Nordic skiing at Jackson was on tap for the second day of the NCAA skiing champonships Thursday. (NCAA photo)

JACKSON, N.H. – The University of Utah dominated the Nordic events – the men’s 10K classic race and women’s 5K classic – at Jackson XC to grab the overall lead halfway through the 2021 NCAA Skiing Championships being hosted by the University of New Hampshire.

The Championships continue this morning with the men’s and women’s slalom at Cannon/Mittersill. They conclude Saturday with men’s and women’s Nordic freestyle competition at Jackson XC.

Spectators are not allowed at the NCAAs this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Thursday, the Utes took two of the top three spots and three of the top five in the men’s race that started the day in temperatures in the 50s and under a bright sun. They were even more impressive in the women’s 5K that followed, sweeping the top three spots, led by Sydney Palmer-Leger’s winning time of 15 minutes, 50.7 seconds.

Palmer-Leger’s teammates Julia Richter (15:55.9) and Novie McCabe (16:12) completed the Utah sweep.

Magnus Boee of the University of Colorado won the men’s 10K in 26:17.7. Utah’s Luke Jager was second in 26:30.5 and Samuel Hendry was next in 26:43. The third Ute racer, Bjorn Niksaasen, was fifth in 26:48.

Utah won the men’s 10K with 100 points and the women’s 5K with 111. The Utes were in third place after Wednesday’s opening day of competition, the men’s and women’s giant slalom races at Cannon/Mittersill. They led the University of Colorado by a point after the men’s classic race and expanded their lead with the women’s results.

Utah owns a two-day total of 319 points and Colorado is second at 252.5 points. Montana State is third with 213.5 points. Alaska-Anchorage is fourth with 200 points and Denver is fifth at 193.

Vermont is sixth at 151, Westminster has 137 points in seventh, Northern Michigan is eighth with 100 and UNH is ninth with 96. Plymouth State is 10th with 77 points.

The Utes are aiming to defend their 2019 championship and have won two of the last three NCAA titles.

There was no team championship awarded last year after the NCAAs at Bridger Bowl in Montana were stopped abruptly following two days of racing because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Utes were leading at the time.