Montana State Nordic Women Lift Bobcats to Fifth Place at Utah Invite

Wednesday, January 8

Midway, UT

9 am

Montana State University

Utah Invite - Freestyle - 20/30K

Montana State Nordic Women Lift Bobcats to Fifth Place at Utah Invite

1/9/2014 2:04:00 PM | Skiing

Faced with a team decimated with by sickness, Montana State sophomore Kate Backstrum produced her best ever finish placing fourth overall in the women’s 20-kilometer freestyle, Wednesday to conclude the University of Utah – Pat Miller Invitational.

By: Tom Schulz

Faced with a team decimated with by sickness, Montana State sophomore Kate Backstrum produced her best ever finish placing fourth overall in the women's 20-kilometer freestyle, Wednesday to conclude the University of Utah – Pat Miller Invitational.

Backstrum posted a time of 1:03:27.7. In addition, veteran skiers and NCAA qualifiers last season, Annie Liotta and Isabella Smith, also finished in the top ten, placing seventh and tenth overall.

In all, the Bobcat women racked-up 77 points, the second highest of the event, to lift MSU from sixth into fifth place.

"Kate felt great and it was an unbelievable feeling for her to race with the nation's top skiers and having her best result ever," said MSU head Nordic coach Grethe Hagensen. "Some of the athletes she was racing against will be at the Olympics in a couple of weeks."

Montana State was without two of its top skiers on both the men's and women's side as David Norris, Sawyer Kesselheim, Jessica Yeaton and Anika Miller were all out due to sickness.

The Bobcat men were led by Forrest Mahlen, who recorded his first top ten finish, placing eighth in the 30K race in 1:23.00.3. He was followed by Marshall Opel, 15^th, and Patrick Madden, 17^th.

"Once again, we prove that we are competitive as a team even though we could not race a full squad," Hagensen said. "This was our season-opening weekend and we look forward to our home event at Bohart Ranch."

Utah captured the first Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association meet of the season with 657.5 points. The Utes were followed by Denver 649, New Mexico 566.5, Alaska-Anchorage 477, MSU 415, Colorado 372, Westminster 243, Wyoming 14 and Colorado Mountain College 0.