Day One Recap: Colorado Draws First Blood
3/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Skiing, Women's Skiing
Getting my first NCAA win feels really good, I'm really excited, Grevsgaard said after collecting her school-record 18th victory. "It's amazing that Lenka and I were able to finish one-two. It's the first race of the NCAA' and we made up a lot of points, so it's just a good start."
"It was the continuing of the story for her this year," said Colorado coach Richard Rokos. "She was consistently in first place and she has just maintained her performance at an incredible rate."
In the men's competition, Dartmouth's Glenn Randall won his school's first cross country ski title since 1967, toppling Bates' Sylvan Ellefson, who won the NCAA East Regional title in the skate event two weeks ago. Ellefson finished fourth on Wednesday, behind Randall, Alaska-Fairbanks' Marius Korthauer, and Colorado's Jesper Ostensen.
"I really don't know what to say," a gleeful Randall said following his 11-second victory. "That went about as well as I could have hoped for. It's hard for me to imagine how it could have went any better. It was awesome."
Randall's win came against an impressive field. Six of the top seven 2007 NCAA freestyle finishers competed Wednesday. Randall, whose best previous NCAA finish was fifth as a freshman in 2006, finished 23rd a year ago.
"There wasn't much tactics," said Dartmouth coach Ruff Patterson, whose brother-in-law, Ned Gillette, was the last Big Green cross country skier to win a national crown 41 years ago. "He's a pretty strong kid and he skied that course with a pretty strong will. It's a dream come true."
While Randall was the only Dartmouth skier in the top 25 in the men's competition, the Big Green finished with two of the top 12 on the women's side. The day belonged to Colorado, however, with three skiers inside the top 20. Lenka Palanova finished second, just less than 25 seconds behind champion Grevsgaard mark of 17:09.8, while Karoline Borgne was 20th.
"We have a solid cushion right now," Rokos said of his team's fast start to the 2008 NCAA Ski Championships, "but there is nothing solid in concrete. It definitely helps that we've overcome that handicap for one day, and it's all because of how great a job (Nordic
coordinator) Bruce (Cranmer) does coaching those teams and how they performed. Those girls really killed it today, and taking the top two spots in the women's race collected a lot of points for us."
Rokos said Grevsgaard's performance was not a surprise. "She can go out and go after it," he said. "She has full confidence in her body and her ability, and she demonstrated that again (Wednesday)."
While Grevsgaard said she looks forward to Friday's classical competition, she said the win on Wednesday does was not a relief. "No," she said with a smile, "I think it adds more pressure."
For Montana State, freshman Kaelin Kiesel finished 14th and Claire Rennie, a senior, was 27th. "Kaelin had a very good day," said MSU coach Dan Brelsford. "She finished this year very strong."
"It was the continuing of the story for her this year," said Colorado coach Richard Rokos. "She was consistently in first place and she has just maintained her performance at an incredible rate."
In the men's competition, Dartmouth's Glenn Randall won his school's first cross country ski title since 1967, toppling Bates' Sylvan Ellefson, who won the NCAA East Regional title in the skate event two weeks ago. Ellefson finished fourth on Wednesday, behind Randall, Alaska-Fairbanks' Marius Korthauer, and Colorado's Jesper Ostensen.
"I really don't know what to say," a gleeful Randall said following his 11-second victory. "That went about as well as I could have hoped for. It's hard for me to imagine how it could have went any better. It was awesome."
Randall's win came against an impressive field. Six of the top seven 2007 NCAA freestyle finishers competed Wednesday. Randall, whose best previous NCAA finish was fifth as a freshman in 2006, finished 23rd a year ago.
"There wasn't much tactics," said Dartmouth coach Ruff Patterson, whose brother-in-law, Ned Gillette, was the last Big Green cross country skier to win a national crown 41 years ago. "He's a pretty strong kid and he skied that course with a pretty strong will. It's a dream come true."
While Randall was the only Dartmouth skier in the top 25 in the men's competition, the Big Green finished with two of the top 12 on the women's side. The day belonged to Colorado, however, with three skiers inside the top 20. Lenka Palanova finished second, just less than 25 seconds behind champion Grevsgaard mark of 17:09.8, while Karoline Borgne was 20th.
"We have a solid cushion right now," Rokos said of his team's fast start to the 2008 NCAA Ski Championships, "but there is nothing solid in concrete. It definitely helps that we've overcome that handicap for one day, and it's all because of how great a job (Nordic
coordinator) Bruce (Cranmer) does coaching those teams and how they performed. Those girls really killed it today, and taking the top two spots in the women's race collected a lot of points for us."
Rokos said Grevsgaard's performance was not a surprise. "She can go out and go after it," he said. "She has full confidence in her body and her ability, and she demonstrated that again (Wednesday)."
While Grevsgaard said she looks forward to Friday's classical competition, she said the win on Wednesday does was not a relief. "No," she said with a smile, "I think it adds more pressure."
For Montana State, freshman Kaelin Kiesel finished 14th and Claire Rennie, a senior, was 27th. "Kaelin had a very good day," said MSU coach Dan Brelsford. "She finished this year very strong."
Wednesday, June 10
Friday, March 27
Monday, March 23
Friday, March 13
