Four Earn Top 10 Finishes at CU Invitational

Wednesday, January 14

Eldora, Colo.

All Day

University of Utah

Colorado Invitational (Alpine)

1/14/2009 12:00 AM | Skiing

Jan. 14, 2009

Day 1 Results in PDF Format

ELDORA, Colo. - Four alpine skiers finished in the top 10 of the giant slalom to lead Utah on the first day of the Colorado Invitational at Eldora Ski Resort on Wednesday, Jan. 14.

Chelsea Laswell continued her recent strong results with a fifth-place finish in the GS in 2:10.29. Just behind her was Eva Huckova in sixth (2:10.53) while Mikaela Grassl tied for eighth in 2:10.72. Also finishing well was Chirine Njeim who placed 13th with a time of 2:11.39. Sofia Smith rounded out the women's finishers with a 22nd-place run (2:16.27). The women finished second overall with 73.5 points.

"This was Chelsea's best college result ever," Assistant alpine coach Sean McKenna said. "Conditions were difficult for everyone today - the course had a really soft snow surface and the conditions are really different than they were in Alaska last week. It was icy and steep in Alaska."

On the men's side, Scott Veenis led the Utes with a ninth-place run. He skied to a time of 2:06.37. He was followed by Thomas Zumbrunn (16th - 2:07.29) and Hermann Lager (21st - 2:09.87). Torjus Krogdahl skied to a 23rd-place run in 2:10.72. Both Kyle Kung and Nick Cohee struggled and did not place, with Kung uninjured after a spectacular crash. Utah's men picked up 53 points with their finishes.

"Scott's second run was much better than his first, which moved him up," McKenna said. "On the flip side, Thomas was ninth after his first run and made a mistake which cost him a lot of time."

Utah is in fourth after the first day with 126.5 points. Leading is New Mexico (149), followed by Denver (130) and Colorado (128.5). In fifth is Alaska-Anchorage (125).

The CU Invitational continues through the week. Next up is the men's and women's slalom races on Thursday, Jan. 15.