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Junior Henning Dybendal wins the men's 10-km FS event as a first-year competitor.
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March 11, 2004
DONNER'S SUMMIT, Calf. -- The University of Utah ski team moves up in the standings, skiing third in the second day of the 2004 NCAA Championships. The Ute cross country squad improved the Utes combined score to 304.5 and is down only 28.5 points off the leader Denver. Utah qualified three All-America honorees.
Denver remains in first place, while New Mexico jumped a spot to take second. The Utes rallied up two spots to finish third, and Vermont dropped in the standings, skiing fourth. The Buffs of Colorado finished up the top five, placing fifth.
"We had a good day of skiing," said Head Coach Kevin Sweeney. "We are hanging in there, chipping away at Denver's lead. The team is skiing great and we are really fired up. Our spirit is high and I'm happy with how the day went. The next two days are going to really be exciting."
Standout junior Henning Dybendal was crowned with his first 10-km freestyle championship, winning the event with a time of 21:27.9. The first-team All-American finished in front of Vermont's Lowell Bailey and Colorado's Erling Christiansen. The Skotselv, Norway, native is a first-year competitor at the U.
Nordic skier Daniel Sonntag skied 12th in 22:37.5, after battling illness for the last past weeks. The freshman has been out of action, not competing in either the Colorado Invitational or Regional Championships. Junior Benjamin Sonntag managed to ski to a 20-place finish with a two-run time of 23:04.4.
"Henning winning the skate was the highlight of the day," added Sweeney. "He has been skiing well all season and I'm really proud of his performance. The Sonntag brothers also skied great."
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"Barbro's and Jenny's results were fantastic," remarked Sweeney. "The women skied great. We had a few errors but it's not easy skiing at the NCAA Championships."
Tomorrow, March 12, the four-day championships continue featuring the men's and women's slalom races at the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort. Races will start at 9:30 a.m., near the mid-mountain lodge.
NCAA Championship Results:
1. Denver 333.0
2. New Mexico 307.0
3. Utah 304.5
4. Vermont 295.0
5. Colorado 275.0
6. Alaska-Anchorage 226.5
7. Middlebury 202.0
7. Dartmouth 202.0
9. Nevada 178.0
10. Alaska-Fairbanks 132.0
11. Colby 112.5
12. Williams 93.0
13. Montana State 81.0
14. Northern Michigan 77.0
15. New Hampshire 65.0
16. Western State 48.0
17. Boise State 41.0
18. St. Lawrence 24.0
19. Whitman 21.0
20. Bates 18.0
21. Harvard 17.0
22. Michigan Tech 2.0
23. Wisconsin-Green Bay 1.0
