Senior skier Micah Steinberg led the Denver Pioneers on the first day of the RMISA Invitational at Mt. Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Center in Lake Placid, New York, finishing ninth in the men’s 10-kilometer classic event with a time of 26:48.5. This marks Steinberg’s third career top-10 finish, matching his previous best and building on performances at the Utah Invitational and last year’s Denver Invite.
Denver entered half of its 12-member Nordic squad in the collegiate opener. Sophomore Eemil Juntunen made his Pioneer debut by finishing 25th, while senior Krystof Zatloukal placed 28th in the men’s interval start race.
On the women’s side, freshmen Estelle Darbellay and Ruby Serrouya made their collegiate debuts. Serrouya finished 15th overall and ranked seventh among under-20 junior athletes, placing third among RMISA competitors. Junior Maja Moland came in 18th and Darbellay was 20th to also score points for Denver.
The Nordic-only RMISA Invitational is held alongside the annual U.S. Cross Country National Championships, with results from RMISA athletes used to determine team standings.
After two events, Utah leads with 202 points, having seven skiers in the top ten including all six scorers. Alaska Anchorage follows with 156 points, Colorado has 137, Montana State is at 128, Alaska Fairbanks holds 122 points, and Denver sits sixth with 97 points.
Utah had strong performances in both men’s and women’s races. Zachary Jayne won the men’s classic event while teammate Mons Melbye finished second ahead of Corbin Carpenter from Alaska Anchorage. In the women’s race, Erica Laven of Utah took first place; Tilde Baangman from Colorado was second and Rosie Fordham from Alaska Fairbanks finished third.
The U.S. National Championships continue Tuesday with a non-college freestyle sprint event. The next collegiate race for Denver will be an individual Nordic qualifier on Thursday featuring a 20K freestyle mass start before concluding with classic sprints on Friday.
For more information about Denver Pioneers athletics or to support student-athletes through donations, visit their official website.
