Utah Heads to Steamboat Springs to Wrap Colorado Invitational

Friday, February 13

Steamboat Springs, Colo. / Howelsen Hill

10 a.m.

University of Utah

20K Freestyle (M)

Photo by: Jackson Bilawa/Utah Athletics

Utah Heads to Steamboat Springs to Wrap Colorado Invitational

2/12/2026 5:27 PM | Skiing

Live Timing

Utes anticipate racing close to full strength Friday and Saturday from Howelsen Hill

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – The second of back-to-back Nordic race weekends is on deck for the Utah Ski Team as the Utes head out to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, for races as part of the Colorado Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational.

The race schedule at Howelsen Hill includes a 20K freestyle mass start on Friday at 10 a.m. followed by a 7.5K classic interval start on Saturday at 9:30 a.m.

Utah raced the alpine portion of the CU meet in mid-January and sits in third place at the midpoint of the meet. The Utes anticipate racing at close to full strength the next two days after competing with a limited roster in last weekend's Denver Invitational.

Zachary Jayne is slated to return to the Utah lineup for Friday's freestyle mass start; it'll mark Jayne's first college race January 9. Later in January, he made four World Cup starts across Germany and Switzerland—including his first career World Cup top-30 result. Walker Hall, Max Kluck and Lucas Wilmot are all in Friday's lineup as well. Utah leads the RMISA with eight men's Nordic podiums on the season.

For the women, Selma Andersen, Neve Gerard, Erica Lavén, Sofia Pedersen, Witta Walcher and Ally Wheeler are all anticipated to race. Lavén has won all four of her starts this season as the women's Nordic team has combined for eight podiums—just short of the RMISA lead.

Getting Up To Speed
The Utes competed at the Denver Invitational last weekend and finished in third place for the meet, albeit with a limited squad of just five athletes for the Nordic portion. Sofia Pedersen was in the top-five on both race days and landed on the freestyle podium with a third-place result, while Witta Walcher set a season-best with sixth place in both the classic and freestyle events. Ally Wheeler capped off the weekend in the top-eight for last Sunday's freestyle.

Utah had just Max Kluck and Carl Rune available on the men's side; Kluck was 11^th in the freestyle interval start to close out the meet.

Alpine is currently on a brief break from the college schedule, having most recently won the alpine-only Nevada Invitational on Feb. 3. That group returns to the hill on Sunday, Feb. 22, beginning three days of racing on home snow as part of the Utah Invitational. Those competitions will go down at the Spencer F. Eccles Olympic Mountain Center at the Utah Olympic Park.

Olympics Tracker
Three former members of the Utah Ski Team are set to represent their respective countries in the 2026 Winter Olympics at Milano Cortina. The group includes Joe Davies (cross-country skiing - Great Britain), Madison Hoffman (alpine skiing - Australia) and Novie McCabe (cross-country skiing - United States).

Click here for a full schedule of alpine and cross-country races with tune-in information and race results.

Follow the Utah Ski Team on social media @utahskiteam. Download the Utah 360 app here.