NCAA Runner-Up
Palmer-Leger, who won both the NCAA classic and freestyle races as a freshman in 2021, put down a time of 22:08.2 to win the interval start race by more than 21 seconds. Her performance brought Utah to 86 individual national championships in recorded program history. Dating back to 2021, the Utes have won seven straight women’s Nordic races at NCAAs. “A phenomenal race from Sydney,” added head Nordic coach Miles Havlick. “She’s had a good year, but we hadn’t quite found her top gear yet. Today she definitely had that spark. With her positive splits, she kept charging and charging, and finished strong. An amazing day.” “It was a pretty surreal day,” said Palmer-Leger. “I wanted to go out there, give it everything I could and finish that race. It was pretty cool to win both NCAA races as a freshman and now this first one as a senior. I think Fredrik (Landstedt) was crying a little bit when I won. And I can honestly say the same. I kept my pace and actually went harder the second and third laps … just staying relaxed and catching as many people as I could.” Utah had two additional podiums in the men’s 2-3 duo of Joe Davies (19:20.2) and Tom Mancini (19:35.9). Before a Howelsen Hill crowd estimated at about 2,000 fans
om day three, Hoffman turned in a second-place women’s slalom result—her second at the championships—while Solbakken once again led the charge for the Utah men by placing third. Utah edged Denver for the most alpine points in the field, with the Utes tallying 286.5 points across the giant slalom and slalom days. Utah’s 152 men’s alpine points were also a meet-best. The 20K classic races at Howelsen Hill took place on the final day. The Utes advantage was cut to just 17 points after CU placed all three of its athletes in the top- nine of the women’s 20K classic, the first event of the day. Then in
the men’s race, the host squad had the Nos. 1 and 3 spots to pull in front. Palmer-Leger waged a tight battle for the No. 2 spot with Haley Brewster of Vermont, but Brewster’s final stride gave her the upper hand by just three-tenths of a second. The Utah men’s trio of Mancini (56:21:1), Davies (56:21.5) and Brian Bushey (56:22.9) took the Nos. 6-8 spots, respectively. “As a team, we were really strong this week,” said Palmer- Leger. “The whole RMISA is really strong. You never know who’s going to win. We do everything we can until the last second.”
Joe Davies placed second in the men’s Nordic freestyle and placed seventh in the classic.
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CRIMSON CLUB MAGAZINE APRIL 2024
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