The UAA ski team was missing one of its top performers Friday at Kincaid Park, but Jaime Bronga and Laura Rombach turned in outstanding efforts to give the Seawolves two finishers in the top four in the women's 15-kilometer classical race in the Seawolf Invitational.
Bronga, a senior from Anchorage, finished second to Colorado's Elisha Hajkova by four-tenths of a second. Those two put a sizeable gap over the rest of the field, which featured the best NCAA skiers from the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association.
The race was one of four NCAA races Friday in Anchorage and Girdwood. UAA hosted a slalom race at Alyeska Ski Resort as well as the cross-country races at Kincaid.
The Seawolves have been competing at home since last Saturday and will wrap up their rare home appearances with more alpine racing today at Alyeska. This is the first time UAA has hosted a home ski meet since 2009.
Actually, the Seawolves are hosting two meets -- the UAA Invitational and the Seawolf Invitational, each of which featured two days of alpine racing and two days of nordic racing.
Friday's races at Alyeska marked the conclusion of the UAA Invitational; Utah claimed the team title with 898 points, with UAA fourth with 718. Today's alpine races will wrap up the Seawolf Invitational, which Utah currently leads with 561 points, with UAA third with 491.
The home meets provided a nice showcase for Bronga, who isenjoying a remarkable season filled with nothing but top-four finishes, and this time Rombach, a senior from Germany, joined her in the top four. Missing from the field was a third senior who has been a top contributor for the UAA women's nordic team, Steffi Hiemer, who missed the race because she was sick.
Other winners Friday were Denver's Espen Lysdahl in the men's slalom, Utah's Tii-maria Romar in the women's slaliom and Colorado's Rune Oedegaard in the men's 20-K classic. Oedegaard took a five-second victory over David Norris, a Fairbanks skier who competes for Montana State.
The only other UAA skiers with top-10 showings Friday were senior Alex Parker, who raced to eighth place in the women's slalom race at Alyeska Ski Resort, and sophomore Lukas Ebner, who placed ninth in the men's 20-K classic race at Kincaid.
Leading the UAA men in the slalom at Alyeska were Andreas Adde (11th) and Christopher Kollenborg (12th).
UAA Invitational
Final team standings
Utah 898, Colorado 831, Denver 775, UAA 718, Montana State 688
Seawolf Invitational
Standings through 5 of 6 events
Utah 561, Colorado 548, UAA 491, Montana State 457, New Mexico 453
Friday's results
Alyeska Resort
Men's slalom
1) Lysdahl, Espen DU 1:36.73; 2) Brenna, Petter WMC 1:37.13; 3) Krogdahl, Torjus UU 1:38.06; 4) Philp, Trevor DU 1:38.21; 5) LAMB, Max CU 1:38.48; 6) MCDONALD, Fletcher CU 1:38.59; 7) MARNO, Max DU 1:38.79; 8) Cohee, Nick UU 1:38.95; 9) RASANEN, Joonas UNM 1:38.95; 10) Wilson, Ryan UU 1:38.98 ; 11) ADDE, Andreas UAA 1:39.04; 12) KOLLENBORG, Christopher UAA 1:39.22; 13) Acosta, Christopher UNM 1:39.29; 14) REYNOLDS, Charlie DU 1:39.48; 15) FLOWERS, Kitt DU 1:39.53; 16) SPENST, Taggart CU 1:39.89; 17) HAUG, Andreas Willumsen CU 1:39.89; 18) FAVRE, Arnaud WMC 1:39.94; 19) Brewington, Cam UAA 1:40.05; 20) JAGOT, Benoit WMC 1:40.20; 21) AVRIN, A J DU 1:40.67; 22) TRIENDL, Armin UNM 1:40.81; 23) SHIFFRIN, Taylor WR 1:40.88; 24) Alexander, Sean UAA 1:43.11; 25) Horner, Sean UNM 1:43.29; 26) Martin, Max WR 1:45.29; 27) MCCONNELL, Ryan MSU 1:45.36; 28) RADFORD, Michael MSU 1:46.23; 29) OWSLEY, David MSU 1:46.49; 30) HRIBAR, Timotej UU 1:47.41; 31 95 6530440 Cleason, James WR 1:49.16; 32) Niederhauser, Christoph WR 1:49.36; 33) LEEVER, Alex WR 1:51.22; 34) Erickson, Alexander WR 1:51.29; 35) Rohloff, Ziggy WR 1:51.77; 36) ZIKA, Adam CU 1:53.63; 37) Unicume, Cody WR 1:54.42; 38) Krone, Kevin WR 1:54.65; 39) Crews, Nicholas WR 1:55.11; 40) Lebel, James WR 1:56.35; 41) Fox, Dylan WR 1:59.52; 42 ) Kelly, Kevin WR 1:59.91; 43) BENNETT, Bob WR 2:06.94; 44) Mankovich, Nathan WR 2:37.44.
Women's slalom
1) Tii-maria Romar UU 1:40.36; 2) Williams, Kate UNM 1:43.09; 3) Grant, Sterling, DU, 1:43.11; 4) Nordh, Carolina, CU, 1:43.14; 5) Fraschini, Maria Camilla WMC 1:43.50; 6) Hartman, Katie CU 1:43.51; 7) Irwin, Stephanie MSU 1:43.82; 8) Parker, Alex UAA 1:44.32; 9) Rizzieri, Maria Elena DU 1:44.72; 10) Allen, Jennifer CU 1:45.46; 11) Riopelle, Marissa MSU 1:45.70; 12) Berecz, Anna UAA 1:46.26; 13) Brown, Kendall WMC 1:46.33; 14) Holmberg, Erika WMC 1:46.63; 15) Guetschow, Taylor UAA 1:47.52; 16) Anderson, Nicole WR 1:48.82; 17) Bjerka, Ida Steien UAA 1:49.15; 18) Macdonald, Sandra UAA 1:49.65; 19) Hartman, Ellie WR 1:50.80; 20) Lane, Jordan WR 1:52.82; 21) Sulte, Aspen WR 1:55.17; 22) Mclean, Shane CU 1:58.59; 23) Markel, Gabrielle WR 2:00.52; 24) Ghent, Erika CU 2:02.47; 25) Van Der Linden, Alexandra WR 2:02.67; 26) Bordeau, Julie UU 2:07.27; 27) Delaney, Devin DU 2:08.39; 28) Ingrim, Hannah WR 2:09.76; 29) Burrows, Khyla CU 2:10.12; 30) Lukes, Molly WR 2:10.19; 31) Demetz, Stefanie UNM 2:14.27; 32) Grauer, Taylor WR 2:22.91; 33) Lebel, Jacqueline MSU 2:27.91; 34) Hostetter, Mary Rachel UNM 2:40.06.
Kincaid Park
Men's 20-K classic
1) OEDEGAARD, Rune Malo CU 54:25.5; 2) NORRIS, David MSU 54:30.0; 3) HAVLICK, Miles UU 54:46.8; 4) HOYE, Andreas CU 54:53.1; 5) MALLAMS, Ian CU 55:26.1; 6) DOUGHERTY, Andrew DU 55:52.0; 7) OTTO, Christian UNM 55:59.8; 8) PRESTSAETER, Sjur UNM 56:03.3; 9) EBNER, Lukas UAA 56:14.5; 10) BYE BREVIK, Joergen DU 56:17.4; 11) MOLEGAARD-NIELSEN, La UAA 56:25.1; 12) SMITH, Didrik UU 56:46.7; 13) FIGI, Rolf UU 57:05.7 ; 14) SCHALLINGER, Michael MSU 57:08.5; 15) KESSELHEIM, Sawyer MSU 57:09.4; 16) PLETCHER, Reid CU 57:49.7; 17) REINKING, Tyler MSU 57:59.0; 18) DU PASQUIER, Arnaud CU 58:07.2; 19) ZENI, Nevio UAA 58:13.7; 20) SOERLUND, Kristian DU 58:35.9; 21) MADDEN, Pat MSU 59:37.5; 22) SOLBERG, Eivind UNM 1:00:07.5; 23) KLAUSMANN, Lutz UAA 1:00:42.1; 24) DUNLAP, Davis UAA 1:00:42.6; 25) JOHNSTON, Galen UAA 1:02:59.7; 26) WALLACE, Andrew DU 1:03:05.4; 27) TREINEN, Max UAA 1:04:37.5; 28) BREWSTER, Brandon UAA 1:05:23.1.
Non-NCAA skiers -- IVERSON, Mark APU 54:28.2; KNIGHT, Brent APU 55:30.3; WATTS, Dylan APU 56:00.4; NOVAK, Jack APU 1:01:21.0; HAERING, Don APU 1:02:45.6.
Women's 15-K classic
1) HAJKOVA, Eliska CU 47:56.9; 2) BRONGA, Jaime UAA 47:57.3; 3) GRAEFNINGS, Maria UU 48:14.2; 4) ROMBACH, Laura UAA 48:22.4; 5) KLAESSON, Linn UNM 48:25.8; 6) WILSGAARD, Silje DU 49:29.0; 7) DOLAN, Kate DU 49:32.9;8) TYLER, Parker UU 49:43.7; 9) NORD, Anni UNM 49:52.9; 10) REID, Joanne CU 50:08.2; 11) KEMP, Rose UU 50:16.0; 12) CHAUVET, Clara UNM 50:16.6; 13) KIRVESNIEMI, Anita UNM 50:28.6; 14) BACKSTRUM, Kate MSU 50:43.5; 15) KANADY, Rachelle MSU 51:07.4; 16) ROSE, Mary CU 51:10.3; 17) CARLSON, Ase MSU 51:13.2; 18) MCDERMOTT, Cambria MSU 51:17.8;19) KUTZ, Casy MSU 51:26.5; 20) YEATON, Jessica MSU 51:51.6; 21) MADSEN, Marianne CU 52:16.8; 22) GILL Katie DU 52:31.1; 23) LEASK, Ingrid UNM 52:33.5; 24) BREED, Elena DU 53:41.8; 25) SMITH, Karina UAA 54:16.0; 26) LARSEN, Maerta UU 55:26.4; 27) STEGE, Katie CU 56:52.7.
Non-NCAA skiers -- FRITZ, Lauren 49:32.6; LOAN, Kinsey 1:09.9; HAERING, Celia 52:29.2.
Anchorage Daily News