The University of Utah didn't lose any ground after the second event in the NCAA Ski Championships on Thursday, the classical cross country, it merely found someone else to chase.
Now, instead of Colorado, Utah follows Vermont. Now instead of leading, Colorado is a hopeful third.Vermont won both the men's and women's nordic events to wrestle the lead from Colorado. A strong showing by the women's team and a good individual outing by Luke Bodensteine, left Utah in second and well within reach of the title.
Going into Friday's slalom, Vermont lead with 396 points, followed by Utah with 379, CU with 363, Dartmouth with 328, Wyoming with 306 and New Mexico with 289. When the day started, Colorado led Utah by 10 and Vermont followed the Utes by two.
Vermont showed some uncharacteristic calmness Thursday in the two nordic events. It made no mistakes, no unforced errors in a rush to catch up. It dominated both events. Past years, Vermont has been known to self-destruct.
Utah, too, showed a certain poise in its skiing after a costly slip on Wednesday.The men's giant slalom team that was expected to do very well, didn't. Good, steady cross country skiing Thursday, and a couple of all-out presses kept the Utes a contender.
In the women's 5 kilometer classical style - two skis sliding side-by-side as opposed to freestyle where skating is allowed - Anne Kari Aas took second for the Utes. Winning the event was Vermont's Laura Wilson. Her time was 16 minutes, 34 seconds, to a 16:43.10 for Aas. Last year Wilson was second and Aas third.
The Ute skier said at the finish that she skied well and had no trouble with the ice-hard track that, in certain exposed section, had to be built and packed by hand because of very limited snowpack.
She did admit to starting out too fast. "In the middle I had to slow down a little and start thinking technique."
Vermont put skiers in third and fifth, but Utah answered with Kim Csizmazia in sixth and Kris Ryan in seventh. The Utes came out giving up only six points. Colorado, however, tumbled and rolled. It lost 28 points to Utah.
In the men's race that followed, Bodensteine took a good feeling, put it into a great race, and beat highly favored Joe Galanes of Vermont in doing it.
After the race, and hardly showing signs of the grueling 10 kilometer run on skis, he said it was just one of those perfect days for him.
"I felt good today," he said. "I felt strong. I felt good on the course, too. I was getting good kick (hold) from the skis. I was able to push up hills without sliding around."
He said that after the first five kilometers he was told he was 15 seconds behind Galanes. He was about even with the Vermont skier as he came to the last uphill push.
"By then I knew I had it. I was going good on the uphills and I knew I could do it. On the last hill I felt comfortable. I still had energy at the top," he said.
Vermont, however, ended up winning the event. It put skiers in second, third and 11th. Utah's second best was Thomas Lium in sixth. Utah's third skier, Mark Gray, who spent most of the last two days in bed ill, fell back to 23rd. Had he been in top shape, said Ute coach Pat Miller, "It's likely he would have finished in the top 10. He's been in there all year." Had that been the case Utah would have been even with Vermont.
Vermont ended up beating Utah by 15 points. CU was able to stay in the chase with a performance two points better than Utah's.
For the Utes, the showdown, now, will come in the slalom. They will have to have at least a 20 point lead on Vermont, going by Thursday's nordic race, in order to hold over a Vermont or Colorado charge in the freestyle cross country.
According to Miller, his nordic skiers are not as strong in the freestyle nordic event. Vermont and Colorado are.