CMC Alpine team displays rays of light in Utah Invitational whiteout

Next up, the Eagles hope for big crowd at Steamboat home races Feb. 1-3

By Shauna Farnell

Jan. 31, 2024 – OLYMPIC PARK, Utah – Opening its university racing season, the Colorado Mountain College Alpine ski team found itself in a rut – several deep ones – as the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association kicked off with the Utah Invitational at Olympic Park on Jan. 16-20.

In the midst of about four feet of snow that fell throughout the four days of competition, which consisted of two slalom races and two giant slaloms on the steep, challenging, freshly opened hill near Park City, the CMC team hammered through the ruts to have several shining moments.

Starting 60^th in the first giant slalom race, the ruts that sophomore Isaac Mozen faced looked more like trenches.

“It was super bumpy. The light was super flat. Even the slippers couldn’t see the ruts when they were going 2 miles per hour,” Mozen said. “It was like a rodeo. I was getting shot around everywhere – front seat, back seat, side seat.”

Moving up to 30

Nonetheless, the 22-year-old from Olympic Valley, California made up 30 positions during the first run and bounced across the finish line in 30^th place, notching the second fastest time and making the flip for the second run.

“I just had a simple plan in my head. I stuck to it all the way to the bottom,” he said. “Because I went from 60th to 30^th, I got to run first for the second run.”

Buoyed by confidence and adrenaline, Mozen charged down the immaculate second-run course like a pro but ran into trouble around a blind curve.

“I had a perfectly clean course, a great opportunity. There was a blind gate and I was feeling a bit too confident. I took a straight line and straddled, took the panel with me. I was pretty disappointed, but looking back at it, I’m happy I could be in that position and able to have the confidence to take that straighter line.”

Head coach Scott Tanner was impressed with Mozen’s efforts and believes it underscores the tenacity required of his team to move up the ranks in a sport where racing from the back means a nearly insurmountable challenge in weather and course conditions like they saw in Utah.

“He did his job really well, but it didn’t work out. I was really proud of him,” Tanner said. “Isaac had a tough time last year with back injuries, didn’t have the results he wanted and has to fight his way back up. He showed that he’s very capable of that.”

A former athlete with Sugar Bowl Academy, Mozen battled sciatica pain throughout his freshman season at CMC, but after dedicated core strengthening and ramping up his recovery program, he’s feeling healthy and ready to reach his potential. Along with notching a fifth-place slalom finish and seventh-place GS finish against an international field in a FIS race series in Jackson Hole in December, that first run GS effort in Utah proved to himself that he has what it takes to be a contender this season.

“I feel I’m more confident now. I know I can do it, especially with conditions that rough,” he said. “I hope I can move up more and build off of it.”

Hard-earned points

Competing against a field of eight colleges and universities – about 70 athletes on the women’s side and 85 on men’s – the CMC team raised a few more eyebrows and also gained some points.

Wearing bib No. 50, CMC freshman Jessie Ferguson hauled through the deep ruts, falling snow, and flat light to finish 28^th in the first slalom race. Starting even further in the back of the pack in ensuing races, she proceeded to finish in the 30s.

“She’s a pretty consistent skier,” Tanner said of Ferguson, who grew up in Calgary, Alberta, and arrived in Utah fresh off of a podium finish in a FIS GS race in Winter Park, Colorado. “She’s really been working on speed. She was skiing fast but was getting tossed around and made mistakes because of the track. She just will not give up.”

The only other woman competing for CMC this season, sophomore team captain Nicola Rountree-Williams threw down the team’s top results at Olympic Park. In spite of struggling in stormy conditions and skiing off-course in the first race, she finished 14^th in the next slalom and landed ninth and 11^th in the GS races.

Men’s team captain Matt Macaluso also faired relatively well. In spite of his speed background, rarely training in the tight gates, he blazed through the first slalom to finish 11^th, one of his best ever results in the discipline. Charging again the next day, he crashed and for the opening GS, was flying through the course on pace for a potential win but went out again in a blaze of powder.

“He had a good opportunity to podium. He was going for the podium,” Tanner says. “He got caught up in a rut. When Matt goes off the course, it’s always spectacular. This was spectacular. It was about 10 gates from the finish.”

Unscathed, Macaluso stayed on course to take 16^th in the final GS race.

Meanwhile, teammate Filip Krota also helped set the fiery tone in the heavily falling snow. The sophomore from Croatia who consistently landed top 10s in slalom in his first university season launched into the Utah races with a 14^th place in the opening slalom. Turning on the gas even more for slalom No. 2, he hit a rut and went out. Straining his neck, pain kept him out of contention for the rest of the series, but he has since recovered.

Looking ahead to home snow advantage

“The team performed really well, but we didn’t get the results we were looking for,” Tanner said. “We’re racing against a good field, a lot of guys and girls with Europa Cup experience. The guys not starting in top 30 absolutely have to make it to the top 30 to have a result. They’re just fighting, fighting, fighting. We’re well-prepared and just need to keep our foot on the gas, keep hammering from the back. They really have to keep their belief that they can do it.”

Moving on to perhaps its most significant event of the season – The Colorado Invitational – CMC has home snow advantage in the GS races at Steamboat Springs Feb. 1-2 and night slalom under the lights at Howelsen Hill Feb. 3.

“We’re happy to be going into a home race,” Tanner says. “We’re hoping a lot of CMC students and staff come out to watch. It’s a big goal to get as many people out cheering as possible. We’ll keep charging and hope to put on a good show.”