Utes Place First In Second Day Of NCAA's

Thursday, March 6

Hanover, N.H.

TBA

University of Utah

NCAA Championships (Alpine)

3/6/2003 12:00 AM | Skiing

March 6, 2003

HANOVER, N.H. - The University of Utah ski team took over the top spot on day two of the NCAA Championships.The Utes couldn't have asked for a better result, finishing with a 66.5 point lead over the Lobos of New Mexico.

Midway through this year's NCAA Championships, Utah holds on to first with a combined point total of 357.0, while New Mexico finished the day with 290.5.

"What a great day," said Head Coach Kevin Sweeney. "This was a superb effort by the alpine team. I'm very proud of this team for the way they are coming together. They were able to find the perfect combination of team scores and finished solid. This was an extremely tough day with a lot of pressure on both the men and women. I give them a tremendous amount of credit for finishing strong."

The alpine team boosted the Utes to a comfortable lead after trailing New Mexico yesterday. Vermont still resides in third place with 284.0 points, Colorado came in with 263.5 points to hold fourth and last year's NCAA Champs Denver sits at fifth with a point total of 236.5.

"It was an awesome day," Head Alpine Coach Aaron Atkins remarked. "We skied with a lot of confidence and both teams were really pumped up opening the day. As a whole, we skied head above everyone in the west and that was really impressive to see. We have been training really well and I hope we can continue this success into tomorrow's events."

The men's team had one of its best performances of the year placing all athletes within the top-six in the GS. Freshman standout Benjamin Thornhill won his first-ever race of the season with an amazing time of 1:59.78. Jernej Bukovec placed fourth with a time of 2:00.31, while junior Pierre Olsson ended the day with two great runs, managing to garner sixth. Olsson was only 0.12 seconds away from sliding into the top five.

"Ben coming through and winning was very special," said Sweeney. "He is full of talent and today he just let it rip. He has found his niche on the team and he has been a great asset for us. Jernej and Pierre have been consistent all year and I'm proud to see them continuing to ski well."

The women's squad shredded the slopes scoring two top-three finishes. No. 1-ranked Lina Johansson was only a tenth of a second shy of taking home the GS race. The junior cranked out an overall time of 2:07.41 to take second. Teammate Rowena Bright finished with an outstanding time of 2:08.69 to notch third place. Senior Petra Svet was put in somewhat of a pressure situation, as she was the first woman skier from the west out of the gate. Svet skied to a 12th-place finish.

"I wanted to come out and finish strong," remarked an excited Svet. "The guys did a great job opening up and we tried to put up scores close to theirs. I was a little disappointed with my score, but we are in first place and that's all I can ask for."

Friday the action shifts back to nordic racing, with the men's 20-kilometer classical and the women's 15-kilometer classical at the Dartmouth cross country center in Hanover, N.H.