Wednesday, March 10
Franconia, N.H.
7 a.m.
Montana State University
vs
Giant Slalom
Aage Solheim posted the second fastest second run to finish fourth in giant slalom, earning First-Team All-America honors on Wednesday at the 2021 NCAA Skiing Championships.
Photo by: NCAAphotos
Cats Make Statement on Opening Day of NCAA Skiing Championships
3/10/2021 3:52:00 PM | Men's Skiing, Women's Skiing, Skiing
The Montana State ski team made a big statement at the opening day of the 2021 NCAA Skiing Championships at Cannon Mountain on Wednesday afternoon.
FRANCONIA, N.H. – The Montana State ski team made a big statement at the opening day of the 2021 NCAA Skiing Championships at Cannon Mountain on Wednesday afternoon. Competing in giant slalom, four Bobcats earned All-America honors, paced by first-team selection Åge Solheim, who finished fourth overall.
Also garnering All-America Second-Team accolades were Riley Seger, Louis Mühlen-Schulte, and Nellie Talbot. The foursome, along with solid performances from Tegan Wold and Kristiane Bekkestad, lifted the Bobcats atop the team standings after two events. MSU is tied with Westminster with 137 points.
MSU's men's alpine team of Solheim, Seger and Mühlen-Schulte, finished fourth, sixth, and eighth, respectively, racking up 81 points. Only Utah (85) scored more points on the men's side. The Bobcat women finished fourth on the day with 56 points, trailing just Colorado (94), Westminster (79) and Vermont (59).
Solheim, a junior from Staarheim, Norway, was 12th after the opening run. A delay due to a malfunctioning chair lift midway through the second run iced Solheim for about 10-minutes. Colorado's Joey Young was the first skier down after the interruption and went off course, unable to finish his day.
Solheim was second in the gate, and after gathering himself, exploded for the fastest second run of the event, moving up eight spots. Solheim finished with a two-run clocking of 2:02.86.
"Åge's second run was beautiful," said MSU head coach Kevin Francis. "It was on-point and it showed with his result. It was just an awesome thing to watch."
Seger, who placed sixth in 2:03.41, notched the sixth fastest time in both runs, while Mühlen-Schulte, eighth, posted a clocking of 2:03.84.
"Everyone either moved up or stayed the same," Francis said. "We were nervous, but solid in the opening run. After the first run, we realized how great the snow was and it made for an amazing day."
Westminster's Mikkel Solbakken won the men's giant slalom title in 2:01.57.
Talbot, a sophomore from Vail, Colo., and last year's NCAA giant slalom runner-up, sat in 14th following an opening run of 1:05.00. Like Solheim, Talbot blitzed the second go, posting the second fastest run to move up five spots, earning her All-America kudos. Talbot registered a two-run total of 2:09.84.
Wold, a slalom specialist, finished 12th in 2:10.68, while Bekkestad, a freshman from Aal, Norway, skiing in her first NCAA meet, logged a two-run total of 2:11.49.
"We had a great team atmosphere with support from everyone," Francis said. "We were a little passive on the first run, and we knew we needed to be aggressive on the second run to be fast. Riley, Louis, and Nellie had a few bobbles, but they did a tremendous job. And, Tegan had a career-best in giant slalom. It was cool to see how well we did, and everyone is bought in to playing their part and getting points."
Colorado's Cassidy Gray captured the women's giant slalom crown in 2:07.18
Following the Bobcats and Griffins in the top 10 are Colorado 119, Utah 108, Denver 97, Vermont 94, New Hampshire and Plymouth State 77, Alaska Anchorage 63, and Boston College 54.
"We felt we could've done a little bit better," Francis commented. "But we have no complaints. We feel we're slightly more confident in slalom, so this was a great start to the championships."
The Bobcat alpine team will finish the NCAA Skiing Championships with the slalom races on Friday.
Also garnering All-America Second-Team accolades were Riley Seger, Louis Mühlen-Schulte, and Nellie Talbot. The foursome, along with solid performances from Tegan Wold and Kristiane Bekkestad, lifted the Bobcats atop the team standings after two events. MSU is tied with Westminster with 137 points.
MSU's men's alpine team of Solheim, Seger and Mühlen-Schulte, finished fourth, sixth, and eighth, respectively, racking up 81 points. Only Utah (85) scored more points on the men's side. The Bobcat women finished fourth on the day with 56 points, trailing just Colorado (94), Westminster (79) and Vermont (59).
Solheim, a junior from Staarheim, Norway, was 12th after the opening run. A delay due to a malfunctioning chair lift midway through the second run iced Solheim for about 10-minutes. Colorado's Joey Young was the first skier down after the interruption and went off course, unable to finish his day.
Solheim was second in the gate, and after gathering himself, exploded for the fastest second run of the event, moving up eight spots. Solheim finished with a two-run clocking of 2:02.86.
"Åge's second run was beautiful," said MSU head coach Kevin Francis. "It was on-point and it showed with his result. It was just an awesome thing to watch."
Seger, who placed sixth in 2:03.41, notched the sixth fastest time in both runs, while Mühlen-Schulte, eighth, posted a clocking of 2:03.84.
"Everyone either moved up or stayed the same," Francis said. "We were nervous, but solid in the opening run. After the first run, we realized how great the snow was and it made for an amazing day."
Westminster's Mikkel Solbakken won the men's giant slalom title in 2:01.57.
Talbot, a sophomore from Vail, Colo., and last year's NCAA giant slalom runner-up, sat in 14th following an opening run of 1:05.00. Like Solheim, Talbot blitzed the second go, posting the second fastest run to move up five spots, earning her All-America kudos. Talbot registered a two-run total of 2:09.84.
Wold, a slalom specialist, finished 12th in 2:10.68, while Bekkestad, a freshman from Aal, Norway, skiing in her first NCAA meet, logged a two-run total of 2:11.49.
"We had a great team atmosphere with support from everyone," Francis said. "We were a little passive on the first run, and we knew we needed to be aggressive on the second run to be fast. Riley, Louis, and Nellie had a few bobbles, but they did a tremendous job. And, Tegan had a career-best in giant slalom. It was cool to see how well we did, and everyone is bought in to playing their part and getting points."
Colorado's Cassidy Gray captured the women's giant slalom crown in 2:07.18
Following the Bobcats and Griffins in the top 10 are Colorado 119, Utah 108, Denver 97, Vermont 94, New Hampshire and Plymouth State 77, Alaska Anchorage 63, and Boston College 54.
"We felt we could've done a little bit better," Francis commented. "But we have no complaints. We feel we're slightly more confident in slalom, so this was a great start to the championships."
The Bobcat alpine team will finish the NCAA Skiing Championships with the slalom races on Friday.
Players Mentioned
Alpine
/ Women's Skiing
Alpine
/ Men's SkiingAlpine
/ Women's SkiingAlpine
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