Utah Skiing Travels to Alaska

Sunday, February 17

Anchorage, AK

All Day

University of Utah

Freestyle (10/10K-M)

Photo by: Steve C. Wilson

2/14/2019 3:26 PM | Skiing

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah ski team heads to Alaska for a week beginning on Feb. 17 with races covering two meets, the UAA Invitational and the RMISA Championships/NCAA West Regional.

Competition begins with the men's and women's 10-km freestyle races of the UAA Invite on Feb. 17 followed by classic sprints on Feb. 18. The Nordic teams continue on Feb. 20 with the men's 10-km and women's 5-km freestyle races of the NCAA Regional. The alpine teams get into the action on Feb. 21 with the giant slalom races of the UAA Invite with the GS races for the NCAA Regional the next day (Feb. 22). Also on Feb. 22 the Nordic portion of the NCAA Regional concludes with the men's 20-km and women's 15-km classic races. The alpine teams conclude their time in Alaska with the slalom races on Feb. 23 (UAA Invite) and Feb. 24 (NCAA Regional).

Nordic races will be held at Kincaid Park in Anchorage and Government Peak in Palmer. Alpine races are at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood.

The Utes have won two of the three meets held this season. Utah won both the Colorado and New Mexico Invitationals and finished second by five points at Montana State.

Women's Nordic skier Guro Jordheim has been the top overall skier for the Utes this season, winning four of the five races she has competed in while placing second in the other race. She has more wins than any skier in any discipline in the league this year. Two other skiers have earned podium finishes in women's Nordic, Mariah Bredal and Karianne Moe. Bredal finished second in the 5-km freestyle at Montana State and has finished in the top 10 in all four races she has competed this year. Moe placed third in the 10-km classic at Colorado and has three top 10 finishes this year. Leah Lange has placed in the top eight in five of six races this year with a season-best fifth-place finish in the 5-km freestyle at New Mexico. Julia Richter recently had her best finishes of the season at New Mexico, placing fourth in both races at New Mexico.

In men's Nordic, three different skiers have podium finishes this year. Ola Jordheim has been the most consistent, finishing in the top 10 in every race with five top five finishes. He has finished on the podium twice with a season-best finish of third. Logan Diekmann has two podium finishes four top five finishes. His best finish was second in the 10-km classic at Colorado. Maximilian Bie has three top 10 finishes and placed third in the 20-km classic at Montana State. Bjørn Riksaasen finished strong at the New Mexico Invitational, placing fifth in the 7.5-km classic and seventh in the 5-km freestyle. Noel Keeffe will return to the circuit after competing at the FIS Junior World Ski Championship, finishing 12^th in the classic sprint. Jacob Engström has two finishes in the top 20.

In men's alpine, Addison Dvoracek leads the league with three wins in the discipline. He has five top 10 finishes this year. Mark Engel has finished in the top five in three of the four races he has competed with two podium finishes. Joachim Bakken Lien earned his first career podium finish in the second slalom at New Mexico, he has five top 10 finishes this year. Huston Philp has finished in the top 10 four times with a season-best fifth-place finish in the Montana State RMISA qualifier. Tomas Birkner de Miguel, who has recently been competing at the FIS World Ski Championships, has four finishes in the top 20. Ty Sprock's best finish this year was ninth in the Montana State giant slalom and he has three finishes in the top 15 this year. Martin Grasic's best finish this year was 12^th in the slalom at Colorado. Linus Walch has had several strong finishes in Nor-Am Cup this year.

Eirin Engeset has three podium finishes in women's alpine, which is tied for second in the league, and has finished in the top 10 in six races. She recently finished third in a Nor-Am Cup giant slalom in Wyoming. Katie Vesterstein recently had her best finishes of the season in the slalom races at New Mexico, placing ninth and fourth. Kristine Aasberg returned to the hill at New Mexico for the first time this season and finished 13^th and 10^th in the slalom races. Julie Mohagen's best finish this year was 16^th in the slalom at Colorado while Katie Parker's best finish is 27^th in the slalom at New Mexico.