It was totally unexpected. The University of Utah, leading the NCAA Ski Championships after the first day, but forced to compete two skiers short on the second day, was supposed to lose points in the cross country event. Instead it earned more points.
The Utes now hold a 61 1/2 points lead over second place Vermont - 407 to 346 1/2. Utah started the day with a 25 1/2 points lead after the giant slalom on Wednesday. New Mexico is third with 338, followed by Colorado 335, Alaska-Anchorage 274, Dartmouth 243 1/2 and Middlebury 192.Hit by illness and injuries, the Utes were only able to start three skiers instead of the allowable four in both the men's classical 10K and the women's classical 5K on Thursday. And two Ute skiers were just getting over severe colds. To haveheld their ground would have been considered good. To have increased their lead was . . .
"A pleasant surprise," said Utah head coach Pat Miller. "The pressure was on the skiers and they came through.
"One thing that helped was we waxed as well as anyone. No, I think we waxed better than anyone. It was a combination of good performances by our athletes and the right wax."
Luke Bodensteiner of Utah won the men's 10K and teammate Marcus Nash was fourth. Two weeks ago Nash had to pull out of the World Championships in Sweden because of back problems. Bodensteiner posted a time of 31:41.1 to a 32:20.9 by runner-up Jeff Heusevelt of Alaska.
Bodensteiner admitted after the race that this was "the first race I was `on' the whole way. I sprinted the entire course."
Utah's third skier, Peter Klofutar, was 15th.
Helping Utah's cause was a poor showing by Vermont in the men's race. The Catamounts best finisher came in 12th.
Anette Skjolden of Colorado, won the women's 5K event. Taking second was Utah's Kristin Vestgren. Times were 15:43.9 and 16:36.5. Utah's Anne Broers came in 8th and Erica Alexander was 11th.
Here again, Vermont's lead three skiers finished behind Utah's - 5th, 10th and 17th - to lose more ground to the Utes.
And, while 611/2 points may be large, it is certainly not safe, not with the riskiest event, the slalom, scheduled on Friday. Teams have gained and lost more points than that in the slalom.
"No, we're not comfortable just yet," said Miller. "Now if we have a 50-point lead or better going into the last day, then yes, I'd feel comfortable. With two events yet to go, however, we can't relax.
"Right now, though, I feel pretty good. Slalom is our best alpine event. We've skied slalom well all year."
The finals event will be the freestyle cross country on Saturday.