Skiing
New Mexico placed seven skiers on the podium and ran away with the 2014 Jade Enterprises UNM Invitational this weekend in Red River.
The Lobos captured 655 points to take the team title. Colorado amassed 588.5 points for second place, followed by Denver with 574.5, Utah with 550, Alaska Anchorage with 436, Montana State with 372, Westminster with 292, Wyoming with 146 and Colorado Mountain with 33.
Juho-Pekka Penttinen and Sean Horner swept the top two spots in the men’s slalom, clocking times of 1:32.88 and 1:33.02, respectively. Mateja Robnik placed third in the women’s event in 1:35.95.
UNM’s other first-place finish came from Joonas Rasanen in the second men’s slalom event in 1:33.70. In the second women’s slalom Karoline Myklebust took third in 1:33.67.
In the Nordic events, Eva Severrus finished second in the women’s 5K classical in 20:09.6 and Anni Nord was third in the women’s 10K freestyle in 35:26.0.
“I’m very proud of the team,” head coach Fredrik Landstedt said in a release. “They showed up strong today and they wanted to win the home meet and prove to everyone else, and themselves, they can be contenders at the NCAAs.”
Women’s Soccer
Seven new players will join UNM as part of its latest recruiting class, the team announced Friday.
Three players hail from Albuquerque: Isabella Jimenez, a 5-foot-8 defender from Albuquerque High School; Claire Lynch, a 5-0 midfielder from Volcano Vista High School; and Shelby Zellner, a 5-0 defender from Eldorado High School.
The other four players are Ashley Ballantyne, a 5-7 midfielder from Laguna Hills, Calif.; Alexa Cabrales, a 5-2 defender from Mission Viejo, Calif.; Casey Murphy, a 5-7 midfielder/forward from Mission Viejo, Calif.; and Danielle Scelsi, a 5-6 midfielder from Trabuco Canyon, Calif.
“We are really excited about this class of players,” UNM head coach Kit Vela said in statement. “They are an incredibly dynamic, hard-working group and they are very passionate about the game itself. They will fit right in with the young team we currently have and continue to make this an exciting group.”
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Softball
UNM opened the season with a 1-4 record after concluding the Kajikawa Classic, hosted last week in Tempe, Ariz.
The Lobos began the classic Thursday with a 9-0 loss to host Arizona State. The team suffered two more lopsided losses on Friday: an 8-2 setback to California and a 10-0 defeat against Northwestern.
UNM then captured an 11-10 victory versus UC Riverside on Saturday before a 10-0 loss to Portland State.
Men’s Tennis
The UNM men’s tennis team improved its record to 8-2 on the season with a 4-2 victory over Pacific on Friday at the Linda Estes Tennis Complex.
The Lobos swept two doubles matches with Hayden Sabatka and Andrew Van der Vyver beating Marlon Brand/Daniel Alameh 8-6, and James Hignett/Samir Iftikhar dropping Sem VerBeek/Miguel Diaz 8-3. The Mads Hegelund/Rodolfo Jauregui match against Denis Stolyarov/Erik Cederwall did not finish due to format rules.
Pacific’s Verbeek and Alameh won their No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches, respectively, but UNM won three of the other four matches at the No. 4, 5 and 6 positions. Jauregui topped Diaz 6-2, 6-3, Hignett defeated Mirkin 7-5, 4-6, 6-0, and Hegelund beat Cedarwall 6-4, 6-4. Mitch McDaniels’ match at No. 3 singles against Stolyarov went unfinished, also due to format rules.
The Lobos on Sunday lost a duel to Oregon 4-0.
