MINTURN, Colo. –
Tom Mancini was back on the podium with silver in the men's 5K freestyle to lead the Utah Ski Team as the Utes and the RMISA field wrapped up the Denver Invitational on Saturday at Maloit Park. Utah finished the meet third in the team standings.
It was Mancini's second silver in as many days after he put down a time of 11:35.5 in the interval start race. He was bested only by Andreas Kirkeng of Denver, whom Mancini gave a great battle in yesterday's 10K classic and finished less than a second behind in that mass start.
The Utes also had a top-10 finish in the men's race from
Max Kluck (12:18).
Witta Walcher was back in the top-eight of the women's field (14:19.6), continuing to show progress as her freshman year moves along.
Celine Mayer also secured points for the Utes in the team standings, placing 23
rd on the day (15:09.4).
"I think the races this week were super fun," Walcher said. "We had really nice racing conditions, and our coaches did a great job with the skis!"
Utah totaled 549 points between the four days of alpine and Nordic events. Colorado pulled (626) ahead of host Denver to win the meet after the Pioneers led entering today's races. Denver finished with 615 points—just 11 short of the Buffaloes.
Next Up
While the Utes have been without select members of the team lately due to international alpine and Nordic competitions, it's anticipated the squad will enter the RMISA Championships in two weeks at full strength.
The RMISA schedule is open next weekend as teams get ready to head to Montana for the meet, which doubles as the NCAA West Regionals. Montana State will serve as the host, with alpine races taking place at Big Sky Resort and Nordic competition at Crosscut Mountain Sports Center.
Prior to the regional meet, alpine will race a giant slalom qualifier at Big Sky on February 22 at Big Sky which is not scored as part of the regional meet. The championships then include a GS on the docket for February 23 and slalom on February 24. The two days of Nordic races include a 7.5K freestyle on February 24 and a 20K classic the following day.
Follow the Utah Ski Team
Follow the Utes on social media (@utahskiteam).