qualification points for the NCAA Championships at the end of the season.
The meet will be a warmup for the NCAA Championships, also hosted by Colorado in Steamboat Springs from March 7-10. NCAA competitors will be announced on the evening of Feb. 26 at NCAA.com.
In women's Nordic,
Guro Jordheim leads all skiers in the RMISA with five regular-season wins this year. She recently swept the classic and freestyle races at the Denver Invitational. Jordheim has eight podium finishes this season, which also leads the league.
Mariah Bredal has finished in the top 10 seven times this year, with a season-best finish of sixth three times. Park City local
Leah Lange has three top 10 finishes this year, with a season-best finish seventh in the 21-km freestyle at the New Mexico Invitational.
Karianne Moe has finished 13
th twice for her season-best finish.
For men's Nordic, Utah skiers have won over half of the races this season, winning six times in 10 races. The Utes have been the top-scoring men's Nordic team this year.
Martin Bergström leads the league in men's Nordic with four wins this year and his seven podium finishes is tied for the league lead.
Håkon Hjelstuen has won two races and has five top-five finishes.
Bjørn Riksaasen has seven top-10 finishes on the year with a season-best fourth at the Utah Invite.
Logan Diekmann has been in the top 10 four times while
Jacob Engström has two top-10 finishes this year.
In women's alpine,
Ann-Kathrin Breuning is tied for the league lead with six top-five finishes this year. She has finished on the podium twice this year, placing second twice.
Julie Mohagen has finished in the top 10 five times this year, including the last four races. Her best finish this season was sixth in the first slalom at New Mexico.
Sabine Krautgasser's best finish of the year was 14
th in the slalom at Montana State.
For the men,
Sam Dupratt has Utah's best finish this season, a second place in the giant slalom at Montana State.
Huston Philp and
Linus Walch each have a pair of top-10 finishes. Philp had his best finishes of the year last weekend finishing eighth in the slalom and ninth in the giant slalom. Walch's best finish this year was fifth in the giant slalom at the Utah Invite.
Martin Grasic has a season-best finish of ninth this year, in the giant slalom at the Utah Invite, while
Ty Sprock has two finishes in the top 15 on the year.