Championships Thread- SKIING at the 2023 NCAA Championships (Lake Placid, NY; Wed. 3/8-Sat. 3/11; 3/10- Slaloms, 1st race 7:00 AM MT)

[AztecBuff]

It was announced a few days ago (see below linked to and quoted below article) that the Buffs were selected to bring a full team (12 skiers) to the Championships!
(As I mentioned in the regular season thread, this year's team has not been as strong as in every prior years, at least since I've been following the last decade or so, and for the 1st time I know of it was NOT a sure thing CU would qualify a full team for the Championships. (Per the article below, 2009 was the last time CU didn't field a full field.) Thankfully they did this year!)

As in prior years, live streaming of all races is scheduled to be available on the NCAA website. (Links provided below.)

Go Buffs!!!

Article on the Buffs being selected, and who the coaches have decided will race for the team in Utah -




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/3/1/skiing-buffs-qualify-full-team-for-ncaa-championships.aspx

"
INDIANAPOLIS—As was known based on a tremendous week in Alaska, the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team have officially qualified a full 12-skier team for the NCAA Championships, set to take place in Lake Placid, N.Y., March 8-11.

The Buffs have now qualified a full team for the 12th straight season, having last gone short-handed in 2009. Colorado has won 20 National Championships (19 NCAA, 1 AIAW), second most in the nation and has 102 individual national champions (100 NCAA), most by any team in the nation.

The group of 12 skiers going for the Buffs include five Buffs that have won a race this season and nine of the 12 have at least one podium appearance and the group has a combined 24 podium appearances.

Qualifying for the Buffs are:

• Hanna Abrahamsson (women's Nordic) – Nine races, all top seven, seven top 5, six podiums, one win.
• Magnus Boee (men's Nordic) – 10 races, all top 20, six top 10, four top 5, three podiums, one win.
• Anna-Maria Dietze (women's Nordic) – Eight races, all top six, seven top 5, three podiums, one win.
• Jacob Dilling (men's alpine) – Seven races, six top 11, five top 5, four podiums, one win.
• Elena Exenberger (women's alpine) – 11 races, eight top 20, three top 10.
• Louis Fausa (men's alpine) – 11 races, eight top 15, six top 10, three top five, two podiums.
• Filip Forejtek (men's alpine) – Eight races, four top seven, three top five, three podiums, one win.
• Emma Hammergaard (women's alpine) – 11 races, seven top 8, two top 5, one podium.
• Kaitlyn Harsch (women's alpine) – 11 races, seven top 20, three top 10.
• Oyvind Haugan (men's Nordic) – Eight races, seven top 20, two top 10.
• Weronika Kaleta (women's Nordic) – Four races, four top nine, three top five, one podium.
• Will Koch (men's Nordic) – Seven races, seven top 14, six top 10, one top five, one podium.

The championships are hosted by St. Lawrence University and will take place at Mt. Van Hovenberg for Nordic races and Whiteface Mountain for alpine races in Lake Placid. This is the fourth time Lake Placid will host the NCAA Ski Championships and the Buffs have won the National Championships where Lake Placid was the sole host of the event, in 1982 and then CU's most recent title in 2015 also came in Lake Placid.
"
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Just pasting what I wrote in prior years about how the Championships are scored:

"
Since I always forget the scoring system in skiing, I have posted the below in various prior years' threads. (I'm assuming/ hoping there's no change this year.) -

"Scoring in NCAA Skiing- the top 30 finishers of each race earn points. The scores earned for the top 8 finishers from 1st through 8th are 40 (for 1st place)-37-34-31-29-27-25-23. After that, the 9th through 30th places earn one point less for each lower place finish, so for example 9th place earns 22 points, 10th place 21 points, etc., all the way down to the 30th place finisher, who earns 1 point."
(Note-at the NCAA championships, teams can only bring 3 athletes of each gender for each type of skiing (Alpine and Nordic), so all their finishes count. For earlier season races with more than 3 racers per team competing in each event, only the top 3 finishers for each team get their finishes counted when calculating their (and other) team's score.)"

"
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

NCAA Skiing Championships Homepage -

Utah wins the 2023 NCAA skiing championship

Coverage of the 2023 NCAA skiing championship, including live stream, schedules, highlights, scores and news.

www.ncaa.com

​

Announcement of teams and individuals awarded a Championship berth (Main value I got from this is the chart near the bottom which listed how many athletes each team earned Championship berths.) -

NC Men’s and Women’s Skiing Committee selects championship field

The NCAA Men’s and Women’s Skiing Committee announced today the 74 men and 74 women selected to participate in the 2023 National Collegiate Men’s and Women’s Skiing Championships.

www.ncaa.com

Free NCAA live video coverage (If for any reason any of the below links don't work, the general link for NCAA live videos is https://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/ .):
Wednesday -

NC Skiing: Giant Slalom - NC Skiing - | NCAA.com

NC Skiing: Giant Slalom on

www.ncaa.com

Thursday -

NC Skiing: Freestyle - NC Skiing - | NCAA.com

NC Skiing: Freestyle on

www.ncaa.com

Friday -

NC Skiing: Slalom - NC Skiing - | NCAA.com

NC Skiing: Slalom on

www.ncaa.com

Saturday - https://www.ncaa.com/event/4258

SCHEDULES (Note all times in below schedule Eastern time, so subtract 2 hours for Mountain time. From the host St. Lawrecne preview article at https://saintsathletics.com/news/20...ompete-at-2023-ncaa-skiing-championships.aspx.):

"
SCHEDULE
Wednesday, March 8: Giant Slalom – 9 a.m. EST
Thursday, March 9: Women's 5K/Men's 10K Freestyle – 10 a.m. EST / 12 p.m. EST
Friday, March 10: Slalom – 9 a.m. EST
Saturday, March 11: 20K Classic – 10 a.m. EST / 12 p.m. EST
"

Another more detailed schedule (Only pasted competition days and lines. From https://whiteface.com/2023-ncaa-skiing-championships/;. Also all in Eastern time. Times converted to Mountain in below "Live timings ..." section.):

"
Wednesday, March 8
...
9 a.m. Women’s Giant Slalom: First run. (Whiteface Mtn.)
10:15 a.m. Men’s Giant Slalom: First run. (Whiteface Mtn.)
12:45 p.m. Women’s Giant Slalom: Second run. (Whiteface Mtn.)
2 p.m. Men’s Giant Slalom: Second run. (Whiteface Mtn.)
(Awards ceremony immediately following)

Thursday, March 9
...
10 a.m. Men’s 10k Freestyle; Individual start. (Mt. Van Hoevenberg)
Noon Women’s 5k Freestyle; Individual start. (Mt. Van Hoevenberg)
(Awards ceremony immediately following)

Friday, March 10
...
9 a.m. Men’s Slalom: First run. (Whiteface Mtn.)
10 a.m. Women’s Slalom: First run. (Whiteface Mtn.)
Noon Men’s Slalom: Second run. (Whiteface Mtn.)
1 p.m. Women’s Slalom: Second run. (Whiteface Mtn.)
(Awards ceremony immediately following)

Saturday, March 11
...
10 a.m. Women’s 20k Classic: Mass start. (Mt. Van Hoevenberg)
Noon Men’s 20 k Classic: Mass start. (Mt. Van Hoevenberg)
2 p.m. Team Awards Ceremony & BBQ. (Mt. Van Hoevenberg, Awards Plaza)
"


Live timings and scores (Links from NCAA Championships homepage linked to above.) -
(At this point, I haven't found that nice webpage that past Championships have had that include team scores. I assume they will become available, and I'll add them when I find them.)
Team Scores - Not found yet as I type this.

Alpine races (Scheduled for Wednesday and Friday) -
General (standard) link for Alpine races. https://livetiming.usskiandsnowboard.org/
Wednesday's Giant Slaloms :
Women's (1st run scheduled to begin at 7:00 AM MT; 2nd at 10:45 AM MT.) - https://vola.ussalivetiming.com/race/usa-ny-whiteface-ny-ncaa-ski-championships_26961.html
Men's (1st run scheduled to begin at 8:15 AM MT; 2nd at 12:00 PM MT. ) - https://vola.ussalivetiming.com/race/usa-ny-whiteface-ncaa-ski-championships_26962.html

Friday's slalom -
Men's (1st run scheduled to begin at 7:00 AM MT; 2nd at 10:00 AM MT. ) -
Women's (1st run scheduled to begin at 8:00 AM MT; 2nd at 11:00 AM MT.) -

Nordic (AKA Cross Country) races (Scheduled for Thursday and Saturday. Link to homepage from where hopefully live results will be available is https://www.bullitttiming.com/events/NCAA-Championships-2023.):
Thursday's (shorter) Freestyle:
Men's 10K (8:00 AM MT scheduled start. ) - https://live.bullitttiming.com/event/class-group/2451/results?type=splits
Women's 5K (10:00 AM MT scheduled start.) - https://live.bullitttiming.com/event/class-group/2450/results?type=splits

Saturday's (longer) Classic -
Women's 20K (8:00 AM MT scheduled start.) -
Men's 20K (10:00 AM MT scheduled start. ) -

Team scores (Even though an east coast school is hosting this year, looks like the Buffs' conference (RMISA) has come through with a team scoring page.) - http://www.rmisaskiing.com/meet-live.php?s=2023

 

[AztecBuff]

Championships' preview - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/3/7/skiing-buffs-quest-for-21st-national-title-begins-wednesday.aspx

"
LAKE PLACID, N.Y.—Every time St. Lawrence University has hosted the NCAA Ski Championships at Lake Placid, the Colorado Buffaloes have come away as National Champions, and the 2023 version of the CU Ski Team hopes to make it four-for-four here this week at Whiteface Mountain and Mt. Van Hoevenberg in a quest to win the program's 21st national championship.

CU is one of four fully qualified teams in the 22-team field here this week at the 70th Annual NCAA Championship. Racing begins on Wednesday with the giant slalom races at Whiteface Mountain. The women get things started at 7 a.m. MT/9 a.m. ET followed by the men's first run at 8:15 a.m. MT/10:15 a.m. ET with second runs in the early afternoon. Thursday will be the 5K women's and 10K men's freestyle races, an interval start race that begins at 8 a.m. MT/10 a.m. ET.

Slalom races are on tap for Friday and the Championships will conclude Saturday with the 20K classic races.

The 12 skiers representing the Buffs in Lake Placid are one of the most experienced teams the Buffs have ever sent, with 11 of the 12 skiers having participated in the NCAA Championships previously, including 10 last season.

The men's alpine team trio of Jacob Dilling, Louis Fausa and Filip Forejtek are all threats in both races and have proven as much over the course of the season, with Dilling and Forejtek both winning races and Fausa most recently picking up his first two podium appearances in Alaska at the end of the season. This is Forejtek's fifth appearance at the NCAA Championships and he is the defending individual champion in the giant slalom, while it's Fausa's third and Dilling's second appearance. Dilling is the only skier from the RMISA to hold a top seed position in both disciplines this year.

The women's alpine team is represented by Elena Exenberger, Emma Hammergaard and Kaitlyn Harsch. Hammergaard has become one of the top women's alpine skiers in the nation. Harsch came back for her fifth season after earning All-America honors at the end of her senior season in the NCAA Championships in Park City. Exenberger turned in one of the more clutch performances in CU history, winning the final run of the final race before these championships to surge into the final qualification spot for the RMISA. She had three top 10 performances in Alaska and in the final slalom race, the trio all finished in the top nine. Exenberger is the sole newcomer to NCAAs as Hammergaard has skied three times previously and Harsch once.

On the Nordic side, the women's team is one of the top in the nation with Hanna Abrahamsson, Anna-Maria Dietze and Weronika Kaleta all putting together their best collegiate seasons and skiing together for the second straight championships. Abrahamsson and Dietze are regular finishers in the top five and each won a race and Kaleta had an abbreviated collegiate season competing at both World University Games and the World Championships, where she just finished her racing before heading to Lake Placid.

The men's Nordic team is one of the more experienced, as well, with Magnus Boee, Oyvind Haugan and Will Koch all returning to the NCAA Championships. Boee is in his fourth season at NCAAs, Koch his third and Haugan his second. Haugan didn't ski for the Buffs in 2022, but this is the trio that represented CU in 2021 when Boee won both individual NCAA Championships. The team as a whole has battled illness and a lot of travel, but hope to be peaking at the right time in Lake Placid.

The main competition for the Buffs are the usual suspects of Utah and Denver in the west and Dartmouth and Vermont in the east. The Big Green, Catamounts and Utes are also here with full 12-skier teams. Denver is one skier short, but was the most recent example of winning a championship without a full squad, doing so in 2008 with 11 skiers. CU also accomplished that feat in 2006, but each of the last 14 titles have come from a team with a full squad.


College skiing has been dominated by four of those teams with the Buffs (17 titles, nine seconds), Utah (14, 12), Vermont (6, 18) and Denver (14, 6) accounting for 51 of the past 55 team championships and 96 of the 110 top two finishes in that span. Dartmouth is the only other active team to crack the top two in that timeframe, winning two championships, while defunct programs Wyoming and New Mexico make up for the rest.

Since the 1990 season, Denver and Utah each have nine championships and the Buffs eight with Vermont accounting for four of the other six with only New Mexico (2004) and Dartmouth (2007) winning in that time frame. The west has won the last nine championships, 25 of the last 27 and 33 of the 39 dating back to the sport becoming coed with the addition of women's skiing in 1983.

This is the fifth time Lake Placid has served in some sort of hosting fashion and the fourth time hosting the entire championship, the third for NCAA Championships while also hosting the AIAW Championships the lone time CU's women won that national championship. CU won the 1982 AIAW, 1982 NCAA and 2015 NCAA Championships in Lake Placid, the last three hosted here by St. Lawrence.

Additionally, Lake Placid was favorable for this group of Buffs, which was 14 skiers compete at the World University Games here in mid January and those 14 skiers racked up nine medals. Prior to Lake Placid, the Buffs had earned six World University Games medals in its extensive history with the event.
"
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Buffs' Champioships notes - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2023/3/7/2023_NCAA_Championship_Guide.pdf

 

[AztecBuff]

The Championships have begun, and the 1st run of the women's giant slalom is completed, and the men's now in process.

Live timings for today's races:

Women - https://vola.ussalivetiming.com/race/usa-ny-whiteface-ny-ncaa-ski-championships_26961.html
Men - https://vola.ussalivetiming.com/race/usa-ny-whiteface-ncaa-ski-championships_26962.html

 

[AztecBuff]

Looks like a VERY nice start to the Championships, as my (VERY unofficial) standings to I believe still unofficial results find the Buffs in 1st after Day 1, highlighted by a 1 ( Forejtek) - 2 (Fausa) finish in the men's giant slalom, and a 5th place finish (Hammergaard) in the women's race. (All 3 inidividuals earn 1st Team All-American honors for those finishes.)

I assume there is one somewhere, but I haven't found an official team scoreboard, so went into Excel quick and created my own to try and count and sum the scores. From that, point totals after day 1 are (I do NOT guarantee the accuracy of the below, especially as its been awhile since my work life depended on often spending 8+ hours a day staring at Excel.):

 

[AztecBuff]

Buffzone article after today's racing. (Looks a little wierd to me in that it LOOKS like one of those cases where they've just taken the cubuffs.com article and pasted it into Buffzone (which they often do for the non-revenue sports where they don't have a reporter at the sporting event). However, cubuffs.com hasn't posted any article yet.)

Note- One small correction to my points table above from reading the article. I'd missed there was a tie (to the 100th of a second) between a Buff and Pioneer in the men's GS that makes my table a little off. The Buffs actually have 139.5 points and DU 117.5 after day 1.




Direct link to article - https://www.buffzone.com/2023/03/08...fs-take-first-day-lead-at-ncaa-championships/

 

[AztecBuff]

And, evidently while I was byping my last post, a cubuffs artilce WAS released -




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/3/8/skiing-buffs-lead-ncaa-championships-after-first-day.aspx

"
LAKE PLACID, N.Y.—Filip Forejtek won the men's giant slalom Individual National Championship and Louis Fausa and Emma Hammergaard also earned first-team All-American honors as the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team sits in the lead of the 70th Annual NCAA Ski Championships after the first day here Wednesday at Whiteface Mountain.

Forejtek became just the third skier in NCAA history to repeat as the men's GS champion and is the first in CU history to accomplish the feat. He picked up his sixth career win and sixth All-American honor, including his fourth first-team honor.

"He's been an outstanding performer for five years and he has the ability to perform on demand," CU alpine coach Chad Wolk said. "This year, he's had a little bit of a roller coaster season with traveling to Europe and going to World Championships and then coming back and meeting different qualification pieces, but we rested him, we fine-tuned him and we got him into a place where he knew he could perform."

Fausa finished second behind Forejtek, picking up the best finish of his career and third career podium, all coming in the last few weeks as he finished third in a slalom and GS race in Alaska. Last season, Fausa was fifth after the first GS run but then his ski fell off in the second run and he didn't finish.

"I am so happy for him," Wolk said. "And I think it's only the beginning for what he can do in the rest of his career and on Friday."

The duo's 1-2 finish is the first at an NCAA Championship in two years, as Cass Gray and Stef Fleckenstein finished 1-2 in the women's GS race two years ago. The duo becomes the first 1-2 finisher in men's alpine at the NCAA Championships since 1987 when John Skajem and John Walsh went 1-2 in the men's GS race.

Hammergaard earned her first All-America honor and thus her best finish at the NCAA Championships. It's her fourth career top five finish, three of which have come this season.

"Emma is amazing," Wolk said. "When she decides to focus, great things can happen. Did she want more today? Yeah, I think she thought she could have been top three and she could have very easily but it's still her best performance and I'm so incredibly proud of her."

The Buffs last held a lead at the NCAA Championships after the second day in 2018. The last first-day lead came in 2015 here at Lake Placid when the Buffs lead after the first and third days en route to winning its most recent National Championship.

"I think it was a complete team effort today and it's been building for a while that we can do this as a team," Wolk said. "Every adversity that's come our way this year has just made us stronger as a group, and we're leaning into that and really not trying to do anything different."

Forejtek picked up a perfect 40 points for his win and Fausa scored 37 for second place. Jacob Dilling, who has been battling a back injury the last few weeks, struggled in the first run with the 22nd fastest time, but he then scorched the field with the second-fastest second run to move up into a tie for 13th place.

On the women's side, Hammergaard scored 29 points for her fifth place finish and Elena Exenberger had a fantastic second run to move up from 22nd to 17th to score 14 points. Kaitlyn Harsch sat 29th after the first run and her first two splits in her second run looked impressive, but she made a mistake with just a few gates left, but importantly held on to finish the run.

The Buffs picked up 139.5 points and lead by 22 points over Denver (117.5) and 23.5 over Denver (115). The RMISA dominated the day with the top five teams in the standings with Montana State (108) and Westminster (97) rounding out the top five. St. Michael's led the east with 95 points in sixth place as traditional eastern powers Vermont (67) and Dartmouth (61) struggled.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Buffs had one of their better alpine days in recent memory, especially given the fact it happened at the NCAA Championships, but the work is not done. The Buffs have put themselves in fantastic position and it's always a great day when you're leading the NCAA Championships, but it only matters who leads after Saturday, so the Nordic Buffs need to take Wednesday's momentum into Thursday to continue to strive for the National Championship.

UP NEXT
The Nordic teams are up next with the 10K men's and 5K women's freestyle races Thursday at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. The men's race will kick things off at 8 a.m. MT (10 a.m. local time) with the women following at 10 a.m. MT (Noon local). The race will be an interval start.
...

QUOTES

Chad Wolk
On The First Day– "I think it was a complete team effort today and it's been building for a while that we can do this as a team. Every adversity that's come our way this year has just made us stronger as a group, and we're leaning into that and really not trying to do anything different. We're just trying to free ourselves to be able to be the best us we can be, each and every person. Can everyone do a little better? Yeah. But as a team, we did really well today and that's exciting. And it's only part of the way done and we're looking forward to the next."

On Filip's Repeat As GS Champion – "He's been an outstanding performer for five years and he has the ability to perform on demand. This year, he's had a little bit of a roller coaster season with traveling to Europe and going to World Championships and then coming back and meeting different qualification pieces, but we rested him, we fine-tuned him and we got him into a place where he knew he could perform. And once you do the work, then the results happen."

On Louis Rebounding From Last Season – "I am so happy for him. I am so happy for him to be able to finish the deal. It's been a question mark, but similarly, he's grown up a lot in the last two years in terms of maturing and what adult decisions get you and this is good proof. And I think it's only the beginning for what he can do in the rest of his career and on Friday."

On Emma's First-Team All-American – "Emma is amazing. She is an emotional being and we know that about her, but when she decides to focus it, great things can happen. Did she want more today? Yeah, I think she thought she could have been on top three and she could have very easily but it's still her best performance and I'm so incredibly proud of her."

On The Team Aspect – "We came into this wanting to compete and competing doesn't have anything to do with results. It's about competing with yourself and what the hill says you can do and what the snow says you can do and then performing on demand. And both of them, Jacob's been struggling with some back issues for a couple of weeks now and he's been progressing over the last week nicely and I think that he made a few too many mistakes in the first run. Then he locked in and said I'm gonna make up ground on the field and he did just that. And Ellie, she's been having a difficult time getting herself fired up for the first run this season, but she's had some spectacular second runs and I'm a big believer in growth.

"And each of these moments is an opportunity for everyone to grow. It gives me an opportunity to learn about the athletes and try to help guide them to what it takes for them to perform. And I'm hoping we're getting closer and closer with Ellie and I know Jacob has it in him. And Kaitlyn, GS has been an up and down year, Kaitlyn Harsch and her splits on that second run were very, very fast. And I was really sad for her and at the same time so happy that she fought it out. Because you never know, it might come down to those couple points that she scored by staying in. And those could be the points that matter. And so every single person moved up on the second run or stayed the same on you're first and second. That's impressive and that shows they know themselves and what to do to perform."

Louis Fausa
"It's amazing. I've actually never even been an All-American so it's quite the performance. Even cooler to be on the podium with Filip. It's what we dreamed off. We talked about it last year; unfortunately I lost my ski then, but yeah, this is an amazing feeling. The overall team effort means al lot, that's pretty much everything. We're stoked, it's a good team performance."

Filip Forejtek
"It feels better today (than last year) because Louis got second, so it's two Buffs on the podium. Plus in general the team performance was really good today. So it feels much better. It feels amazing to give the Nordies the lead. That's the best feeling. This was our goal, so we made the first team. It's cool that I'm just the third skier to repeat as GS cahmpion, but as I said before, the most important thing today is that we performed well as a team."

Emma Hammergaard
"Today was good. I'm happy with two solid runs to put together. It feels great to be a first-team All-American, this is my first honor, so it feels really good. The guys going 1-2 is amazing, I'm so happy for them and they're just pulling it together when it matters the most. That's awesome. I think we had an awesome day. I think everyone did the best they could. Yeah, it's a great day."

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM RESULTS (Thru 2 of 8 races)—1. Colorado 139.5; 2. Denver 117.5; 3. Utah 115; 4. Montana State 108; 5. Westminster 97; 6. St. Michael's 95; 7. Vermont 67; 8. Dartmouth 61; 9. Middlebury 51; 10. Plymouth State 50; 11. New Hampshire 49; 12. Colby 26; 13. Nevada 8; 14. Alaska Anchorage 7; 15. St. Lawrence 3; 16. Harvard 2.

WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (29 collegiate finishers)— 1. Madison Hoffman, UU, 2:10.66; 2. Sara Rask, DU, 2:11.90; 3. Justine Lamontagne, MSU, 2:12.49; 4. Hannah Saethereng, WMC, 2:13.04; 5. Emma Hammergaard, CU, 2:13.42; 6. Allie Resnick, DAR, 2:13.74; 7. Nora Brand, DU, 2:13.90; 8. Helene Kristoffersen, SMC, 2:13.96; 9. Lynda Riddell, CBC, 2:15.34; 10. Kathryn Parker, UU, 2:15.56. Other CU Finishers: 17. Elena Exenberger, CU, 2:16.86; 29. Kaitlyn Harsch, 2:20.55.

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (29 collegiate finishers)— 1. Filip Forejtek, CU, 2:07.16; 2. Louis Fausa, CU, 2:07.54; 3. Riley Seger, MSU, 2:07.61; 4. Joachim Lindstol, UVM, 2:08.07; 5. Oscar Zimmer, DAR, 2:08.11; 6. Simen Strand, SMC, 2:08.18; 7. Gustav Vollo, UU, 2:08.22; 8. Eirik Kveno, SMC, 2:08.23; 9. Gray Flanagan, SMC, 2:08.31; 10. Cooper Cornelius, DU, 2:08.37. Other CU Finisher: t-13. Jacob Dilling, 2:08.62.
"

 

[AztecBuff]

1st race of the day, a 10km men's freestyle interval start, scheduled to start momentarily.

Links to live timings-
Men's 10K (8:00 AM MT scheduled start. ) - https://live.bullitttiming.com/event/class-group/2451/results?type=splits
Women's 5K (10:00 AM MT scheduled start.) - https://live.bullitttiming.com/event/class-group/2450/results?type=splits

Link to live video coverage - https://www.ncaa.com/event/4248

 

[Uncle Ken]

Looks like a VERY nice start to the Championships, as my (VERY unofficial) standings to I believe still unofficial results find the Buffs in 1st after Day 1, highlighted by a 1 ( Forejtek) - 2 (Fausa) finish in the men's giant slalom, and a 5th place finish (Hammergaard) in the women's race. (All 3 inidividuals earn 1st Team All-American honors for those finishes.)

I assume there is one somewhere, but I haven't found an official team scoreboard, so went into Excel quick and created my own to try and count and sum the scores. From that, point totals after day 1 are (I do NOT guarantee the accuracy of the below, especially as its been awhile since my work life depended on often spending 8+ hours a day staring at Excel.):

View attachment 59426

I know Louis. He's a great guy and I'm so happy for him.

 

[AztecBuff]

Unofficially, looks like another VERY good day at the Championships, this time on the trails, as the Buffs retain their lead, with Utah in 2nd 16.5 points back after taking over 2nd from DU, who's now 49 points behind CU in 3rd. As expected, Utah gained some ground in Nordic, but it was only by 8 points over CU today, far less than in recent seasons where the Utes (especially their women) seem to earn big points advantages over everyone else in the Nordic races.

The Buffs were lead by Dietze on the women's side, who earned a bronze with her 3rd place finish. She was joined in earning 1st Team All-American status by
Abrahamsson, who finished 5th. Also earning (2nd team) All-American honors was the 3rd femaile Buff V. Kaleta, who finished 9th. On the men's side, 2 oher Buffs earned 2nd Team All-American honors, as Koch finished 9th and Boee 10th.

Also wanted to note how consistent the Buffs have been over the 1st 2 days. Yesterday, the Alpine crew earned a total of 139.5 points in the giant slalom, while today the Nordic folk earned 140 points in their races.

Total scores halfway through the Championships (per the RMISA website, I only copied the top 10):



Tweets so far from the team (looks like they haven't posted anything about the later women's race yet.) -

 

[AztecBuff]

Article after today's racing -




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/3/9/skiing-buffs-lead-ncaa-championships-at-midpoint.aspx

"
LAKE PLACID, N.Y.—On the strength of five All-America performances, the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team maintained its lead at the 70th Annual NCAA Ski Championships after the freestyle races here Thursday at Mt. Van Hoevenberg with the championships reaching the midpoint.

Anna-Maria Dietze finished third and Hanna Abrahamsson fifth in the women's race as the Buffs kept pace with Utah, who's three skiers last season swept this race to open a commanding lead at the midpoint. Weronika Kaleta finished ninth in the women's race and Will Koch and Magnus Boee finished ninth and 10th in the men's race to all earn second-team All-America honors. Dietze and Abrahamsson earned first-team honors. Oyvind Haugan finished 19th for the men's team.

On paper, the scoring looked very similar to Wednesday, with the Buffs coming within a half point of doubling their first day score to maintain the lead. CU's alpine teams scored 139.5 points, and Thursday the Nordic teams scored 140 to sit with 279.5 at the midpoint of the championships. CU holds a 15.5-point lead over Utah (263), which outscored CU by eight points on the day, and the Buffs opened up a 49-point lead over Denver (230.5), who briefly took the lead after the men's race on Thursday.

Those three west teams are in control, as there is then a 77-point difference between the Pioneers and fourth place Dartmouth (153.5). Alaska Fairbanks, who only fields a Nordic team, is in fifth place with 150 points as the Seawolves scored the most points in the first day of Nordic competition.

The men's 10K freestyle race opened the day and the Buffs started a little earlier in the race than normal as none of the three CU skiers were in the top seed. Koch set the pace early and held the lead until that top seed came in later in the race and he finished ninth, just ahead of Boee. Koch picked up his third All-America honor, his first in freestyle, and Boee earned his fifth All-America honor.

The women's 5K race then took place and the CU women had a single goal, maintain contact with Utah's three Olympians that swept the first race of the 2022 NCAA Championships. The women did just that with Dietze's third, Abrahamsson's fifth and Kaleta's ninth compared to the Utes win (Novie McCabe), fourth (Sophia Laukli) and 14th (Sydney Palmer-Leger). In the end, Utah edged the Buffs 88-85 but it was not enough to take the overall lead.

Abrahamsson picked up her third All-America honor in her third NCAA Championship race, Dietze picked up her first All-America honor and Kaleta her third All-America honor.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Buffs are at the midpoint of the NCAA Championships in the lead. If you asked anybody outside the program if they thought that was possible coming in, they surely would have said no chance. And yet here we are, but it's only halftime. The second half is always the most important part, and that's especially the case at the NCAA Championships where the ever-unstable slalom races remain for the alpine teams and the 20K distance races remain for the Nordic teams.

UP NEXT
Action returns to alpine on Friday with the slalom races at Whiteface Mountain. The men run first on Friday with the first run set for 7 a.m. MT (9 a.m. local) with the women's first run an hour later at 8 a.m. (10 a.m. local). Second runs are then 10 a.m. MT (Noon) for the men and 11 a.m. (1 p.m.) for the women.
...

QUOTES

Jana Weinberger
"Overall, it was a good day. The women's team did great, three in the top 10. That's always our goal. The men's team fell a little short of that, but not a bad day."

On The Men's Seeds: "The seeds don't really matter that much. It doesn't have big effect. You know, you just go out there and race and go as fast as you can."

On Entering The Day With A Lead: "Yes, definitely. It was nice to be in the lead after first day and we're still in the lead halfway through so we're excited to see what happens in the next two days. Slalom is always interesting. Always never racking. So we'll get through tomorrow and will be good."

Anna-Maria Dietze
"I had a good race out there today, came in third place. We had two others in the top 10 for the women, so an awesome day."

On Staying Close To Utah: "We're happy because we've been way closer this year, but its good to be right with them during this race, and it was super close and just a couple of seconds between places. We're happy we're here and the hard work we put in this fall paid off."

On The Alpine Performance: "That was super motivating. We were all watching and all so excited. That really pushes you a bit more and you really want to fight out there for every single point, you just want to contribute."

Hanna Abrahamsson
"This isn't my favorite event to be honest, it's a little bit too short and also at sea level so my expectations weren't too high. Based on that, I'm pretty happy to be honest with my results. I have honestly not seen as a result list yet, but I think I was pretty close to the podium, like two seconds or something from third. So that was honestly better than I thought."

On Holding Serve: "That's awesome. I don't really know what to say. It's super fun that we're doing great like on a team level and my favorite event is on Saturday. So, I will do my best to collect some good points then. I think I did my part today because I was probably not going to be able to do better than this."

On Watching The Alpine Team: "My nerves -- they were not feeling great watching them yesterday. I don't know it's just painful watching alpine to be honest, because it's too much that can happen. But yeah, of course I'm super proud of them and super impressed."

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM RESULTS (Thru 4 of 8 races)—1. Colorado 279.5; 2. Utah 263; 3. Denver 230.5; 4. Dartmouth 153.5; 5. Alaska Fairbanks 150; 6. Montana State 138; 7. New Hampshire 122; 8. Vermont 121; 9. Middlebury 103; 10. Westminster 97; 11. St. Michael's 95; 12. Michigan Tech 60; 13. Plymouth State 50; 14. Alaska Anchorage 38; 15. Colby 31; 16. Harvard 27; 17. St. Lawrence 19; 18. Northern Michigan 8.5; 19. Nevada 8; 20. Bowdoin, St. Scholastica, Williams 0.

MEN'S 10K FREESTYLE (40 collegiate finishers)— 1. Joe Davies, UAF, 22:33.2; 2. John Hagenbuch, DAR, 22:58.2; 3. Bernhard Flaschberger, DU, 23:03.5; 4. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 23:20.7; 5. Mike Ophoff, UAF, 23:39.0; 6. Luke Jager, UU, 23:39.1; 7. Remi Drolet, HAR, 23:39.4; 8. Walker Hall, UU, 23:51.3; 9. Will Koch, CU, 23:55.9; 10. Magnus Boee, CU, 23:56.5. Other CU Finisher: 19. Oyvind Haugan, 24:23.5.

WOMEN'S 5K FREESTYLE (39 collegiate finishers)— 1. Novie McCabe, UU, 12:46.3; 2. Jasmine Lyons, UNH, 12:59.2; 3. Anna-Maria Dietze, CU, 13:01.6; 4. Sophia Laukli, UU, 13:02.6; 5. Hanna Abrahamsson, CU, 13:03.3; 6. Mariel Pulles, UAF, 13:08.2; 7. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 13:17.8; 8. Anabel Needham, MTU, 13:23.3; 9. Weronika Kaleta, CU, 13:24.6; 10. Ava Thurston, DAR, 13:25.5.
"
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Full results for day 2 - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2023/3/9/SKI_RESULTS_-_2023_NCAA_Championships_-_Day_2.pdf

 

[AztecBuff]

The 1st run of the men's slalom has begun.

Live timing links for today:
Men's (1st run scheduled to begin at 7:00 AM MT; 2nd at 10:00 AM MT. ) - https://vola.ussalivetiming.com/race/usa-ny-whiteface-ny-ncaa-ski-championships_27038.html
Women's (1st run scheduled to begin at 8:00 AM MT; 2nd at 11:00 AM MT.) - https://vola.ussalivetiming.com/race/usa-ny-whiteface-ny-ncaa-ski-championships_27039.html

Live video - https://www.ncaa.com/event/4257

 

[AztecBuff]

Unofficially, the Buff gave up the overall lead today, but it's looking like a crazy close Championships going into tomorrow's final day as CU is only 1.5 points behind the leading Utes, while DU had a great women's slalom to pull within 10 points of the Buffs and solidify their 3rd place position. (4th place Montana State and 5th place Vermont are over 100 points behind DU, so unless something very wierd happens (and neither Montana State or Vermont scored much in yesterday's Nordic races), the podium looks pretty set with the final position of the top 3 (Utah, CU and DU) the main thing to be determined with tomorrow's LONG (20km for both the women's (8:00 AM MT start) and men's (10:00 AM MT start)) Nordic classical races.)

Team scores (top 12 schools only):

 

[AztecBuff]

Article after today's penultimate day of the Championships - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/3/10/skiing-buffs-second-by-1-5-points-with-final-day-looming.aspx

(Individually, congrats to Ms. Hammergaard for earning her 2nd All-American honor of this year's Championshiips.)

"
LAKE PLACID, N.Y.— Legendary coach Richard Rokos always considered slalom "the great equalizer." Consider things equalized. With 75 percent of the 70th Annual NCAA Ski Championships now complete, the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team sits in second place, just one-and-a-half points behind leader Utah and 10 points up on Denver with one day of competition remaining after slalom races Friday here at Whiteface Mountain.

On a rollercoaster of a day where each of the top three teams probably feel like they missed an opportunity to take hold of the championship, especially the Buffs and Utes, it will now come down to Saturday's 20K classic races to determine the National Champion.

Entering the day, the Buffs held a 16.5 lead on Utah and 49 point lead on Utah and exiting the day the three teams are within 12 points with Utah holding the slimmest of advantages with 358 points to Colorado's 356.6 and Denver's 346.5. There is then over a 100-point cushion to fourth place Montana State (243) as the three western rivals battle it out.

The first roller coaster moment came in the men's race when Filip Forejtek, Wednesday's GS champion, straddled a gate within sight of the finish line. After hiking, he finished last in the first run and had his intermediate times held he would've finished in the top three. Forejtek did rebound to have the fastest time his second and final collegiate run. Jacob Dilling finished 15th and Louis Fausa 19th after sitting in eighth in the first run, to give the Buffs 30 points in the race. Utah scored 48 points, mostly from Wilhelm Normannseth's second place to give the Utes a 1.5 lead after the race.

The Utes had a decided advantage over the Buffs in the women's race in terms of starting bibs. Utah held bibs 3, 6 and 34 and CU held bibs 20, 22 and 28. Utah's Michelle Kerven had a similar experience to Forejtek being one of the race favorites she had to hike and finished last. She also put down the fastest second run.

Emma Hammergaard was the star of the day, starting 20th she moved up to 13th in the first run and then another five spots to earn her second All-America honor of the week in eight place after having the third-fastest second run. Elena Exenberger finished 17th and Kaitlyn Harsch 21st. With Kerven not scoring, Utah was led by race winner Madison Hoffman and they also picked up a 24th place. In the end, the two teams scored 47 points each and the Utes 1.5 point lead held. Denver was bolstered by second, third and 12th place finish to score 90 points in the race and close the gap on the Buffs and Utes.

WHAT IT MEANS
It all comes down to this. Not many thought the Buffs could seriously compete for a title this week, and all the Buffs have done to date is competed for put themselves in position to win a national championship. You never know what to expect in the slalom races, but now that the dust has settled, it all comes down to Saturday. Looking back at Nordic action on Thursday, the Buffs and Utes scored within seven points of each other, and both teams probably feel like they can ski better. Denver's men's team is also extremely strong, as well, although they are one woman short of a full team, but they are still fully in the mix, as well.

UP NEXT
The women get things started on Saturday at 8 a.m. MT (10 a.m. local) with a mass start in their 20K classic race. The men follow two hours later at 10 a.m. MT (Noon local).
...

QUOTES

Chad Wolk
On Expectations – "In slalom, I don't expect anything. I just tried to keep our team together and try to be in attack mode. I think we felt really good about what the Nordics did yesterday and we're really excited. And I think we had a little bit of defensive skiing, trying to protect what we had instead of attacking and trying to secure our position. Overall, I'm really proud of the team. They're monsters. This sport isn't easy. We don't get these kind of conditions very often and for us to do what we did this season, pulling together as a group, I'm really impressed with them."

On Filip Forejtek – "That's just the fight. That's the fight and I'm so impressed with him. I know he's feeling this one quite a bit because he had it; he was there. He just lost it a little bit and paid the price for it. But, in the end we've seen it from the greatest in history. We've seen it from Mikaela (Shiffrin)'s Olympic result. We've seen it from Marcel Hirscher in slalom. Two of the greatest ever to do it couldn't necessarily finish off a slalom and that's what makes this sport so amazing because anything can happen at any time."

On The Team's Performacne - "Transition is always difficult and we've had some pretty serious bumps in the road along the way this year. All we've done is focus on moving forward, focus on what we can control and just do that, because in the end I wanted each of these athletes to not try to do anything special and just do them. Did we execute it perfectly? No, but we saw some shining moments and when we saw some people really battle it out in a way that makes me proud."

Emma Hammergaard
Overall Thoughts This Week – "It feels great. I'm really happy, especially with my second run today; it was really good. So yeah, I'm proud of myself."

On Moving Up Through The Field– "Yeah, that was kind of my goal to move up, for sure. So I'm really happy I was able to do it."

On Tomorrow's Nordic Races – "I'm gonna tell them to go for it and push themselves hard because we're in it. It's only a 1.5-point lead or something, so they can do it. They've showed us they can do it. I'm just gonna get them excited."

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM RESULTS (Thru 6 of 8 races)— 1. Utah, 358.0; 2. Colorado, 356.5; 3. Denver, 346.5; 4. Montana State, 243.0; 5. Vermont, 239.0; 6. Westminster, 225.0; 7. Dartmouth, 204.5; 8. New Hampshire, 174.0; 9. Alaska Fairbanks, 150.0; 10. Middlebury, 146.0; 11. St. Michael's, 145.0; 12. Alaska Anchorage, 112.0; 13. Plymouth State, 104.0; 14. Michigan Tech, 60.0; 15. Colby, 46.0; 16. Harvard, 27.0; 17. St. Lawrence, 26.0; 18. Nevada, 21.0; 19. Northern Michigan, 8.5; 20. Bowdoin, St. Scholastica, Williams, 0.0.

MEN'S SLALOM (31 collegiate finishers)— 1. Mathias Tefre, UVM, 1:49.32; 2. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:50.11; 3. Joachim Lindstol, UVM, 1:50.38; 4. Mikkel Solbakken, WMC, 1:50.43; 5. Oscar Zimmer, DAR, 1:50.68; 6. Leon Nikic, UAA, 1:50.72; 7. Max Haussmann, PSU, 1:50.75; 8. Gianluca Boehm, MSU, 1:50.76; 9. Eirik Kveno, SMC, 1:50.98; 10. Henry Heaydon, MSU, 1:51.11. CU Finishers: 15. Jacob Dilling, 1:51.48; 19. Louis Fausa, 1:51.96; 29. Filip Forejtek, 2:04.22.

WOMEN'S SLALOM (31 collegiate finishers)— 1. Madison Hoffman, UU, 1:49.37; 2. Nora Brand, DU, 1:50.34; 3. Sara Rask, DU, 1:50.36; 4. Ella Bromee, UAA, 1:50.75; 5. Kristiane Bekkestad, MSU, 1:51.51; 6. Justine Lamontagne, MSU, 1:51.59; 7. Evelina Fredricsson, WMC, 1:51.61; 8. Emma Hammergaard, CU, 1:52.14; 9. Justine Clement, UVM, 1:52.44; 10. Denise Dingsleder, WMC, 1:52.69. Other CU Finishers: 17. Elena Exenberger, 1:53.50; 21. Kaitlyn Harsch, 1:53.69.
"

 

[AztecBuff]

Some links for tomorrow's grand finale races:

Live Video -

NC Skiing: Classical - NC Skiing - | NCAA.com

NC Skiing: Classical on

www.ncaa.com

I can't find direct links to live timing for the women's and men's races but, as noted in the OP, assume they will be available through links at https://www.bullitttiming.com/events/NCAA-Championships-2023 before racing begins tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM MT with the women's race.

Start lists:
Women's - https://data.bullitttiming.com/events/2023/NCAA/startlist-CL-F.pdf
Men's - https://data.bullitttiming.com/events/2023/NCAA/startlist-CL-M.pdf
_________________________________________________________________________________

 

[AztecBuff]

live results links for today's 20Km classical races (Looks like it will Include split times every 1.25km.):

Women's - https://live.bullitttiming.com/event/class-group/2452/results?type=splits

Men's - https://live.bullitttiming.com/event/class-group/2453/results?type=splits

 

[AztecBuff]

Utah has a pretty dominating performance in the women's 20km, finishing 1-3-5, to take a decent sized lead (25.5 points) for the overall team Championship, especially given the quality of their men's team. (At the RMISA 20km race held a couple weeks ago, the Utes men had 4 racers finish in the top 8, while the 1st Buff finished 9th.)

Great race by Buff Hanna Abrahamsson today. I was nervous Utah team tactics might cost her, as she was the only non-Ute in a 4 skier breakaway that developed right around the halfway point of the race. However, she was actually able to knock the 3rd Ute out of the lead pack in the last few kilometers, and then was able to just out-sprint the 2nd Ute to earn silver at the line. Congrats to her!
(Ute McCabe, who's generally been THE dominant skier this year, raced away in the last few kilometers to earn an ~19 second victory, which means she ends up sweeping the individual Championships, as she also won Thursday's much storter interval start race.)

I think the other Buffs went out aggressively, as they were part of an ~10-15 skier lead group for quite awhile. However, they both faded back into a chase pack, where they were able to stay and finish with solid 9th and 11th place finishes.

As I noted in an earlier post, it looked like Utah, CU and DU were pretty safe to be the podium teams after yesterday's results. It was just a question WHERE in the podium they might end up. With Utah now a pretty heavy favorite to earn their 4th straight championship, it probably comes down to who will finish 2nd and 3rd. (Although, I guess anything can happen in sports; maybe the Buff men can pull a major upset over the Utes in the last race?) The Buff women did a great job this morning to lengthen CU's advantage in 2nd over 3rd place DU to (unofficially) 64 points. I'm hoping that will be enough, but won't feel totally safe until the men's race is over, as DU has the highest rated men's team at the Championships, and earned the most points in Thursday's race. (At the RMISA's, they earned 1st and 4th finishes in the 20km.) I'd think with their good-sized lead the Buffs should be safe in 2nd barring, say, 2 of the 3 men hitting a wall and finishing far back in the final race (which again is scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM MT). (DU's men outscored the Buffs by 28 points in Thursday's shorter race, and by 25 points at the RMISA Championships in the 20Km.)

Unofficial standings heading into the final (men's) race:

 

[AztecBuff]

Bummer that, after working fine for the 1st 3 Nordic races this Championships, bullitttiming.com's live timing for the men's race is not working right now. (Per the announcer, the race is over 5 km in right now.)

 

[AztecBuff]

Unofficially, looks like the Buffsv will be finishing 2nd at this year's Championships. Having what seemed to be a very weird season (losing their head coach adter the season started for "undisclosed reasons", having many skiers competing at non- collegiate events for quite a bit of the season, and I believe hearing ithat some of the team, may have had health issues during parts of the season, etc.), I'd think the team will be satisfied overall, at least once the dust clears, even though traditionally having a "Championship or bust" attitude.

Props to the men today. Based on rankings, I believe they were quite a bit behind both Utah and DU going into this race. However, Utah only outscored them by 9 points, and they outscored DU by 11 points.

Overall, Utah wins its 4th straight team Championship with 526 points, CU was 2nd with 491.5 points and DU a distant 3rd with 416.5 points. (During the regular season, I don't think the Buffs defeated DU often, if at all).

GO BUFFS!!!

 

[AztecBuff]

Article after today's end of the Championships - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/3/11/skiing-buffs-give-it-all-finish-second-at-ncaas.aspx
(Already some good news for next season, as it notes that men's Nordic leader for many years Magnus Boee plans to return for a 5th season.)

"
Skiing March 11, 2023 Curtis Snyder, Interim Associate AD/Athletic Communications

Buffs Give It All, Finish Second At NCAAs​

Colorado’s Valant Effort Falls Just Short In Battle With Utes​

LAKE PLACID, N.Y.— It just wasn't meant to be. After pushing the clear favorite Utah to the brink, the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team fell just short of its ultimate goal and finished second at the 70th Annual NCAA Ski Championships with the 20K classic races closing out the event here Saturday at Mt. Van Hoevenberg.

Hanna Abrahamsson finished second and Magnus Boee fifth to earn first-team All-America honors and Weronika Kaleta and Will Koch picked up second-team honors to pace the Buffs on the day. Anna-Maria Dietze finished 11th, missing an All-America honor by just two-tenths of a second after an hour of racing.

"This was the closest that we have been in past couple of years to Utah," Interim Coach Jana Weinberger said. "We needed something very special to win, that did not happen, but for this team to get second place, that's nothing to be ashamed of or hang our heads about. We always want to win, that's our goal, and if a couple of different things would have happened, we could have won."

The Buffs did put together an impressive week, pushing Utah to the brink and beating perennial powers Denver, Vermont and Dartmouth handily. Utah scored 168 points on the final day to finish with 526 points and beat the Buffs by 34.5 points (491.5). Denver took third with 416.5 points while Vermont (343) and Dartmouth (335.5) rounded out the top five.

"I'm proud of this team throughout this entire championship I think everyone did their very best and we all tried our best today," Boee said. "Everyone tried their best and we just came up short. It just how it is but there's nothing we have to be ashamed or embarrassed about. I'm proud of what we've done."

"I feel like our season leading up to NCAA's wasn't the best," Boee continued. "We got at the last minute, a full squat into NCAA's, a lot of us really stepped up and pulled off some of our better performances at the championships. You need a little bit of luck as well to win a championship. And it's a little bitter to lose by one good race, we're just off by one race and it's just margins and it really could have gone the opposite way as well. You just keep trying and I think we have even better chances next year. The tides can turn, and we're hosting too. That would be a great way to regain our title."

Boee will return for his fifth season as already one of the most decorated skiers in CU history, and in all 10 of the 12 Buffs who skied at the Championships this week are expected to return. CU does say farewell to fifth year seniors Filip Forejtek and Kaitlyn Harsch on the alpine side, Forejtek winning two NCAA Championships in his tenure as one of the top men's alpine skiers in CU history.

Abrahamsson's performance on the final day was perhaps the most impressive. Utah's women's Nordic team features three World Cup and Olympian skiers, and she was the only skier in the field able to stay with that trio past the halfway point of the race. She eventually beat two of them, taking second place after an impressive sprint to the finish.

"I'm really happy with the results and I felt I felt really good during the race as well," Abrahamsson said. "I've never felt that I've had such support throughout the course, because everybody that was not a Utah fan was cheering for me because I was in there with three Utes. The race was a little stressful to be honest, because we were skiing really slow. It was very controlled until the last lap, but I tried to trust the process and I figured some people would drop off."

WHAT IT MEANS
The goal of the Colorado Buffaloes is to win the national championship in skiing every season. That said, given what this team had to overcome this season, extensive travel, injuries, illness and more, to push Utah to the brink and finish second is nothing to be ashamed of. This same team finished fifth at the NCAA Regionals two weeks ago, and improved to beat three of the four teams ahead of them as well as every central and east power at the championships. The future is bright for the program, and the Buffs should put a strong contender together for the 2024 season, which will culminate a year from now by hosting the NCAA Championships in Steamboat Springs.

UP NEXT
The 2023 season, the 79th in CU history, is now complete.
...


QUOTES

Jana Weinberger
"Yes, exactly. And you know, it was the closest that we ever been in past couple of years to Utah. We needed something very special to win, that did not happen, but for this team to get second place, that's nothing to be ashamed of or hang our heads about. We always want to win, that's our goal, and if a couple of different things would have happened, we could have won. Yesterday, slalom, anything can happen. There was some unfortunate things that happened, but they also happened to Utah. You can't say could have, would have, but I'm happy with this team's performance this week."

Magnus Boee
"I'm proud of this team throughout this entire championship I think everyone did their very best and we all tried our best today. It was a tricky day in terms of temperature and conditions for waxing, and that happens. But overall, I think everyone tried their best and we just came up short. It just how it is but there's nothing we have to be ashamed or embarrassed about. I'm proud of what we've done."

"I feel like our season leading up to NCAA's wasn't the best. We got at the last minute, a full squat into NCAA's, a lot of us really stepped up and pulled off some of our better performances at the championships. Everyone put up some decent results. You need a little bit of luck as well to win a championship. And it's a little bitter to lose by one good race, we're just off by one race and it's just margins and it really could have gone the opposite way as well. And it's not because somebody didn't try hard enough or anything, but you can't control everything. You just keep trying and I think we have even better chances next year. The tides can turn, and we're hosting too. That would be a great way to regain our title."

Hanna Abrahamsson
"I'm actually really happy with the results and I felt I felt really good during the race as well. I've never felt that I've had such support throughout the course, because everybody that was not a Utah fan was cheering for me because I was in there with three Utes. The race was a little stressful to be honest, because we were skiing really slow. It was very controlled until the last lap, but I tried to trust the process and I figured some people would drop off, and if nobody would've done anything the last, lap, I was going to."

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM RESULTS (FINAL)— 1 1. Utah, 526; 2. Colorado, 491.5; 3. Denver, 416.5; 4. Vermont, 343; 5. Dartmouth, 335.5; 6. Montana State, 280; 7. Alaska Fairbanks, 268; 8. New Hampshire, 234; 9. Westminster, 225; 10. Middlebury, 215; 11. St. Michael's, 145; 12. Alaska Anchorage, 130; 13. Plymouth State, 104; 14. Harvard, 67; 15. Michigan Tech, 67; 16. Colby, 58; 17. St. Lawrence, 43; 18. Nevada, 21; 19. Northern Michigan, 20.5; 20. Bowdoin, St. Scholastica, and Williams, 0.

WOMEN'S 20K CLASSIC (40 collegiate finishers)— 1. Novie McCabe, UU, 1:00:04.3; 2. Hanna Abrahamsson, CU, 1:00:23.9; 3. Sophia Laukli, UU, 1:00:25.3; 4. Mariel Pulles, UAF, 1:01:20.9; 5. Sydney Palmer-Leger, UU, 1:01:31.2; 6. Jasmine Lyons, UNH, 1:02:05.3; 7. Ava Thurston, DAR, 1:02:37.3; 8. Jasmine Drolet, DAR, 1:02:53.4; 9. Weronika Kaleta, CU, 1:03:05.4; 10. Waverly Gebhardt, UVM, 1:03:05.8. Other CU Finisher: 11. Anna-Maria Dietze, 1:03:06.0.

MEN'S 20K CLASSIC (40 collegiate finishers)— 1. Remi Drolet, HAR, 54:54.6; 2. John Hagenbuch, DAR, 54:59.3; 3. Jacob Nystedt, UVM, 55:17.4; 4. Samuel Hendry, UU, 55:43.0; 5. Magnus Boee, CU, 55:46.1; 6. Joe Davies, UAF, 55:48.3; 7. Mike Ophoff, UAF, 56:13.7; 8. Bernhard Flaschberger, DU, 56:22.8; 9. Jack Lange, DAR, 56:30.1; 10. Will Koch, CU, 56:34.0. Other CU Finisher: 25. Oyvind Haugan, 1:00:30.1.
"
__________________________________________________________________________________

Full results - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2023/3/11/SKI_RESULTS_-_2023_NCAA_Championships_-_FINAL.pdf

 

[pcbuff]

Utah national champions five straight years. As parents in the local program talk about scholarships for their kids and I explain to them that all the athletes are foreign. Why are Utahs Scandinavians faster than Colorado’s? I know the training is a lot closer to campus in Utah, but I’m having a hard time grasping what is happening lately?