Sletten, Cohee Win at Denver Invitational

Friday, February 6

Winter Park/Devils Thumb, Colo.

All Day

University of Utah

Denver Invitational

2/6/2009 12:00 AM | Skiing

Feb. 6, 2009

WINTER PARK, Colo. - Senior Even Sletten won the men's 10-km classic race while freshman Nick Cohee finished first in the men's giant slalom to lead Utah on the first day of the Denver Invitational on Friday, Feb. 6.

Utah leads the Denver Invitational standings after the first day of competition with 270 points. In second is Colorado (254 points) followed by Denver (241), Alaska-Anchorage (235) and Nevada (234) in the top five.

Sletten had his best race of the year in the 10-km classic, finishing in 34:31.8. Ben Fick was the next Utah skier in 11th with a time of 36:07.2. Didrik Smith in 18th rounded out the Ute scorers with a time of 36:23.3. Rolf Figi (19th - 36:28.5) and Tom Smith (22nd - 37:06.3) rounded out the Utah skiers.

Cohee, who also won the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Skiing Association giant slalom qualifier yesterday, finished first with a time of 1:57.97. Three Ute skiers finished in the top 10, with Scott Veenis finishing sixth (1:58.66) and Hermann Lager placing seventh (1:58.68). Thomas Zumbrunn placed 16th (1:59.36) and Torjus Krogdahl crossed the line 23rd (2:00.08) in the Ute lineup. The men's alpine team led all teams with 79 points on the day.

Chirine Njeim led Utah in the women's giant slalom with a fourth-place run in 2:05.04. Mikaela Grassl in sixth (2:05.24) and Chelsea Laswell (2:06.96) were also in the top 10 on the afternoon. Sofia Smith finished strong in 14th (2:08.46). Eva Huckova skied out on her second run and did not finish. The women's team had 73 points, finishing two points out of first.

For the women's Nordic team, Zoe Roy placed sixth (20:00.0). Parker Tyler finished 16th (21:24.3) and Devon Spika was 17th (21:26.0). Ingvild Flatland was the final Utah skier in 22nd (22:08.9). The Utes had opted not to bring their two top Nordic skiers - Annelies Cook and Sara Schweiger.

"We are really jazzed about today," Director of Skiing Eli Brown said. "Even hadn't finished in the top 10 much this year and this was an awesome finish. This is a tough course with high altitude. It's Ben's best result this year and Zoe did very well. The alpine team was just awesome. This is probably our best day as far as a team score goes. We believe that we are in the mix and we are excited and looking forward to tomorrow."

Action continues at the Denver Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 7 with the men's and women's slalom races and 10-km and 15-km freestyle races. The alpine races are at Winter Park while the Nordic races are at Devil's Thumb.