Huckova Earns Fourth Podium as Utes Fifth at Nevada Invite

2/19/2010 12:00 AM | Skiing

Feb. 19, 2010

TRUCKEE, Calif. - Eva Huckova led all Utah skiers on the first day of the Nevada Invitational, earning her fourth podium finish of the season. Utah was in fifth with 352.5 points after day one.

Huckova finished tied for second in the giant slalom with a time of 2:04.41. Sofia Smith also had a solid day with a 12th-place run (2:07.15) while Anna Kocken finished 16th (2:07.30).

The men's alpine team displayed some unusual struggles. The team was led by Torjus Krogdahl's 14th-place run in the giant slalom (2:04.77). Max Lamb was 15th with a time of 2:05.01 and Nick Cohee rounded out the Ute scorers in 17th (2:05.07). Thomas Zumbrunn did not finish his run.

"We had tactical mistakes across the board, with the exception of Eva," alpine head coach Jaka Korencan said. "There are no excuses for our performance. Max, Torjus each had good second runs and Nick Cohee unfortunately had mistakes. Despite some incredibly bad luck this year - five injured athletes out of 11 - I am confident that we are capable of finishing the season strong."

Martin Liljemark led all Utah Nordic skiers with a sixth-place finish in the 10-km classical race, finishing in 24:22.3. Didrik Smith also had a strong run, finishing 10th in 24:31.7. Rolf Figi placed 15th (24:43.2) and Miles Havlick crossed the line in 17th (24:56.4). Tom Smith (27th), Ben Fick (29th) and Ian Havlick (35th) also raced for Utah.

Zoe Roy also had a top-10 finish in the women's 5-km classic race. She placed eighth in 14:21.8. Marta Larsen came in 18th with a time of 15:01.2) with Rose Kemp finishing 20th (15:04.9). Devon Spika (23rd), Sarah MacCarthy (26th) and Karina Smith (29th) rounded out the Utah racers.

"We had some great performances today and some that were not so great," Director of Skiing Eli Brown said. "Zoe was consistent and strong again and Martin is starting to get used to the altitude.

"Tomorrow is a new day. Both our alpine and cross country teams need to start with a clean slate and attack the courses. There should be no reason we can't bounce back and finish strong."

Colorado leads the meet with 448.5 points, followed by New Mexico (428), Denver (360) and Alaska-Anchorage (356).