Completed Event: Skiing versus 20K Freestyle (M) on March 8, 2025 , , 1st
Final Score
Skiing
1st
vs 20K Freestyle (M)
Sunday, January 19
Midway, Utah / Soldier Hollow Nordic Center
9 a.m.
University of Utah
vs
15K Freestyle (M)
Photo by: Eli Rehmer/Utah Athletics
Lavén Wins Again, Three Podiums for Utes at Soldier Hollow
1/19/2025 1:26 PM | Skiing
Davies places second in men’s 15K freestyle mass start
MIDWAY, Utah – Freshman Erica Lavén dominated on the final lap of the women's 15K freestyle, winning by over 19 seconds as the Utah Ski Team wrapped up the Nordic portion of its home meet with mass start races on Sunday morning at Soldier Hollow Nordic Center.
Lavén's win in the women's race, plus two other podiums on the men's side for Utah, helped the Utes build their lead to 57.5 points in the team standings for the meet. Utah now has 389 points in the team standings, with Denver in second place and Colorado third.
"It was a great day for us, and of course awesome conditions at Soldier Hollow," said director of skiing Fredrik Landstedt. "It's fun to be here on the new race course with a lot of people out here watching. It was a tight race for the men, and we had three guys in the top-four. Walker fell down in one of the last long uphills, but he got back up, fought his way back and came in fourth. That's part of skiing—an incredible and strong race by Walker, Brian and Joe of course.
"It was a great race for all of our women. Erica had a hard crash on the first lap as well, and came back to win fairly easily. Selma had a great race in fifth, and our two junior girls were right up there as well in Nina and Neve—eighth and ninth overall. It was a great day overall."
The alpine portion of the Utah Invitational will run on Saturday and Sunday, February 8-9 at the Spencer F. Eccles Olympic Mountain Center at the Utah Olympic Park.
Men's Race
Joe Davies battled to the very last kick with Denver's Andreas Kirkeng, ultimately taking silver after he finished just a hair short of Kirkeng with a time of 34:49.5. It gave Davies a podium result for the second straight day after claiming bronze in Saturday's 7.5K classic.
Brian Bushey earned his first podium of the 2025 season with a third-place result (34:49.9), just four-tenths of a second behind Davies. And Walker Hall placed fourth (34:50.2), fighting back into the front pack after being tripped up midway through the final lap.
"I had a great weekend, as did the team, so that was super fun," Hall said. "We got to show out for the home crowd. I was able to get my first college win yesterday in the classic race, which was huge for me. A big shoutout to the coaches for giving us great skis. The rest of the team killed it also.
"Today, it was really fast with a lot of drafting. It was hard to get away from anyone, so I just tried to stay in the top three or four the whole race. On the last big climb, I got tripped up…I kind of just knew that I had to do whatever I could to make up places. Gave it everything I could up that last hill and pulled some moves on the last downhill. I was able to catch back up to Brian and Joe and watch them get on the podium. It was a great day for the team."
In addition, Zachary Jayne and Lucas Wilmot claimed the Nos. 12-13 spots. In the larger competition field, including outside the RMISA, Wilmot claimed gold on the junior podium.
Today's race was the final college start for Hall before departing for a stretch of racing in Europe to include the World Cup circuit and U-23 World Championships. It's anticipated he'll return to the Utes in time for regionals in February.
Women's Race
Erica Lavén was once again atop the podium, picking up a commanding victory (39:30.0) with 19.2 seconds of padding for her second win in as many races. Battling with Kendall Kramer of Alaska Fairbanks, Lavén was eighth after the first split but worked her way back to the front and pulled away on the final lap.
Key points for the Utes also came from Selma Nevin in fifth (40:19.9) and Nina Schamberger in eighth (40:42.0). Neve Gerard contributed a ninth-place result, while Celine Mayer (19th) and Witta Walcher (25th) closed out the lineup for Utah. Schamberger and Gerard had the top two spots on the women's junior podium as well.
Lavén said, "I think the key for me was that I was trusting the process from start to finish. It was really fun to ski here. It's so fun seeing the team so strong together. We felt it this past week—I think this has been a great start to the season for the team."
Next Up | Full Schedule
The Utes return to race action on Friday, January 24 with a 20K freestyle mass start as part of the Montana State Invitational.
Alpine is on the back half of the break in the collegiate schedule; that portion of the slate also resumes with the MSU Invitational with a giant slalom scheduled for Monday, February 3.
Follow the Utah Ski Team
Follow the Utes on social media @utahskiteam.
Official Mobile App of Utah Athletics – Utah 360
The official mobile app of Utah Athletics is Utah 360. Download it today for access to news and information, schedules, rosters, stats and behind-the-scenes videos directly from your mobile device. The app is available in both the Apple Store (download) and Google Play (download). Add it today, access your game tickets and download them to your smartphone's wallet to make yourself game-day ready!
Lavén's win in the women's race, plus two other podiums on the men's side for Utah, helped the Utes build their lead to 57.5 points in the team standings for the meet. Utah now has 389 points in the team standings, with Denver in second place and Colorado third.
"It was a great day for us, and of course awesome conditions at Soldier Hollow," said director of skiing Fredrik Landstedt. "It's fun to be here on the new race course with a lot of people out here watching. It was a tight race for the men, and we had three guys in the top-four. Walker fell down in one of the last long uphills, but he got back up, fought his way back and came in fourth. That's part of skiing—an incredible and strong race by Walker, Brian and Joe of course.
"It was a great race for all of our women. Erica had a hard crash on the first lap as well, and came back to win fairly easily. Selma had a great race in fifth, and our two junior girls were right up there as well in Nina and Neve—eighth and ninth overall. It was a great day overall."
The alpine portion of the Utah Invitational will run on Saturday and Sunday, February 8-9 at the Spencer F. Eccles Olympic Mountain Center at the Utah Olympic Park.
Men's Race
Joe Davies battled to the very last kick with Denver's Andreas Kirkeng, ultimately taking silver after he finished just a hair short of Kirkeng with a time of 34:49.5. It gave Davies a podium result for the second straight day after claiming bronze in Saturday's 7.5K classic.
Brian Bushey earned his first podium of the 2025 season with a third-place result (34:49.9), just four-tenths of a second behind Davies. And Walker Hall placed fourth (34:50.2), fighting back into the front pack after being tripped up midway through the final lap.
"I had a great weekend, as did the team, so that was super fun," Hall said. "We got to show out for the home crowd. I was able to get my first college win yesterday in the classic race, which was huge for me. A big shoutout to the coaches for giving us great skis. The rest of the team killed it also.
"Today, it was really fast with a lot of drafting. It was hard to get away from anyone, so I just tried to stay in the top three or four the whole race. On the last big climb, I got tripped up…I kind of just knew that I had to do whatever I could to make up places. Gave it everything I could up that last hill and pulled some moves on the last downhill. I was able to catch back up to Brian and Joe and watch them get on the podium. It was a great day for the team."
In addition, Zachary Jayne and Lucas Wilmot claimed the Nos. 12-13 spots. In the larger competition field, including outside the RMISA, Wilmot claimed gold on the junior podium.
Today's race was the final college start for Hall before departing for a stretch of racing in Europe to include the World Cup circuit and U-23 World Championships. It's anticipated he'll return to the Utes in time for regionals in February.
Women's Race
Erica Lavén was once again atop the podium, picking up a commanding victory (39:30.0) with 19.2 seconds of padding for her second win in as many races. Battling with Kendall Kramer of Alaska Fairbanks, Lavén was eighth after the first split but worked her way back to the front and pulled away on the final lap.
Key points for the Utes also came from Selma Nevin in fifth (40:19.9) and Nina Schamberger in eighth (40:42.0). Neve Gerard contributed a ninth-place result, while Celine Mayer (19th) and Witta Walcher (25th) closed out the lineup for Utah. Schamberger and Gerard had the top two spots on the women's junior podium as well.
Lavén said, "I think the key for me was that I was trusting the process from start to finish. It was really fun to ski here. It's so fun seeing the team so strong together. We felt it this past week—I think this has been a great start to the season for the team."
Next Up | Full Schedule
The Utes return to race action on Friday, January 24 with a 20K freestyle mass start as part of the Montana State Invitational.
Alpine is on the back half of the break in the collegiate schedule; that portion of the slate also resumes with the MSU Invitational with a giant slalom scheduled for Monday, February 3.
Follow the Utah Ski Team
Follow the Utes on social media @utahskiteam.
Official Mobile App of Utah Athletics – Utah 360
The official mobile app of Utah Athletics is Utah 360. Download it today for access to news and information, schedules, rosters, stats and behind-the-scenes videos directly from your mobile device. The app is available in both the Apple Store (download) and Google Play (download). Add it today, access your game tickets and download them to your smartphone's wallet to make yourself game-day ready!
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