Hanover, N.H. - University of New Mexico Nordic mens skier Jimmy Vika became the eighth individual NCAA Champion in Lobo history today by taking the mens 10K Freestyle race at the Dartmouth XC Center in Hanover, N.H. The freshman from Ingeberg, Norway, scorched the field with a time of 24:03.9, almost 30 seconds faster than the second place skier. On the womens side, senior Kristina Strandberg, junior Jenny Wissting, and sophomore Martina Stursova combined to win the womens 5K Team National Championship. It is the 12th team event national title for the Lobos. New Mexico is in first place in the overall points race with 169 points, while Utah is in second with 145 points.

Overall Standings
|Place|Team|MFR|WFR|MCL|WCL|MGS|WGS|MSL|WSL|Total|
|1|New Mexico|75|94|||||||169|
|2|Utah|53|92|||||||145|
|3|Colorado|57|81|||||||138|
|4|Alaska-Fairbanks|63|74|||||||137|
|5|Alaska-Anchorage|70|59.5|||||||129.5|
|6|Northern Michigan|52|77|||||||129|
|7|Nevada|40|87|||||||127|
|8|Vermont|100|14|||||||114|
|9|Denver|49|58.5|||||||107.5|
|10|New Hampshire|61|27|||||||88|
|11|Dartmouth|57|28|||||||85|
|12|Middlebury|56|14|||||||70|
|13|Bates|25|23|||||||48|
|14|Williams|0|22|||||||22|
|15|Western State|8|8|||||||16|
|16|Harvard|0|13|||||||13|
|17|Michigan Tech|13|0|||||||13|
|18|Montana State|0|5|||||||5|
|19|Wisconsin-Green Bay|0|2|||||||2|
|20|St. Cloud State|0|1|||||||1|

The mens Nordic team finish second in the team standings behind All-American performances by Vika and sophomore Lars Krogsveen, who placed sixth in the race.

I tried to come out hard but after one lap I was told I was five seconds behind, stated Vika. I was able to make up 20 seconds in the first two kilometers of the second lap and I just hammered it the rest of the race.

Vika is just the second Lobo Nordic mens skier to win a NCAA title. Junior Jacob Zehnder was the other Lobo skiing today for the mens team, placing 38th in the race.

Mens Nordic 10K Freestyle Top-10* Individual Finishes
|Place|Skier|Team|Time|Points|
|1|Jimmy Vika|New Mexico|24:03.9|39|
|2|Lowell Bailey|Vermont|24:33.5|38|
|3|Tobias Schwoerer|Alaska-Anchorage|24:36.1|37|
|4|Christopher Cook|Northern Michigan|24:50.9|36|
|5|Michael Malak|Alaska-Fairbanks|24:52.6|35|
|6|Lars Krogsveen|New Mexico|24:54.1|34|
|7|Ethan Foster|Vermont|24:56.8|33|
|8|Erling Christiansen|Colorado|25:21.9|32|
|9|Brayton Osgood|Dartmouth|25:22.0|31|
|10|Ryan Quinn|Utah|25:22.5|30|
|38|Jacob Zehnder|New Mexico|27:22.7|2|

*Top-10 Earn NCAA All-American Honors

Mens Nordic 10K Freestyle Team Standings
|Place|Team|Finishes|Points|Total Points|
|1|Vermont|2-7-11|38-33-29|100|
|2|New Mexico|1-6-38|39-34-2|75|
|3|Alaska-Anchorage|3-21-26|37-19-14|70|
|4|Alaska-Fairbanks|5-20-32|35-20-8|63|
|5|New Hampshire|16-18-25|24-22-15|61|
|6|Dartmouth|9-14-x|31-26-x|57|
|6|Colorado|8-19-36|32-21-4|57|
|8|Middlebury|13-22-29|27-18-11|56|
|9|Utah|11-24-33|30-16-7|53|
|10|Northern Michigan|4-30-34|36-10-6|52|
|11|Denver|17-23-31|23-17-9|49|
|12|Nevada|12-28-x|28-12-x|40|
|13|Bates|15-x-x|25-x-x|25|
|14|Michigan Tech|27-x-x|13-x-x|13|
|15|Western State|35-37-x|5-3-x|8|

The Lobo womens team did not capture an individual title, but did win the team championship in the 5K Freestyle event by edging out Utah 94-92. Stursova and Wissting both earned All-American status by finishing fifth and sixth, respectively, while Strandberg placed 15th. The win marks the fourth time the Lobo womens Nordic team has brought home a NCAA title, but it is the first one in the Freestyle race. It is the second team title for both Wissting and Strandberg who were two-thirds of the 2000 Womens 15K Classic NCAA Championship team.

Womens Nordic 5K Freestyle Top-10* Individual Finishes
|Place|Skier|Team|Time|Points|
|1|Katrin Smigun|Utah|13:29.7|39|
|2|Mandy Kaempf|Alaska-Anchorage|13:40.9|38|
|3|Sigrid Aas|Alaska-Fairbanks|13:41.1|37|
|4|Jana Rehemaa|Colorado|13:47.4|36|
|5|Martina Stursova|New Mexico|13:54.8|35|
|6|Jenny Wissting|New Mexico|13:57.1|34|
|7|Sara Svendsen|Utah|14:02.0|33|
|8|Karin Camenisch|Denver|14:08.1|31.5|
|8|Hilary Patzer|Northern Michigan|14:08.1|31.5|
|10|Abby McCallister|Nevada|14:16.8|30|
|15|Kristina Strandberg|New Mexico|14:30.0|25|

*Top-10 Earn NCAA All-American Honors

Womens Nordic 5K Freestyle Team Standings
|Place|Team|Finishes|Points|Total Points|
|1|New Mexico|5-6-15|35-34-25|94|
|2|Utah|1-7-20|39-33-20|92|
|3|Nevada|10-11-12|30-29-28|87|
|4|Colorado|4-14-21|36-26-19|81|
|5|Northern Michigan|8-16-18|31.5-24-21.5|77|
|6|Alaska-Fairbanks|3-13-30|37-27-10|74|
|7|Alaska-Anchorage|2-18-x|38-21.5-x|59.5|
|8|Denver|8-25-28|31.5-15-12|58.5|
|9|Dartmouth|23-33-36|17-7-4|28|
|10|New Hampshire|22-31-x|18-9-x|27|
|11|Bates|17-x-x|23-x-x|23|
|12|Williams|24-34-x|16-6-x|22|
|13|Middlebury|29-37-x|11-3-x|14|
|14|Vermont|26-x-x|14-x-x|14|
|15|Harvard|27-x-x|13-x-x|13|
|16|Western State|32-x-x|8-x-x|8|
|17|Montana State|35-x-x|5-x-x|5|
|18|Wisconsin-Green Bay|38-x-x|2-x-x|2|
|19|St. Cloud State|39-x-x|1-x-x|1|

We had a good day today, stated head coach George Brooks. I am proud of the way our cross-country team skied. We have been in first place after the first day before, but we want to be in first place on Saturday. Regardless, I was happy with our performance today and we are off to a great start.

Vika, Krogsveen, Wissting and Stursova give the Lobos four All-Americans for the 2003 season with three days of competition still to go. Last year, five Lobos earned All-American honors. Wissting becomes the 16th two-time All-American in school history.

Competition moves to the Alpine arena tomorrow with the the mens and womens Giant Slalom at the Dartmouth Skiway. The mens race begins at 9:30 a.m. (E.S.T.) while the women hit the slopes at 11:00 a.m (E.S.T.). The mens second run starts at 12:30 p.m. (E.S.T.) with the womens second run at 2:00 p.m. (E.S.T.).

Click on "Photo Index" on the right of the Ski Team page on GoLobos.com for photos from Day 1 of the 2003 NCAA Championships.

Lobos Skiing

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