It wasn’t the 11th national championship the Utah ski team sought, but it was an improvement.
“We are trying to be optimistic, but there is a definite disappointment in the end result,” said ski coach Kevin Sweeney.
Utah finished in third place at the NCAA Championships, held March 6 through 9 in Anchorage, Alaska.
Utah got bumped out of second on the final day by Colorado. Denver finished in first place, redeeming itself for its only non-first-place finish of the year, a third place finish at last week’s NCAA Regionals, also in Anchorage.
The national championship was Denver’s third consecutive, and an NCAA best 17th total.
For Utah, it was the school’s first top-three finish since 1998 with a young team. Utah had placed fourth at the last three NCAA Championships.
“We have a lot of depth and experience coming back, so that’s something we can look forward to,” Sweeney said.
Utah loses only three seniors?Scott Woodland, Gretchen Domek and Petter Svendsen.
Utah did not have an individual national champion, but freshman alpine skier Pierre Olsson raced to two second-place finishes and sophomore April Mancuso finished second in the giant slalom.
On the final day of skiing?the men’s 20K freestyle and the women’s 15K free?the U ski team fell out of second and into third.
U.S. Olympian Torin Koos was the U’s top finisher, placing sixth. Petter Svendsen capped a successful senior campaign with a ninth-place finish. Ryan Quinn rounded out the U’s scoring in 26th.
However, so-so results for the normally dominant women’s team hurt Utah’s chances to gain 15.5 points on Denver.
Jaana Kettunen was the top Ute finisher in 10th, but sophomore Jorunn Oye, whose nasal illness had limited her practice time all week, did not finish the race. Oye had recorded three top-three finishes, one a top finish at the Denver Invitational.
Three Colorado women placed in the top 10, pushing Utah into third.
In classical competition earlier in the week, Koos placed fourth, Quinn seventh and Svendsen eighth.
In female competition, Kettunen was in 13th, Sara Svendsen 14th and Oye was 26th.
Utah’s best results came in alpine competition, although reigning NCAA slalom champions Petra Svet and Jernej Bukovec failed to retain their titles.
Bukovec had the fastest second run, but finished in seventh place. Svet skied to third place in the slalom.
Olsson turned in the best Utah time. Olsson had the fastest first-run time, but fell to second overall. Josh Whitman ended the scoring with a 27th-place finish.
For the women, Annik Boulva placed sixth and April Mancuso rounded out the U’s scoring in 26th.
“Our third scorer has plagued us throughout the season and it hurt us here, but to have four skiers in the top 10 is a great day,” Sweeney said.
In the giant slalom event March 6, Olsson raced to second place, including the top first-time run. Whitman finished seventh and Bukovec was in ninth.
For the women, sophomore Mancuso placed second, Boulva finished 19th and Svet fell to finish in 32nd.