After finishing as the runner-up for two seasons in a row, the University of Utah ski team was second-to-none at this year's NCAA Skiing Championships.
On the fourth and final day of competition, the Utes wrapped up their ninth national championship with a solid team performance in the classical nordic event Saturday at Bohart Ranch.Utah, which was ranked third coming into the national championships, finished well ahead of the pack with an overall team-total of 719 points through the eight events. The men's and women's teams each participate in two nordic and two alpine races which combine for one overall total.
Denver University came in second place with a combined score of 635.5 points. Vermont gained 615 points for the third spot and defending champion Colorado had 602.5 to finish in a surprisingly low fourth place.
"I like those kinds of upsets," mused Utah ski coach Pat Miller.
Though the Utes only had one individual national champion - Andrew Hare in men's giant slalom - they put together an outstanding group effort over the four days to claim the team title in convincing fashion.
Utah was the only school to have all of its skiers qualify and finish in every event. That was a big key in the victory since a rule was changed this year that made every score count on a team's total. In the past, four skiiers have been able to qualify with only three scores counting.
"It was a great team effort by all of the skiers," said Miller, whose team has now won nine championships since 1981. "With eight events in four days, it needs to be a very coordinated team effort. We were very balanced in all the events."
Though the cross-country events have been the Utes forte this season, it was Utah's alpine team that put them in good position after the first day. The men and women both won the Giant Slalom on Wednesday to put Utah in the driver seat from the beginning.
The Utes built on their overall lead with another pair of team titles in Thursday's freestyle nordic events. Friday, the alpine team didn't win any titles but was again very consistent as the men finished in third and the women placed fourth.
That gave Utah a huge 71.5 point lead and took some pressure off heading into Saturday's final races. The men finished second in the 20K classical race and the women struggled with tough waxing conditions but ended up fifth in their 15K classical event.
"We felt more relaxed knowing we had a big lead, but in another way we knew it was our turn to do well after the alpine team skiied so well," said Utah's Tor Arne Haugen, who finished in 10th in the 20K classical. "We didn't want to let them down."
All three Utah men placed in the top 10 in Saturday's race. Asle Slettemoen came in seventh with a time of 1:02:59.59 and Kurt Wulff grabbed the eighth spot (1:03:13.3).
Heidi Selnes skiied to a second-place finish in the women's 15K in a time of 49:57.5. Denver's Lisbeth Johnson won the race in 49:48.7. Utah's Stine Hellerud was 20th (54:19.9) and Ingvil Snofugl finished 29th in 55:08.5.
Miller was especially pleased with the team title since the Utes finished second in their first four meets this year. Utah didn't even win a meet until the regionals, the final tune-up for the national championships.
"Colorado dominated for a while, but we started to get things going together at the regionals," he said. "We were very well prepared and had great training and fortunately everybody stayed healthy."