Photo Courtesy: CUBuffs.com
PARK CITY, Utah — The University of Colorado ski team first rallied, and then in part to a strong showing in the men’s slalom, cruised to victory here Saturday in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Championships, which also served as the annual NCAA West Regional.
Colorado, ranked No. 2 in the nation behind Vermont, entered the day two-and-a-half points behind third-ranked Utah (down from 12.5 after an overnight scoring correction), took a slim 1.5 point lead after the Nordic classical races and then pulled away after three Buffs finished in the top eight in the men’s slalom. The Buffs won with 865.5 points, with Utah grabbing runner-up honors with 790; the Utes were gunning for its first RMISA title since 2003. New Mexico (777.5), Denver (759) and Alaska-Anchorage (747) rounded out the top five in the seven-team event.
Colorado captured its 11th RMISA title under head coach Richard Rokos, the second straight and fourth in the last six years. The Buffs added to their lead and now have 23 RMISA championships overall, also having won four of the five meets in the west this winter.
More importantly, Colorado, along with Denver, New Mexico and Utah all qualified full 12-skier teams for the next month’s NCAA Championships, which are set for March 9-12 in Stowe, Vt.
The women’s giant slalom was cancelled due to the weather conditions, a combination of continuous heavy snowfall and poor visibility on the intended course. RMISA rules dictate that if a race is cancelled, then its companion, in this case the slalom, is scored double. That helped Colorado, which had outpointed Utah 103-78 in the GS, thus the Buffs picked up another 25 on the Utes. It also helped Denver beat out Alaska for fourth.
“The coaches were concerned about the skiers’ safety,” Rokos said of the cancellation. “There was way too much snow overnight. To handle that much snow with a small start field, it would’ve been impossible to run the race. We took a longer period of time to run the men’s slalom, but that was a quality event for all racers from top to bottom. If we would have done quick work with both, we would’ve split the volunteers on both hills and neither race would have been of any real quality.”
02/26/2011 David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information
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Way to go Buffs!!!
Much Love!