Nordic Team to Compete in the DU Invitational

Friday, January 22

Minturn, CO

All Day

University of Utah

5/7.5K Freestyle

1/21/2021 1:55 PM | Skiing

Races will be held January 22 and 23 at Minturn, Colorado

SALT LAKE CITY – After a dominant first weekend, the Utah Nordic team will head to Minturn, Colorado to take part in the Denver Invitational.

Last weekend, the Utes had a strong start to the season winning three of the four races and having multiple podium finishers in three of the four races.

"I think the team really came out well prepared and super excited about competing again," Director of Skiing Fredrik Landstedt said. "Everyone had incredible team spirit and everyone is back together and competing. I think that helps us a lot and we have such a strong team overall. We had six women that placed top 10 and five men that all can be up there so that makes the team very strong. At the same time, as they're also competing with each other which makes us super strong. They're also really good friends and there is great camaraderie making it really fun."

Since the current scoring model has been used since 2014, the Utah Nordic team now has the six highest Nordic point totals in a meet with five of the six coming in the last five meets that were scored.

This past weekend, Novie McCabe and Sydney Palmer-Leger each earned their first collegiate wins as McCabe won the 5K Freestyle and Palmer-Leger won the 15K Classic.

On the men's side, Samuel Hendry led Utah both days as he finished in sixth in the 10K Freestyle and won the 20K Classic the next day.

The alpine team already competed in the Denver Invitational and the Utes sit in second behind Westminster, but Westminster doesn't have a Nordic team.

On Friday, January 22, Utah will race in a 5/7.5K Freestyle and then on Saturday, January 23 the Utes will race in a 7.5/10K Classic.

"They will use this kind of weekend as a stepping stone for the rest of the season," Landstedt said. "We will continue to do well. You never know until we get there if we will take a step back or continue to be as good as before. It'll be hard to beat last weekend for sure and I don't really expect to beat last weekend, but we'll go there and prepare well and I know everyone will ski their absolute best."