STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — The University of Denver ski team won its 23rd national title Saturday.
Denver finished with 567.5 points, ahead of defending champion Colorado, which had 491.5 points to finish second. Utah (485) was third.
“I am so incredibly proud of the young men and women on our team,” DU nordic coach Dave Stewart said in a release. “They came into this championship knowing that it would take nothing less than their best to win a title for DU, and they did just that. The conditions were challenging today with rising temperatures through the morning, but everyone brought such composure and focus to the race that I believe the tough conditions worked in our favor.
“Alpine set us up with a lead that we were able to build on, so this was a balanced team win with both alpine and nordic adding almost the same points to the team total.”
Colorado junior Mads Stroem held off Denver’s Moritz Madlener to win the men’s 20-kilometer freestyle cross crountry race in 49 minutes, 41.9 seconds.
DU sophomore Linn Eriksen won the women’s 15 classical, the final race of the championships, by 19.9 seconds with a time of 54:37.6.
“Moritz and Linn have led the team all year, and they did it again today,” Stewart said.
CU sophomore Ane Johnsen was third in 54:58.8, and Buffs junior Jesse Knori was fifth in 55:13.8, helping CU overtake Utah for second in the team standings.
“For the whole duration of the championship, there was a string of unfortunate events for us, but in the end there was a surprise,” CU coach Richard Rokos said in a release. “The women had a fantastic nordic race. It was a surprise for all of us. Jesse Knori finishing in fifth makes her the star of the day. It was a very honorable race.”
