Bobcat Skiers Finish Fifth at RMISA/NCAA Western Regional Championships

Saturday, February 22

Beaver Creek, CO

9 am

Montana State University

RMISA/NCAA West Regional - Slalom

Jessica Yeaton (37), Annie Liotta (43), and Kate Backstrum (51) climb a hill in Saturday's 15K freestyle race at the RMISA Championships. Yeaton finished sixth to pace MSU.

Bobcat Skiers Finish Fifth at RMISA/NCAA Western Regional Championships

2/22/2014 9:39:00 PM | Skiing

Senior Jessica Yeaton posted Montana State’s best finish of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association/NCAA Western Regional Championships on Saturday afternoon placing sixth in the women’s 15-kilometer freestyle to lift the Bobcats to a fifth place team showing.

By: Tom Schulz

Senior Jessica Yeaton posted Montana State's best finish of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association/NCAA Western Regional Championships on Saturday afternoon placing sixth in the women's 15-kilometer freestyle to lift the Bobcats to a fifth place team showing.

The Bobcats entered the day with four skiers fighting for three qualifying spots to the NCAA Championships in two weeks in women's Nordic competition.

"Jessica Yeaton, Kate Backstrum, Anne Liotta and Bella Smith stayed together until the last lap," MSU head Nordic coach Grethe Hagensen said. "They were all in the running for a top five finish. It was Jessica who ended up in a sprint finish, and out-raced two-out-of-three skiers from Colorado and New Mexico to finish sixth."

Yeaton finished the course in 41:49.8. Also scoring points for the Bobcats were Backstrum, 10^th, 42:02.2; and Smith, 11^th, 42:05.0. Liotta placed one spot back in 12^th with a clocking of 42:17.3. Also racing was Johanna Malle, who placed 24^th in 46:25.2.

Sawyer Kesselheim paced the Bobcat men's team finishing 11^th, covering the 20-kilometer race in 46:27.0. He was followed by David Norris, 12^th, 46:44.7, Pat Madden, 14^th, 46:54.1; Forrest Mahlen, 16^th, 47:50.8; and Sam Dougherty, 26^th, 53:40.3.

"This was an excellent team performance by the MSU Nordic ski team leading up to the NCAA Championship," Hagensen said. "We have one week at home to rest, recover and work on some speed."

Ryan McConnell had one of his best career races to guide the Bobcat alpine squad. McConnell placed ninth in the slalom with a two-run time of 1:16.51. He was followed by David Neuhauser, 13^th, 1:16.87; and David Owsley, 20^th, 1:17.51.

Kelly McBroom led the MSU women finishing 15^th in 1:22.60. She was followed by Emily Danza, 18^th, 1:23.20; Stephanie Irwin, 19^th, 1:23.36; Tenaya Driller, 25^th, 1:24.13; Marissa Riopelle, 28^th, 1:26.08; and Sarah Freeman, 29^th, 1:26.41.

Utah captured the RMISA title with 640 points. The Utes were followed by Colorado 636, New Mexico 617.5, Denver 578.5, MSU 445, Alaska-Anchorage 425 and Colorado Mountain 71.