Bozeman, Montana- The University of Nevada ski team finished in sixth place at the Montana State Invitational, hosted by MSU at Bohart Ranch in Bozeman, Montana January 15-17.
First place of the seven-team invitational went to Colorado with 901 points. New Mexico (834) came in second followed by Denver (820) in third, Utah (712) in fourth, Alaska-Anchorage (704) in fifth and the Wolf Pack in sixth with 605 points followed by Montana State (596) in seventh.
Saturday and Sunday's competition included the 5k Freestyle for the women and the 10k Freestyle for the men along with the Giant Slalom and Slalom for both men and women.
The Wolf Pack’s Nicole Poleschuk (Alberta, Canada) led the women in both Slalom events, as she finished 11th clocking a time of 1:41.36 in the Slalom and came in 12th Giant Slalom at 1:49.4.
Following Poleschuk in the Slalom was Erika Horst, who finished 19th (1:43.58).
Amy Harris (Incline, Nev.) was 25th in the Slalom at 1:46.67, and 19th in the Giant Slalom, clocking 1:50.2.
Kristina Palovicova (Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia) rounded out the women’s Slalom in 27th at 1:47.44. Palovicova also came in 26th in the Giant Salmon clocking a time of 1:52.3, respectively.
Martin Harris (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) was the top finisher from Nevada in both the Slalom and Giant Slalom on the men’s side. Harris came in fourth in the Slalom at 1:32.78 and 17th in the Giant Slalom at 1:46.1.
Aldo Ballabio (Napoli, Italy) finished with a time of 1:34.72 to take 16th in the Slalom and tied for 39th with teammate Cory McConnell (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) clocking 1:51.2 in the Giant Slalom, respectively.
David Apap (Gap, France) came in 32nd (2:12.42) for the Slalom and 20th in the Giant Slalom clocking a time of 1:46.5 as Shane Collins (Truckee, Calif.) came in 26th (1:47.4).
The Wolf Pack women had two top ten finishers in the 5k Freestyle, newcomer Maria Graefnings finished fourth at 14:10.15 followed by teammate Kristin Roennestrand in ninth (14:33.40). Ase Carlson (Bozeman, Montana) came in 23rd at 15:33.00.
As for 10k Freestyle on the men’s side, Elias Bucher (Schüpfheim, Switzerland) came in 19th for the Pack, clocking a 26:51.31. August Brautigam (Huntington, Vermont) finished 26th at 27:41.32 and Trygve Ellingsen (Trondheim, Norway) came in 28th at 28:21.06. Gustavo Johnson (Salt Lake City, Utah) rounded out the men’s team finishing 32nd with a time of 30:06.39.
Day One Recap;
The top finisher the Wolf Pack in the women’s 10k Classic was newcomer, Maria Graefnings. Graefnings came in sixth clocking a 33:52.68.
“Maria is new to the altitude, we asked her to go out easy and watch the race develop, she was able to do exactly what we asked,” Head Ski Coach August Teague said.
Sophomore Kristin Roennestrand (Stromsund, Sweden) came in 12th at 34:59.24. Ase Carlson finished 28th with a time of 38:41.72.
The top finisher for the men in the 15k Classic was freshman Trygve Ellingsen finished 22nd (47.43.61).
“Trygve improved as the race went along and was able to ski him self up,” Teague said.
Sophomore teammate, Elias Bucher was close behind Ellingsen as he came in 24th at 48:19.73. Juniors August Brautigam and Gustavo Johnson came in 30th (51:32.24) and 32nd (53:59.85), respectively.
