Utah skiing dominates at Montana State Invitational

University of Utah senior Sona Moravcikova. Photo: University of Utah

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Top-to-bottom, it was another dominant day at Bridger Bowl on Wednesday for the Utah ski team and the Utes persevered through difficult snow conditions in slalom racing on the way to victory in the Montana State Invitational. Utah concluded the meet with 760 points in the team standings, a whopping 253.5 points ahead of host Montana State in second place.

Bjorn Brudevoll and Katie Parker picked up individual wins in the men’s and women’s races, respectively, with Parker’s triumph her first as a Ute and second top-five effort in slalom. Brudevoll himself had his fifth career slalom win, and was joined on the men’s podium by second-place finisher Wilhelm Normannseth.

“It was again some of the most challenging conditions I’ve seen,” said head alpine coach JJ Johnson. “You just don’t train on this stuff. The guys in particular skied awesome and positioned themselves well. But the only problem with that is you end up starting 25-30 on the second run. The way they managed it and dealt with the snow conditions was unbelievable.”

Brudevoll and Normannseth were first and third, respectively, in the first run, and Jeremy Mathers was fourth off the first run before finishing the day fifth overall in just his second collegiate race with Utah. Oliver Parazette put together two gritty runs en route to solidifying four Utes in the top-eight.

Parker, whose growth in slalom was praised by Johnson during the preseason, started the day in the No. 24 bib and managed both her runs perfectly on the way to the triumph. Sona Moravcikova turned in a fifth-place performance, Josefine Selvaag was right behind her in sixth and Kaja Norbye claimed seventh.

“It’s all over the place—there’s people skiing fast from all aspects, instead of just banking on one or two,” Johnson added. “It shows what we’ve been building the last couple years, and that they all help each other. It’s a pretty cool vibe that shows what the whole crew is doing, and the culture of how they’re starting to feed off of each other.”

Although the MSU Invitational is now complete, teams will remain at Bridger Bowl for one final day of slalom racing on Thursday, Jan. 20—with that competition as part of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA) Invitational.

Teams will then move to Park City, Utah for three straight days of races at Park City Mountain Resort. It includes the giant slalom on Sunday, Jan. 23 and Monday, Jan. 24, followed up by the slalom on Tuesday, Jan. 25.

“I think [this meet] at points showed above and beyond what this team can do,” Johnson added. “I’m over the moon with how they did today. It was a heck of a start. The thing that is ahead of pace is the depth of our team. It’s made it fun, and it’s a really good problem to have. We have a lot more racing to go though.”

The Jan. 23 GS race will be held as part of the RMISA Invitational, and the final two days of competition in Park City will serve as the alpine half of the Utah Invitational.