• Up Next ... The Lobos will be competing in the Nordic portion of the Denver Invitational on Jan. 20-21 in Devil's Thumb Ranch, Colo. The Alpine team takes a break from competition until they race at the Alaska Invitational on Feb. 8-11 in Alyeska, Alaska.
NORDIC: Devil's Thumb Ranch, Colo. Friday: Denver Invitational - CL - 1st Run - TBD; 2nd Run TBD Saturday: Denver Invitational - FS - 1st Run - TBD; 2nd Run TBD
*(All times are Mountain Time Zone)
Denver Invitational Part One (Alpine/Jan. 14-15) ... The Lobos find themselves in fourth place (361 points) after the completion of the giant slalom and slalom races. Junior Armin Triendl had a fantastic meet after finishing third in the giant slalom and second among collegiate skiers in the slalom. His performances earned him RMISA Skier of the Week recognition. It is the second time in his career he has earned the honor.
Colorado Invitational (Alpine/Jan. 7-8, Nordic/13-14) ... The Lobos didn't have the type of meet they were hoping for after finishing in sixth place in the team standings. New Mexico scored 706 total points, 379 (4th) in Alpine and 327 (6th) in Nordic. Armin Triendl had the best finish of any Alpine skier after placing third in the men's giant slalom. Linn Klaesson had the top finish for the Nordic squad, staking claim to third place in the women's 5K freestyle.
RMISA Qualifiers ... The RMISA qualifiers for Alpine have been inserted into the schedule to match the number of races conducted by the Eastern schools ... Giant Slalom (Jan. 6) ... No team scoring for the qualifying races, but a few Lobos performed well ... Armin Triendl took second with a time of 1:54.80 and Juho Pekka Penttinnen placed eighth, while Mary Rachel Hostetter placed 11th on the women's side.
Overall Team Notes ... UNM will be wrapping up the Nordic portion of the Denver Invitational this weekend, where it currently sits in fourth-place ... Junior Armin Triendl earned RMISA Skier of the Week honors for his performance at the DU Invitational Jan. 14-15 ... Last season the Lobos finished third at the RMISA championships and placed fourth at the 2011 NCAA National Championships in Vermont ... While Utah was the overall regular season champion, New Mexico won the overall RMISA Alpine title, and the men's RMISA Alpine title.
Men's Alpine Notes ... Armin Triednl has had quite an impressive start to the 2012 season ... He certainly looks to be the spark plug for the Lobos this season ... Thus far, he has three top-3 finishes out of the first five races to start the year ... Juho Pekka Penttinnen has two top-6 finishes in slalom races this year, finishing fifth at the CU Invitational and sixth at the DU Invitational ... Chris Acosta has gotten off to a slow start this season, but has plenty of time to pick up his pace ... Both Triendl and Acosta earned All-America honors last season at the NCAA championships ... Newcomer Joonas Rasanen looked superb during pre-season training ... Triendl and Penttinnen were named All-RMISA last season ... Acosta was also an All-American in 2010.
Women's Alpine Notes ... The Lobos have been running only three women down the mountains thus far in the 2012 season: Senior Stefanie Demetz, junior Kate Williams and junior newcomer Mary Rachel Hostetter ... Both Demetz and Hostetter have been outstanding in the slalom this year, as each skier has earned two top-ten finishes ... Williams is off to a slow start, but has plenty of time to make up for it ... Demetz and Williams return from last season to form a strong core for the Lobos ... Demetz garnered All-America honors last season in the giant slalom, while Williams was an All-American in the slalom in 2010 ... Last year, Anne Cecilie Brusletto recorded All-America finishes in both the Slalom and Giant Slalom for the second-straight season ... Brusletto is also currently No. 3 all-time in career alpine wins at UNM with six ... Brusletto has not seen any time on the mountain this season, however, due to injury.
Tyler Shepherd enters his second full season as the head coach of the Lobos' Alpine team ... He also welcomes a familiar face in former Lobo Gary Beresford, who will serve as the assistant Alpine coach ... This is Beresford's first season as an assistant coach.
Men's Nordic Notes ... The Nordic men got off to a sluggish start at the CU Invitational Jan. 13-14 ... Freshman Sjur Prestseater had a nice classical race, finishing in eighth place and Christian Otto had a nice freestyle race, claiming 10th ... The team looks to rebound at the upcoming DU Invitational ... Coming into the season, the Nordic team lost a pair of excellent skiers in Martin Kaas and Tor-Hakon Hellebostad, but it still returns a wealth of experience, led by Pierre Niess and Christian Otto ... Eivind Solberg also returns and newcomer Sjur Prestseater looks to contribute as a freshman ... Kaas leaves the program after recording more Nordic wins (six) and garnering more All-America honors (five) than any other skier in Lobo history ... Hellebostad leaves UNM after recording four Nordic All-America honors in his career, which is tied for the second most in program history ... Three other Lobos have also garnered All-America honors four times in their careers. Otto just missed out on All-America honors last season, finishing 12th in the classical race at the NCAA championships.
Women's Nordic Notes ... After just one competition thus far, Linn Klaesson performed very well, while the rest of the team seemed to experience first meet jitters ... Klaesson finished 10th in the classic and third in the freestyle at the CU Invitational Jan. 13-14 ... Clara Cauvet had a decent performance as well in her first collegiate meet, finishing 10th in the freestyle race at the CU Invitational ... The women entered the 2012 season returning a very experienced skier in Klaesson, but they also lost All-America performers Sofie Jonsson and Martine Weng as well as All-RMISA performer Christina Loevald Hellberg ... The team is relatively young this year ... Klaesson is joined by newcomers Anniken Bratlie, Clara Chauvet, Anita Kirvesniemi and Anni Nord to make up the women's Nordic squad. Only Klaesson has NCAA experience ... Klaesson would have been joined by senior Ingrid Leask, who has had a very solid career at UNM so far, but Leask will be redshirting this season ... Kirvesniemi skied for the University of Eastern Finland last season.
Fredrik Landstedt enters his fifth season as head coach of the Lobos and his 17th overall including his time as a former athlete and assistant coach ... During his five seasons as head coach Landstedt has seen his team finish 4th, 3rd, 3rd, and 7th over the previous four years during his tenure ... Landstedt is fielding a fairly young team this season and is excited to see where his Lobos stand in the competitive Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association ... Landstedt also welcomes a familiar face in Martin Kaas back to the team ... Kaas, like Beresford, will serve as assistant coach but for the Nordic team ... This is Kaas' first year as an assistant.
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