This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
For the first time in 14 years, Utah skiing will hang a new national championship banner from its rafters.
The Utes beat out their rivals on the final day of competition at the NCAA finals in New Hampshire, capturing an individual title in men's freestyle from Martin Bergstroem and with four other skiers earning All-American status to vault into first place.
Utah needed those finishes to make up a points gap with Denver and to stay ahead of rival Colorado. In bitterly cold temperatures, with wind chills sinking into negative degrees, the Utes got top-10 finishes from five of their final six competitors in freestyle.
"We knew, 'Wow, we gotta do a little bit more than that,' " director of skiing Kevin Sweeney said. " 'OK, let's go for it. Let's not hold back.' "
There wasn't any point in the weekend when Bergstroem held back. The Swedish freshman picked up where he left off Thursday, when he exploded past the competition for the classic title. Sliding in at 46:02, he finished a second ahead of his next-closest skier for his second individual championship of the meet.
But just as critical were eighth-place finisher Martin Mikkelsen and 10th-place finisher Kevin Bolger, who helped give Utah needed points for the overall team title. Bolger skied in his first meet since suffering severe frostbite in his hands in Alaska last month — the low temperatures made him worry about how his fingers would hold up on Saturday.
"I think we all knew all season we've come from behind and believed we can do it," he said "I think it was a matter of all of us mentally prepared to hit the pain cave. We were all pretty stoked."
In total, Utah had 15 All-American performances in the four-day event: nine in Nordic events and six in alpine events. Merete Myrseth, Guro Jordheim, Martin Mikkelsen and Roni Remme each notched two All-American honors during the championships.
Sweeney noted that Remme, who struggled last year when the Utes were third at nationals, made a big comeback this season to become a dual All-American. Norwegian freshman Myrseth finished a team-best fifth in the women's race on Saturday.
But the best race of any of the Utah women might've come from Jordheim: She managed to finish sixth despite breaking a ski pole in the middle of the race. She had to go without one until the Utes managed to get her a replacement, and then she caught up to many of her competitors.
"That second lap of the women's race was key for us, it was basically make-or-break for the championship," Sweeney said. "You look where they ended up, that's a huge turning point right there."
Utah finished with 541.5 points, with Denver (525) second and Colorado (524) third.
Utah knows what it is to come painfully close: They've finished in the top three in five of the previous six years. This is Utah's second national championship under Sweeney, who led the last victory in 2003.
It is also the first national championship for Utah athletics since the 2003 skiing title. The ski team has now won 12 championships in its history.
"I can't think of a better way to finish four years," Bolger said. "To get out on top."
Twitter: @kylegoon