A senior at UAA, Bronga on Saturday won an NCAA race for the second weekend in a row to continue an impressive streak that includes four top-4 finishes in her last four races.
Bronga's latest triumph came in a 10-kilometer mass-start freestyle on the final day of the Denver Invitational in Tabernash, Colo. She outdueled Colorado's Elisha Hajkova by 5.6 seconds, breaking away on the final downhill and sprinting to the finish to claim victory in 36 minutes, 59.5 seconds.
Bronga's performance was part of another impressive day for the UAA women at Devil's Thumb Ranch. Laura Rombach placed third (37:23.6) and Steffi Hiemer fifth (37:59.9) to vault the Seawolves into third place in the final team standings.
The day before, in a 5-K classic, Bronga placed fourth, Hiemer fifth and Rombach sixth. For Hiemer and Rombach, the results were career-bests in freestyle races.
"We're doing awesome," Bronga said in a phone interview. "The three of us have been skiing at UAA now for four years, and I think that has made all of us better skiers, and all of us are having good seasons. It keeps our attitudes really positive."
Bronga has enjoyed her share of awesome moments as racer -- she was the 2008 state skimeister for East High and is a three-time All-American for UAA -- this season is shaping up as one of her best.
At last week's Colorado Invitational, she won the 10-K classic and was second in the 5-K freestyle to earn athlete-of-the-week honors from the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Skiing Association. Earlier in the season, she won a pair of races in a dual meet between UAA and UAF at Kincaid Park.
"I just think I have some good training behind me," Bronga said.
And some serious incentive.
"It's my last year, and that helps with your attitude," she said. "You have an all-or-nothing feeling."
Bronga said she decided in March that her senior year of college would mark the end of her ski racing career. When the current semester ends, she will be one class short of earning a degree in civil engineering.
She's a national-class skier -- she had a pair of top-15 finishes at the recent U.S. Cross Country Championships -- but she said she doesn't plan to pursue the sport seriously after college.
"It's the time commitment, and it's pretty stressful," she said. "I like skiing, but I like doing other things too. I've never not been a skier, but I'm looking forward to taking advantage of having free time and doing other fun things."
Bronga, Rombach and Hiemer scored a combined 133 points and the men's nordic team added 84 to help the Seawolves make up a 17-point deficit Saturday and leapfrog past Denver for third place in the team standings. Utah won the meet with 902 points, followed by Colorado (845), UAA (770) and Denver (752).
While the three seniors paced the UAA women, underclassmen led the men. Sophomore Lukas Ebner led the UAA men by placing 10th in the 15-K freestyle (49:43.5), freshman Nevio Zeni was a career-best 12th (50:10) and sophomore Lasse Molgaard-Nielson was 16th (50:39.5). Colorado's Rune Malo Oedegaard won the race in 48:14.5.
The Seawolves get a break from racing this week and return to action Feb. 3-4 at their own UAA Invitational at Kincaid Park and Alyeska Ski Resort.
Reach Beth Bragg at bbragg@adn.com or 257-4335.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.