Thursday, March 11
Jackson, NH
All Day
University of Utah
vs
5/10K Classic
Photo by: Clarkson Creative Photography
Sydney Palmer-Leger Wins NCAA Title in 5K Classic
3/11/2021 1:20 PM | Skiing
Utes surge to top of team standings with dominant performance in Nordic races
JACKSON, N.H.—Utah freshman Sydney Palmer-Leger won the national championship in the women's 5-kilometer classical race Thursday to lead a Utah sweep of the podium and lift the Utes into a commanding first-place lead by 66.5 points on an unseasonably warm Day 2 of the NCAA Championships at Jackson Nordic Center.
Palmer-Leger, from Park City, won the race with a time of 15:50.7, while RMISA Women's Nordic MVP Julia Richter—a 2019 NCAA Champion in the 5K freestyle for Utah—was runner-up (15:55.9), followed by teammate Novie McCabe in third (16:12).
"I've coached for 30 years in college, and you definitely need to savor days like this because they don't come around very often," said Utah's Director of Skiing Fredrik Landstedt. "Just amazing. The girls skied so well. We do have a very strong women's team, but to get a sweep of the podium is just amazing."
The Utes' sweep of the top three spots in the women's 5K is just the 10th podium sweep by a team at the NCAA Championships since skiing went coed in 1983. Eight have now been in Nordic.
Utah now leads the team standings at the halfway mark of the NCAA Championships with 319.0 points, followed by Colorado (252.5) and Montana State (213.5).
"It was a pretty incredible race," said champion Palmer-Leger. "I think I am still in shock that we swept the podium. It is always hard to go into the race when there is a lot of high pressure and expectations to do well. It was awesome that we pulled it off today."
Utah won the women's 5K with a team score of 111.0, followed by Alaska-Anchorage with 72.0. In the men's 10k, Utah outscored second-place Colorado 100.0-88.0
"Our plan today was to have some fun, since we made it this far, and push every last second," Palmer-Leger added. "This course is pretty challenging in that there is not a lot of rest so I had to constantly remind myself that I could do it and it was only a couple minutes of pain. I am so honored to be a part of this amazing team and have incredible coaches working so hard to get us here."
"Sydney skied out from the start and kind of took charge of the race, and was leading," Landstedt said. "Julia was actually a little further back, around fifth or sixth place, and came on really strong at the end. Novie was pretty much right there, around second or third place the entire race, and the main difference was that our girls were able to hold it and push through to the end."
All six Utah skiers earned All-America honors today, as the men's Nordic team placed all three competitors in the top five of the 10K Classic, led by sophomore Luke Jager who was runner-up to Colorado's Magnus Boee in a time of 26:30.5, just 13 second off the pace. Sophomore Samuel Hendry was third in 26:43 and senior Bjørn Riksaasen was fifth in 26:48.
"Luke decided to double-pole today, which he hasn't really done in a race, so he didn't have any kick wax on," Landstedt explained. "He was in it from the start, it was really between him and Magnus."
Temperatures hovered in the mid-40s at the start of the men's race at 10 a.m. local time, and had risen into the low 50s by the time the women's race began at noon. Temperatures in the mid-50s were reached by race's end.
"Waxing was really, really tricky this morning and our coaches did such a good job handling all of it and keeping what could have been a really stressful situation from being that," Jagr said. "I ultimately decided to just go for it and go on skate skis and double-pole the race. I definitely had some hard moments out there in the big hills and slow snow but I knew I was having a good one and was really motivated to have a good one for the team. It was very special to get to represent the team who has supported me through everything for the last two years and I'm very thankful to be a part of such a great squad!"
Thursday's dominance by the Utes' Nordic teams accounted for 211.0 team points, followed by Alaska-Anchorage with 137.0 and Colorado with 133.5.
"It was an awesome day," Jagr continued. "I have struggled a lot with my shape all year and have had a really frustrating season for myself. I had lots of disappointing races both in the U.S. and Europe and just had to take a step back for a little while after returning from racing in Europe, and just take my foot off the gas for a while. By regionals I could tell my shape was getting better every day and I was having so much fun just being with the team and fully embracing college racing. I have felt really good all week here in training and the sea level has just accelerated all of that."
The NCAA Championships will shift back to Alpine competition on Friday, with the men's and women's slalom. The first run of the men's slalom will begin at 7:30 a.m. MT, with the women's to follow at 8:30 a.m. MT. The second run will begin at 10:30 a.m. MT for the men and 11:30 a.m. MT for the women. Watch live and follow results at NCAA.com.
TEAM TOTALS (through 2 days)
1. Utah, 319.0
2. Colorado, 252.5
3. Montana State, 213.5
4. Alaska-Anchorage, 200.0
5. Denver, 193.0
Women's 5K Classic Team Scoring
1. Utah, 110.0
2. Alaska-Anchorage, 72.0
3. Northern Michigan, 65.0
Men's 10K Classic Team Scoring
1. Utah, 100.0
2. Colorado, 88.0
3. Alaska-Anchorage, 65.0
Palmer-Leger, from Park City, won the race with a time of 15:50.7, while RMISA Women's Nordic MVP Julia Richter—a 2019 NCAA Champion in the 5K freestyle for Utah—was runner-up (15:55.9), followed by teammate Novie McCabe in third (16:12).
"I've coached for 30 years in college, and you definitely need to savor days like this because they don't come around very often," said Utah's Director of Skiing Fredrik Landstedt. "Just amazing. The girls skied so well. We do have a very strong women's team, but to get a sweep of the podium is just amazing."
The Utes' sweep of the top three spots in the women's 5K is just the 10th podium sweep by a team at the NCAA Championships since skiing went coed in 1983. Eight have now been in Nordic.
Utah now leads the team standings at the halfway mark of the NCAA Championships with 319.0 points, followed by Colorado (252.5) and Montana State (213.5).
"It was a pretty incredible race," said champion Palmer-Leger. "I think I am still in shock that we swept the podium. It is always hard to go into the race when there is a lot of high pressure and expectations to do well. It was awesome that we pulled it off today."
Utah won the women's 5K with a team score of 111.0, followed by Alaska-Anchorage with 72.0. In the men's 10k, Utah outscored second-place Colorado 100.0-88.0
"Our plan today was to have some fun, since we made it this far, and push every last second," Palmer-Leger added. "This course is pretty challenging in that there is not a lot of rest so I had to constantly remind myself that I could do it and it was only a couple minutes of pain. I am so honored to be a part of this amazing team and have incredible coaches working so hard to get us here."
"Sydney skied out from the start and kind of took charge of the race, and was leading," Landstedt said. "Julia was actually a little further back, around fifth or sixth place, and came on really strong at the end. Novie was pretty much right there, around second or third place the entire race, and the main difference was that our girls were able to hold it and push through to the end."
All six Utah skiers earned All-America honors today, as the men's Nordic team placed all three competitors in the top five of the 10K Classic, led by sophomore Luke Jager who was runner-up to Colorado's Magnus Boee in a time of 26:30.5, just 13 second off the pace. Sophomore Samuel Hendry was third in 26:43 and senior Bjørn Riksaasen was fifth in 26:48.
"Luke decided to double-pole today, which he hasn't really done in a race, so he didn't have any kick wax on," Landstedt explained. "He was in it from the start, it was really between him and Magnus."
Temperatures hovered in the mid-40s at the start of the men's race at 10 a.m. local time, and had risen into the low 50s by the time the women's race began at noon. Temperatures in the mid-50s were reached by race's end.
"Waxing was really, really tricky this morning and our coaches did such a good job handling all of it and keeping what could have been a really stressful situation from being that," Jagr said. "I ultimately decided to just go for it and go on skate skis and double-pole the race. I definitely had some hard moments out there in the big hills and slow snow but I knew I was having a good one and was really motivated to have a good one for the team. It was very special to get to represent the team who has supported me through everything for the last two years and I'm very thankful to be a part of such a great squad!"
Thursday's dominance by the Utes' Nordic teams accounted for 211.0 team points, followed by Alaska-Anchorage with 137.0 and Colorado with 133.5.
"It was an awesome day," Jagr continued. "I have struggled a lot with my shape all year and have had a really frustrating season for myself. I had lots of disappointing races both in the U.S. and Europe and just had to take a step back for a little while after returning from racing in Europe, and just take my foot off the gas for a while. By regionals I could tell my shape was getting better every day and I was having so much fun just being with the team and fully embracing college racing. I have felt really good all week here in training and the sea level has just accelerated all of that."
The NCAA Championships will shift back to Alpine competition on Friday, with the men's and women's slalom. The first run of the men's slalom will begin at 7:30 a.m. MT, with the women's to follow at 8:30 a.m. MT. The second run will begin at 10:30 a.m. MT for the men and 11:30 a.m. MT for the women. Watch live and follow results at NCAA.com.
In case you were counting during today's competition...
— Utah Ski Team (@utahskiteam) March 11, 2021
?? 6 All-Americans
?? 1 Individual Title
?? LOTS of Utah Flags waving #GoUtes pic.twitter.com/FgZBUwDR1w
TEAM TOTALS (through 2 days)
1. Utah, 319.0
2. Colorado, 252.5
3. Montana State, 213.5
4. Alaska-Anchorage, 200.0
5. Denver, 193.0
Women's 5K Classic Team Scoring
1. Utah, 110.0
2. Alaska-Anchorage, 72.0
3. Northern Michigan, 65.0
Men's 10K Classic Team Scoring
1. Utah, 100.0
2. Colorado, 88.0
3. Alaska-Anchorage, 65.0
We're onto the slalom today, but lets take a quick look back on our women's 5K where we took ??????! We now sit in first place by 66.5 points heading into the third day of racing! pic.twitter.com/8h3ewDnmGE
— Utah Ski Team (@utahskiteam) March 12, 2021
Magnus Boee from @cubuffsskiing won the men's 10k classic with a total time of 26:17.7 and @utahskiteam's Sydney Palmer-Leger won the women's 5k event with a total time of 15:50.7 at day two of the 2021 #ncaaSki championship in Jackson, NH.https://t.co/qvyXnKucKR
— NCAA Championships (@ncaachamps) March 12, 2021
Players Mentioned
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