Bjertness Wins NCAA Championship in Men's Giant Slalom

Wednesday, March 9

Steamboat Springs, Colo. (Steamboat)

All Day

University of Utah

Men's/Women's Giant Slalom

Bjertness Wins NCAA Championship in Men's Giant Slalom

3/9/2016 12:00 AM | Skiing

March 9, 2016

Complete Results in PDF Format

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. -- Utah skier Endre Bjertness won the men's giant slalom national championship as the NCAA Ski Championships opened on Wednesday afternoon. In addition, all three Utah women earned All-America honors in the women's GS as the Utes stand third after the first day of competition.

Bjertness was the second skier to go off on the first run and laid down the fastest time of the run, and held a half-second advantage over second place. As the weather moved to snow by the time the second run started, Bjertness followed it up with a strong run to earn the victory.

"Our entire team is very excited with Endre's solid performance in the GS today and taking the NCAA title," Utah head alpine coach Jaka Korencan said. "After winning the first run he proved his champion skill and maturity to deal with the pressure and come out on top. The ladies made major moves to help our team score as well with all three achieving All-America honors. With this talent we had potential for better but the same can be said for our rivals. Ultimately it was a very successful day and as coaches could not be more proud of this group of athletes."

Bjertness is the second Utah men's skier in three years to win the giant slalom. Mark Engel was the men's GS champion in 2014. It is Utah's 71st individual championship in skiing.

Also in the men's race, Joergen Brath finished 21st and Dominic Demschar was 24th.

In the women's giant slalom, Chloe Fausa, Roni Remme and Julie Mohagen finished eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively with all three earning All-America honors. Fausa, in her third year at Utah, is a three-time All-American in the giant slalom. Remme and Mohagen are both in their first year at Utah and earned their first career All-America honors.

With 123 points, Utah stands third after the first day behind Montana State (148) and Denver (138). Dartmouth is fourth (92) with Colorado fifth (88.5).

"A huge congratulations to Endre for skiing a superb race today!" Utah Director of Skiing Kevin Sweeney said. "His win is without a doubt motivating all of us right now. We are in the hunt and our position is 100% competitive. No matter how well you prepare for the championships, you get surprises. It feels great to get the first race under our belt, and I congratulate the alpine squad for this lead off. Super solid performance by the women all scoring in the top ten. That is for sure a dynamite team accomplishment today considering how heavy the snowfall was second run. The Nordic team is extremely fired up to take the tag from the alpine and lead the charge tomorrow."

The NCAA Championship continues on Thursday, March 10, with the Nordic teams competing in the men's 10-km and women's 5-km freestyle races. Veronika Mayerhofer is the defending NCAA champion in the women's 5-km freestyle.