Cohee Wins First Career Race as Utes Lead Seawolf Invitational

Thursday, January 8

Girdwood, Alaska

All Day

University of Utah

Seawolf Invitational/US National Sprint

Cohee Wins First Career Race as Utes Lead Seawolf Invitational

1/8/2009 12:00 AM | Skiing

Jan. 8, 2009

Full Results in PDF Format

ANCHORAGE - Freshman skier Nick Cohee won the men's giant slalom to lead Utah on the first day of the Seawolf Invitational as the alpine contingent boosted the Utes into the team lead.

Cohee won the giant slalom with a time of 1:43.69. It was his first collegiate alpine race. Five men finished in the top ten. Cohee was followed by second-place finisher and Alaska native Kyle Kung (1:43.72). Thomas Zumbrunn and Scott Veenis were fifth and sixth, respectively, with Zumbrunn finishing in 1:44.05 and Veenis crossing the line in 1:44.11. Hermann Lager placed 10th in 1:44.68. Also racing for the men was Torjus Krogdahl, who missed a gate on his first run but was one of the top five skiers on the second run. He was 39th overall.

"Nick had an awesome race," head alpine coach Jaka Korencan said. "He skied really well in the first run and smart in the second run to just win it. He was just so focused and competitive and he really surprised a lot of coaches. It was probably the best race the Utah men have ever had. They did an amazing job despite the cold temperatures and managed to be focused on the race."

Chirine Njeim led the women in the slalom with a ninth-place finish in 1:43.44. Sofia Smith had the first top 10 finish of her career, coming in 10th in 1:43.52. Chelsea Laswell also had a solid day with a 12th-place run (1:43.74). Eva Huckova was disqualified after missing a gate, while Mikaela Grassl also skied out.

"Chirine, Chelsea and Sofia really stepped up and finished strong," Korencan said. "They raced with a lot of energy and it was great to see them perform well and finish up strong. Unfortunately, things happen, and Eva and Mikaela's starting draw gave them a disadvantage.

"The whole team did extremely well across the board. This is a huge confidence booster to start the season and it couldn't be better. I really couldn't be more proud. All of their hard work in the summer and fall has really paid off. I hope we can keep going with that."

Utah has 147 points to lead the Seawolf Invitational. Alaska has 135 for second, while Denver and Colorado are third and fourth, respectively, with 132 and 131 points.

Away from collegiate competition, the Nordic team raced in the US National Sprint Race. Even Sletten paced the men, finishing 12th (3:43.57) in the qualifier and sixth overall. Tom Smith was 29th (3:49.91) while Rolf Figi placed 32nd (3:50.20). Parker Tyler crossed the line fourth in the women's qualifying race to lead all Utah skiers with a time of 3:53.41. Annelies Cook also had a strong finish with a 10th-place run (4:03.35) in the qualifier.

"We are pretty psyched," Director of Skiing Eli Brown said. "I've said all along that we are in the hunt and today we proved that if we put everything together we can fight. All-in-all it was a good day. We need to get good results this weekend to get good qualifying points, and I am pretty confident that we will."

Action continues in Alaska on Saturday, Jan., 9, with the UAA Invite 5 and 10-km classic races as well as the women's giant slalom and men's slalom. The Seawolf Invitational and University of Alaska-Anchorage Invitational are running concurrently.