Complete Results
RUMFORD, Maine – St. Scholastica senior #Tyler Kjorstad# (
Sr.-Duluth, Minn./Marshall) finished in 37th place in the men's 10 kilometer classic event today at the 2009 NCAA Skiing Championships in Rumford, Maine.
The University of Vermont's Juergen Uhl soundly took the title in a time of 24:14.9, 10.6 seconds ahead of The University of Alaska-Anchorage's Raphael Wunderle, in a time of 24:25.5. Colorado University's Jesper Ostensen finished third. The title was Uhl's first.
Kjorstad had a lot to overcome entering the championships as possibly the lowest seed in this classical discipline, finishing the regular season ranked 16th in the Central Region. The region sends nine qualifiers. Kjorstad qualified primarily on his freestyle performances that have him seeded sixth from the Central Region in Saturday's 20km freestyle event.
“Coming to NCAAs, there are so few qualifiers and all are such good skiers, that there's nowhere to hide if you have a bad race,” said Saints Head Coach
Chad Salmela. “Looking at the seeding, Tyler would have had pretty good Vegas odds to finish last in this event today and he didn't. As a coach, I just wanted him to ski his best and whatever happened, I'd be fine with. He skied a smart race and he needed to do that just to be able to finish where he did. It's hard to say you're happy with 37th, but let's just say we're relieved he wasn't 39th. He raced a good race, that's the bottom line, and it was 37th in the toughest field of 39 collegiate skiers in the country.”
Kjorstad sustained a fall at the bottom of the downhill on the second lap, likely costing him if not one, possibly two places in the final standings. “I was keeping tabs on Ben Fick from Utah, and Tyler was running pretty evenly with him the first lap, but half way around the second lap, he was suddenly 35 seconds down to him,” said Salmela. “I thought he might be fading fast and braced for the worst, but he skied the last couple k's really strong. The fall was a bummer for sure, but likely only cost him 30 seconds at the most. If you consider where the race without a fall would have put him, which would have been nicer for sure. I'm just proud of his effort and look forward to what he's capable of Saturday.”
Kjorstad's finish gave the Saints three points on the day, putting the team in 22nd place. Kjorstad is the program's only entrant and none of the central region teams score alpine points. Denver University leads the championship after day one. They are the defending national champions.
The championships conclude on Saturday with the men's 20 kilometer freestyle mass start.
NCAA SKIING CHAMPIONSHIPS
MEN'S 10KM CLASSIC
RUMFORD, ME
1 32 UHL, Juergen UVM 24:14.9
2 33 WUNDERLE, Raphael UAA 24:25.5
3 37 OSTENSEN, Jesper CU 24:29.0
4 10 LOEVENSK, Harald DU 24:43.7
5 38 BERNSTEIN, Franz UVM 24:44.4
6 36 KJOELHAMAR, Vegard CU 24:45.4
7 30 HAMILTON, Simeon MID 24:49.5
8 22 KAAS, Martin UNM 24:56.4
9 11 HELLEBOSTAD, Tor-hokon UNM 25:01.6
10 34 SLETTEN, Even UU 25:04.7
37 5 KJORSTAD, Tyler CSS 26:47.5
TEAM SCORES
1. UNIVERSITY OF DENVER DU 330.0
2. UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT UVM 327.0
3. UNIVERSITY OF UTAH UU 317.5
4. UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO CU 299.0
5. UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO UNM 277.0
6. UNIV OF ALASKA-ANCHORAGE UAA 276.0
7. DARTMOUTH COLLEGE DAR 261.5
8. MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE MID 229.0
9. UNIV OF NEW HAMPSHIRE UNH 195.0
10. UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA NEV 138.0
11. NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIV NMU 105.0
12. COLBY COLLEGE CBC 96.0
13. WILLIAMS COLLEGE WIL 81.0
14. ST LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY SLU 75.0
15. BATES COLLEGE BAT 72.0
16. UNIV OF ALASKA-FAIRBANKS UAF 62.0
17. MICHIGAN TECH UNIVERSITY MTU 51.0
18. MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY MSU 28.0
19. UNIV OF WISCONSIN-GREEN BAY UWG 18.0
20. ST MICHAELS COLLEGE SMC 10.0
21. GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE GAC 7.0
22. COLLEGE OF ST SCHOLASTICA CSS 3.0
