Home » NCAA: Day One Results
Note: All nordic photos were taken by Louisa Demmitt. Normally I take all of the photos myself but a friend steped in and helped out today with the nordic events as they were happening at the same time as the alpine races.
NCAA's open, University of Vermont Second
Newry, ME: It was expected that a school from the east would be in the hunt for a NCAA championship but if one was a betting person, the money would have been on Dartmouth. Today however, the roar of the University of Vermont Catamounts was heard loud and clear as the Cats blasted into second place overall with a total of 327 points, trailing leader University of Denver by just three points.
The Catamounts who contributed the most points were the victors Juergen Uhl and David Donaldson. Donaldson carved up the iced up Giant Slalom course masterfully on his way to an unbeatable total time of 2:30.24. Uhl proved his reputation as the person to beat in the Classic discipline of Nordic skiing, powering through the hilly Rumford course in 24:14.9.
Yet the east also showed its teeth in other events, with a breakout win by Freshman Lindsay Cone of St. Lawrence. Always in the hunt for a win, Cone couldn't have picked a better time to go for broke, schussing down the icy slope for a total time of 2:35.70.
No other women from the east were able to crack the top five, packed with western skiers. However things went a little better for the east in the Men's Giant Slalom with Andrew Wagner powering to third place followed by Eric Mann of Williams. For the Women's Nordic the only eastern skier to crack the top five was Rosie Brennan with a fourth place finish. In the men's Nordic the only eastern skier in the top five other than Uhl was the fellow Catamount, Franz Bernstein.
Team totals for the first day showed western schools packing the top five with the University of Denver in first place with 330 points followed by the University of Vermont with 327 points, then the University of Utah with a not so distant 317.5. The University of Colorado placed fourth with 299 points while the University of New Mexico took fifth with 277 points. Dartmouth placed in seventh followed by Middlebury and the University of New Hampshire with 261.5, 229, and 195 respectively.
Join us tomorrow as we get back on schedule with the Slalom event held at Sunday River. With the University of Vermont just three points out, tomorrow is sure to be a tight race.
NCAA Official Press Release, by Andy Walter of Bates College
Denver leads after day one and UVM in second.
March 12, 2009
Courtesy of Bates College, Hosts
BETHEL and RUMFORD, Maine -- Powered in large part by Antje Maempel and the University of Denver women's Nordic ski team, the DU Pioneers grabbed a slight lead over the University of Vermont in the race for the team title on Thursday as the NCAA Skiing Championships, hosted by Bates College, got under way after a day's delay.
Denver, looking for its second consecutive NCAA team title, has 330 points to Vermont's 327, with Alpine slalom on Friday and Nordic freestyle races on Saturday left in the Championships. The University of Utah isn't far behind, with 318 points, with Colorado (299) and Alaska-Anchorage (283) rounding out the top five.
Thursday saw the giant slalom competition get started after it was postponed due to bad weather on Wednesday.
In the women's GS at Sunday River, St. Lawrence University freshman Lindsay Cone won the individual title, a program first for the Saints. Cone notched the second best first run in the field of 34 competitors and her second run of 1:18.53 was the best in the field, giving her a combined time of 2:35.70, 0.70 seconds ahead of runner-up Estelle Pecherand of New Mexico.
"It was a beautiful day and the snow was perfect," said Cone, a native of Killington, Vt. "My skiing clicked for me. I was confident in my skiing."
"We're ecstatic," said Saints alpine coach Jeff Pier. "She started the year injured, so to come this far is tremendous. "I know they're pretty happy back (on campus) in Canton, N.Y."
Rounding out the top five were Eva Huckova of Utah, Alexandra Parker of Alaska-Anchorage and Stefanie Demetz of New Mexico.
Another freshman, Vermont's David Donaldson, won the men's GS with a two-run combined time of 2:30.24, 0.58 seconds ahead of runner-up Leif Haugen of Denver. Donaldson, a 22-year-old from Toronto, took first place in both the slalom and giant slalom earlier in the season at the Bates Carnival.
"I knew the hill very well and I had a little bit of an advantage," said Donaldson. "I made a few mistakes on the first run, but I knew on this hill you can put the hammer down and give it 100 percent, and not have to worry about dangerous terrain. You just have to absolutely go out as hard as you can in order to go out on top, and it's a good thing I did, I guess."
Rounding out the top five in the men's GS were Andrew Wagner of Middlebury, Eric Mann of Williams and Nick Cohee of Utah.
The Nordic competition went on as scheduled at Black Mountain in Rumford, Maine, with Vermont senior Juergen Uhl putting on a dominating performance in the men's 10K Classical race. His teammate Donaldson said word of Uhl's performance motivated his Catamounts teammates to excel on the slopes half an hour away at Sunday River.
Uhl finished the course in 24:14.9, over 10 seconds faster than his nearest competitor, Raphael Wunderle of Alaska-Anchorage.
"I felt sweet. I didn't even try to ski, I just went out there and trusted my coaches -- they usually do a great job with [waxing] the skis," said Uhl. "When I heard the first split, I was up by only a second, maybe, but I knew it was all downhill after that, and I knew my skis were fast enough to do it, so I felt good. It all worked out perfectly."
Rounding out the top five in the event were Jesper Ostensen of Colorado, Harald Loevensk of Denver and Franz Bernstein of Vermont.
Denver sophomore Maempel won women's 5K Classical race in a time of 13:52.4, 6.5 seconds ahead of a familiar competitor, Polina Ermoshina of New Mexico.
"My goal was to be in the top three," said Maempel. "Polina and I are pretty tight in the classical races. We're always switching. I knew if I had a good day and had good skis that I could win. And everything was perfect. The skis, the snow, the weather was great."
The NCAA Skiing Championships, hosted by Bates College, resume tomorrow with the men's and women's slalom events at Sunday River.
Interview with Giant Slalom winner, Lindsay Cone
Interview with Giant Slalom winner, David Donaldson