Kluck and Lavén win Classic Sprints to Close RMISA Invitational

Friday, January 9

Lake Placid, N.Y. / Mt. Van Hoevenberg

University of Utah

Classic Sprints

Photo by Matan Coll

Kluck and Lavén win Classic Sprints to Close RMISA Invitational

1/9/2026 2:13 PM | Skiing

Results

Utah sweeps all four race victories plus the team title in the meet

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – The Utah Ski Team closed out its first meet of the season on Friday as the Utes raced classic sprint events at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. It was the final part of the RMISA Invitational and was scored within the larger field of athletes competing at this week's U.S. Cross Country Championships and SuperTour events.

Max Kluck and Erica Lavén brought home individual wins on Friday, as Utah ended the meet a perfect 4-for-4 on individual race victories and claimed the team meet victory as well with 414 points.

The temperature was around 32 degrees with sunny conditions when the day began with sprint qualifiers. But by the time heats rolled around, rain arrived and made for interesting conditions.

"We had really good skis and everyone performed great," said director of skiing Fredrik Landstedt. "It was super fun to see Max on the overall podium and winning the RMISA race. Zachary Jayne continues to show his strength and double-poled his way to second in the RMISA and fourth in the overall race. Carl Rune also had his best finish. And, Erica fought super hard to make it to the final and win the RMISA race. It was super fun for Sofia Pedersen to be second as well."

Jayne added, "The team performed exceptionally well this week. Really proud of all the races individually and it was great for us to take home the College Cup. A lot of personal bests and international qualification from our skiers, so I think it will be a great season for our team!"

Men's Race
Max Kluck and Zachary Jayne both reach the classic sprints finals and placed 3-4 in the overall race, respectively, putting them in the top two spots in the college scoring. Carl Rune reached the semifinals on the way to fourth in the RMISA results.

Mons Melbye rounded out the Utah men's lineup in 10^th place.

Kluck and Jayne each won their quarterfinal heats, while Rune was third but made it through to the semifinals as a lucky loser. Then in the semifinals, Kluck was edged out by Will Koch to finish second; meanwhile Jayne reached the final as a lucky loser.

Women's Race
Erica Lavén and Sofia Pedersen took the top two spots on the RMISA podium, with Pedersen's day including the top collegiate performance in the sprint qualification round.

Neve Gerard was sixth and Ally Wheeler tabbed 14^th for Utah.

Lavén and Pedersen each were second in their quarterfinal heats before Lavén won her semifinal. Though she would eventually finish sixth in the final, she was the only RMISA skier to advance to that portion of the race—effectively earning the college win before the final took place.

Next Up
It's time for some alpine action as Utah opens that portion of the schedule with the Denver Invitational and Colorado Invitational next week, with races taking place from Monday through Thursday, Jan. 12-15. Slalom will go down on Monday and Tuesday at Loveland Ski Area, before RMISA teams move to Aspen Highlands for GS on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Nordic team is off from competition for about two weeks with Utah's home meet awaiting on the other side. The Utes will host the Utah Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 24-25 at Soldier Hollow Nordic Center in Midway, Utah. Admission and parking for the meet will be free and more information about the races will be available soon.

Follow the Utah Ski Team on social media @utahskiteam. Download the Utah 360 app here.