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CUBuffs.com: Ski Team Qualifies ... For NCAA Championships/ Championships Thread (3/6-3/9/19)

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Note - Decided to make this the overall Skiing Championships thread, which are being held March 6th- 9th in Stowe VT hosted by the Univ. of Vermont at the Trapp Family Lodge (Nordic races) and Stowe Mountain Resort (Alpine races). We can add more details to this thread as they become available.

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The University of Colorado ski team will be represented by a full 12-member team for the 2019 NCAA Championships in Vermont, the selection committee announced Tuesday.

Continue reading...
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Since I always forget the scoring system in skiing, the below is posted in various prior years' threads-

"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 team's score.)"
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More info on this the Championships -

NCAA's Championships homepage - https://www.ncaa.com/news/skiing/2019-02-26/ncaa-skiing-championship-field-selected-2019

Host U. of Vermont's (UVM) Championships homepage - https://uvmathletics.com/sports/2019/1/17/2019-ncaa-ski-championships.aspx

Schedule from the UVM homepage
(NOTE - All times are EASTERN, so 2 hours earlier Mountain time.) :

"
Wednesday, March 6
Nordic - Trapp Family Lodge
10:00 a.m. Men's 10k Freestyle
12:00 p.m. Women's 5k Freestyle

Thursday, March 7
Alpine - Stowe Mountain Resort
9:00 a.m. Women's Giant Slalom - First Run
10:15 a.m. Men's Giant Slalom - First Run
12:45 p.m. Women's Giant Slalom - Second Run
2:00 p.m. Men's Giant Slalom - Second Run

Friday, March 8
Nordic - Trapp Family Lodge
10:00 a.m. Women's 15k Classical
12:00 p.m. Men's 20k Classical

Saturday, March 9
Alpine - Stowe Mountain Resort
9:00 a.m. Men's Slalom - First Run
10:00 a.m. Women's Slalom - First Run
12:00 p.m. Men's Slalom - Second Run
1:00 p.m. Women's Slalom - Second Run
2:30 p.m. Team Awards Ceremony

"
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Live Streams -
As with prior championships, sounds like the NCAA is providing free streams. Links will be added as they become available. In general, if it's like prior years, links will be available by selecting the proper day in the NCAA live schedule available at https://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2019/03/06 .

Live timings/ results
(Links will be provided as they become available.) -
Nordic -
Alpine -
 
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It's officially Championships day #1, with the action (the shorter Nordic races (freestyle this year)) scheduled to start EARLY in the mountain time zone (at 8:00 AM MT (Men's) and 10:00 AM MT (Women's)).

Overall championships preview -


Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/3/5/skiing-buffs-ready-for-shot-at-lucky-no-21.aspx

"
STOWE, Vt.—Twenty-one is generally regarded as a lucky number. Whether it gets you a winning hand at blackjack or represents the legal drinking age in your state, it's usually a number many look forward to.

And that's certainly the case for the Colorado Ski Team, which is looking for National Championship No. 21 this week here at Stowe Mountain Resort and Trapp Family Lodge. The Buffs have won 19 NCAA and one AIAW Championship in its rich skiing history.

And while the Buffs are looking for No. 21, they are also looking for the program's 20th NCAA Championship, which would make it the second skiing program to achieve that milestone but just the 11th program among the 90 different championships contended annually to win 20 or more NCAA Championships.

But as in most sports, history doesn't mean much for the present, and that's the case for this year's CU squad. The Buffs have traveled east with 12 skiers capable of climbing to the top of the mountain yet again. This year's squad consists of Alvar Alev (men's Nordic), Hedda Baangman (women's Nordic), Sondre Bollum (men's Nordic), Nora Christensen (women's alpine), Erik Dengerud (men's Nordic), Stef Fleckenstein (women's alpine), Filip Forejtek (men's alpine), Anne Siri Lervik (women's Nordic), Max Luukko (men's alpine), Christina Rolandsen (women's Nordic), Mikaela Tommy (women's alpine) and Joey Young (men's alpine).

Among those 12 skiers, six have skied at NCAAs before and six will be making their first appearance. Of the six who have been at NCAAs before, they have a combined 11 appearances and each has been named an All-American in each of those 11 appearances. Of the six newcomers, four of them won at least one race this season. In all, the 12 skiers have combined for 73 Top 10 and 34 top five finishes this season including 22 podiums and seven race victories.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE: The 2019 NCAA Championships will begin on Wednesday, March 6, with the 5K women's and 10K men's freestyle races at Trapp Family Lodge. The interval-start men's race will begin at 10 a.m. ET/8 a.m. MT and the women's race will follow two hours later at Noon ET/10 a.m. MT.

Thursday will see the giant slalom action taking place at Stowe Mountain Resort. The women will ski first with their first run set for 9 a.m. ET/7 a.m. MT followed by the men's first run at 10:15 a.m. ET/8:15 a.m. MT. The women's second run will be at 12:45 p.m. ET/10:45 a.m. MT and the men's second run will conclude the day at 2 p.m. ET/Noon MT.

Friday's action returns to Nordic with the classic races. A mass start race, the women's 15K race will start at 10 a.m. ET/8 a.m. MT followed by the men's race at Noon ET/10 a.m. MT.

On Saturday, the alpine and overall championship will conclude with the slalom races. The men will go first at 9 a.m. ET/7 a.m. MT followed by the women's first run at 10 a.m. ET/8 a.m. MT. Second runs will begin at Noon ET/10 a.m. for the men and 1 p.m. ET/11 a.m. MT with the women.

LIVE COVERAGE: There will be live streaming and live timing for all races at the Championships. Live streaming can be found at ncaa.com/live under the correct day and live timing for Nordic will be located at BullitTiming.com while alpine will be available at live-timing.com.
"
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More on the Championships - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/3/5/n...the-most-unique-championship-in-the-ncaa.aspx

Championships notes - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2019/3/5//CU_SKIING_2019_NCAA_Championship_Notes_.pdf
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Live video for today's races - https://www.ncaa.com/event/skiing/nc/2019/03/06/nc-skiing--freestyle or, if that's not working for some reason, https://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2019/03/06 will have an updated link.

Live timings for today (Hope/ assume it will include team scores after all the skiers finish each race.) - http://data.bullitttiming.com/events/2019/NCAA/index.html
 
Looks like a VERY good start for the Buffs, as they get the race winner ( Erik Olsvik Dengerud!!!), along with 6th and (EDIT) 21st. If I count properly, that's good for around 77 points, which should give the Buffs the lead EARLY in the championships. Of some of the possible main competition (I could easily be missing someone), Utah came in 8-12-13, Denver (only) had 11-24-27, New Mexico (with 2 high finishers but no points from their 3rd) 2-4-39 and Vermont 5-9-22.
 
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Unofficially, does NOT look like the Buff women could duplicate the men's finish, as they are showing as finishing in 8th, 14th and 28th place. Looks like at least 3 of the other main contending teams (Utah- 1-5-18), DU (2-15-24), Vermont (3-6-11) earned quite a few more points than the Buffs in this one. Assume Utah and Vermont may be in the top 2 spots overall after day one, with the Buffs maybe in 3rd.?.
 
More on today's action.



Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/3/6/s...rd-after-first-day-of-ncaa-championships.aspx

"
By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information
Release: March 06, 2019


Freshman Erik Dengerud Wins Freestyle Race


STOWE, Vt. — A good showing by the men's Nordic performers, including the third win by a freshman in school history, propelled the University of Colorado ski team into third place after the first two events of the 66th annual NCAA Skiing Championships, held at the Trapp Family Lodge here Wednesday.

Utah holds a slim 1-point lead over host Vermont after the freestyle races, the Utes outpointing the Catamounts by 142-141. The Buffs are comfortable in third place with 120 points, with Northern Michigan fourth (117) and defending champion Denver rounding out the top five (92), one point ahead of Dartmouth, the next school from the east.
...

"I hate to be leading on the first day and then to be chased, to be honest," head coach Richard Rokos said. "I like the scenario where we're doing the chasing. I think we're in perfect position right now, in third place and not too far out of the lead. Judging by the way our people practiced today on the alpine hill, they skied fast and we're confident going into the giant slalom tomorrow, but you still have to go day-by-day.

Wednesday's races featured a staggered start at 30 second intervals, with the men opening these championships with their 10-kilometer event. It was apparent from the beginning that CU freshman Erik Dengerud would compete for the title, which he won in runaway fashion in a time of 24:25.5, almost 20 seconds ahead of New Mexico's Kornelius Groev, who took second in 24:45.1.
...

NOTES: Dengerud claimed CU's 95th individual NCAA ski title, the first since the Buffs won four in 2017 … It's the 43rd by a Buffalo under Rokos, who has had at least one individual champion in 19 of his 29 seasons as head coach … The CU men won the freestyle title for the first time since 2008 and for the sixth time since the sport went coed in 1983 … The first day leader last won in 2015, when Colorado claimed the crown in Lake Placid, N.Y.; the last schools to lead wire-to-wire were CU (in 2011, when four events were run on Day 1) and Denver (in 2010) … CU and Utah are chasing the 517th NCAA championship by Pac-12 member schools and the fourth in 2018-19; the Buffaloes won the women's cross country title in November … CU is also pursuing two national titles in the same year for the fourth time (football/skiing 1990-91; men's & women's cross country 2004-05; men's cross country and skiing, 2014-15) … This is the last championship in the East this decade: CU won in 2011, 2013 and 2015 while Utah grabbed the crown in 2017 … The giant slalom races are up next on Thursday, with the women's first run at 7:00 a.m. MST, followed by the men's first run at 8:15; the second runs will commence at 10:45 a.m. (women) and Noon (men) … The classical races are set for Friday, March 8, with the women's 15-kilometer event at 8:00 a.m. MST and the men's 20-kilometer race at 10:00 a.m. … The slalom races will finish off the NCAA meet on Saturday, March 9: the men are first with their first run at 7 a.m. MST, with the women's first run at 8 a.m.; the men's second run is set for 10 a.m. and the women's second run at 11 a.m.
...
"
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Results - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2019/3/6//2019_NCAA_Skiing_Championships_Day_1.pdf



 
Buffs leave themselves quite a bit of work at the halfway point of the Championships, but still in position for a podium finish (hopefully the TOP step).



Article -


Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/3/7/s...th-at-midway-point-of-ncaa-championships.aspx

"
STOWE, Vt. — The University of Colorado ski team didn't have as a good a day in the giant slalom races here Thursday as it had hoped, slipping from third into fifth place at the midway point of the 66th annual NCAA Skiing Championships.

But the Buffaloes didn't ski their way out of their hopes for a 21st national title in the sport, either.

On the strength of three finishers in the top four in the men's giant slalom, Dartmouth zoomed from fifth into the team lead with 259 points. The Big Green overtook Utah, which remained in second with 252½ points, while host Vermont holds third with 245. Defending champion Denver is fourth (228), while the Buffaloes sit in fifth with 218 points. The battle for the title is likely down to these five, as New Mexico is a distant sixth with 147.

This is the first time an eastern school has led at the midway point since Vermont did so. It's just the second time in 37 years of the coed format that Dartmouth has led through four events; the only other time the Big Green led halfway through was in 2007, when they last won the title.
...

"There were lots of ambitions, a lot of hard work put in," head coach Richard Rokos said. "Looking back, I can say the guys placed better than they qualified. But ambitions were higher. After the first run of the men's race, we were in a good position to stay with the rest of the field or be on top of it. When you lose a guy from sixth or seventh position, that's about 25-30 points, and that's about what we fell behind with the rest of the pack."

"I think Mikaela overestimated her first run a little bit," Rokos continued. "She was a little more tentative and a little less in speed, but she made up spots in the second run. Stef and Nora skied their standards runs, they didn't make any mistakes, that's what you want."

"We can't talk too much about what happened today," he concluded. "It's no longer a point of discussion, we have to look ahead and get to the next day. Tomorrow will be a good day for the Nordies, I have a good feeling about it, they've had strong classical races. Coming out from elevation, the races being longer, that all helps us. And for (Saturday's) slalom, anything can happen. It's the great equalizer, things can flip flop in a big way."

Colorado has come from behind to win numerous times, including in 2013 at Middlebury, when the Buffs rallied from 54 points down going into the last two events, to date the largest comeback in the NCAA Skiing Championships.

NOTES: It's just the ninth time since skiing went coed in 1983 that at eastern school has been in the lead halfway through the championship, and only the third time in the last 22 events. Of the nine times, Vermont (four) and Dartmouth (once) went on to win, the latter in 2007, the last time an eastern school won in the east … Since, Denver (2009), CU (2011, 2013, 2015) and Utah (2017) have won the titles held on eastern turf … The Nordic classical races are set for Friday, with the women's 15-kilometer event at 8:00 a.m. MST and the men's 20-kilometer race at 10:00 a.m. (both are mass starts) … The slalom races will finish off the NCAA meet on Saturday, March 9: the men are first with their first run at 7 a.m. MST, with the women's first run at 8 a.m.; the men's second run is set for 10 a.m. and the women's second run at 11 a.m.
...
"
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Full results - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2019/3/7//2019_NCAA_Skiing_Championships_Day_2.pdf

 
Congrats to Hedda Baangman, who wins a sprint finish to get on the podium at 3rd place after just missing it in her Wednesday race. I believe Christina Rolandsen earns 2nd team All-American with her 10th place and Anne Siri Lervik wasn't too far behind in 13th. I'd say the Buffs lost a little ground to 2 of the 4 teams that were ahead of them in points going into this race (Utah and Dartmouth) and finished VERY close to Vermont in points, with only DU among the top 5 looking to lose quite a bit of ground with their 2nd and 3rd skiers finishing quite a ways back in minimal to 0 point scoring position.
 
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Men's race is about half done, and at the 10K split the Buffs were in pretty good shape in around 3rd, 11th and 14th, with the top 2 Buffs still in the lead pack, while the 3rd is behind the lead group by over 15 seconds.

 
The men have a similar very solid finish to the women, as they unofficially finish in 4th, 9th and 14th. Utah looks to have gained some more points on the other title contenders with a 3-5-11 finish, and I'd assume they'll have a solid lead going into tomorrow. The Buffs look to have gained quite a few points over Dartmouth (only one scorer at 17th) and DU (only one scorer in 12th), as well as gaining some ground on Vermont (8th and 20th place scoring finishes).

The Buffs have at least put themselves in a position where a podium finish is VERY realistic as long as the Alpine skiers have solid runs tomorrow in the final men's and women's slalom events (1st runs starting at 7:00 AM MT).
 
The Buffs NARROWLY move into 2nd place with their very good day, but with only an 11 point advantage over 4th place, there is VERY little margin of error in tomorrow's slalom if they want to guarantee a podium finish. (The Utes' 65.5 point lead makes them HEAVY favorites to win the championships. From the article I quoted in post #11, the Buffs' 54 point comeback in 2013 is the largest comeback in history to date. Of course, with an Alpine skier always being one lost edge or slip away from not earning any points for their team, assume almost anything is possible in that discipline.)



Article on today's action -


Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/3/8/s...nd-after-day-three-of-ncaa-championships.aspx

"
By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information
Release: March 08, 2019


STOWE, Vt. — The University of Colorado ski team enjoyed a solid morning on the Trapp Family Lodge's cross country layout, as six top 14 finishes here Friday propelled the Buffaloes from fifth to second heading into the final day of the 66th annual NCAA Skiing Championships.

Utah, which came into the day a half-point behind Dartmouth for the lead, pulled well ahead of the field and ended the day with 426½ points, while the Buffs vaulted three spots into second place with 361. Dartmouth dropped into third (359), with Vermont (350) and defending champion Denver (272) rounding out the top five.

Utah and Colorado dominated Friday's Nordic classical races, with all 12 skiers between the two occupying the top 27 spots in the men's and women's races; Utah scored 174 points, buoyed by three top seven finishes in the women's event, while Colorado scored 143. Vermont (105), Dartmouth (100) and Denver (44) all dropped in the standings after being outdistanced by the Utes and Buffaloes.
...

CU sophomore Hedda Baangman claimed the bronze spot in 47:15.2, as she was in third for the bulk of the race in earning first-team All-America honors. She held off Utah's Guro Jordheim, who took fourth in 47:19.8. Those four skiers were nearly a minute ahead of the rest of the pack.

"I'm super happy that I made it on the podium," Baangman said. "I'm not in my top shape, so that's not great, but I'm really happy with third place. We had a great day as a team, so much better than Wednesday. I'm happy with my race, I think it was a solid race. I'm so excited to watch the alpine team, I've never watched an alpine race live, I think they're in good shape and will do well. We moved into second place, so hopefully they're excited to defend that position."
...

Senior Alvar Alev wrapped his CU career with a first-team All-American effort, claiming fourth in 56:01.2. In the lead pack the majority of the race, he swung between the top spot, which he held by a half-second with three kilometers to go, to as low as eighth.

"I ended up in fourth place," Alev said. "I guess it was a pretty exciting race, there were about 10 of us together until the last lap. Anything can happen in a mass start race, it was up in the air, a pole can break or somebody can crash. I guess fourth is okay, I've done better in classic this season, but I'll take it."
...

"It was a good day," Nordic coach Jana Weinberger said. "Utah did really well today, but at least we passed most of the schools and back into second place. I think it helps moving up to second, everybody was out here cheering, the team spirit was high, so hopefully it works out tomorrow."

"Some of our skiers were more or less happy with the races, but overall as a team we did well and that's what is important," she continued. "Alvar probably could have been on the podium today, his skis were a little slippery at the end, but they were fast on the downhills. Hedda, the shape she's in now, third is very good. I don't think she was in top shape for these championships, hopefully she learned from it, we learned from it, next year we'll be better."
...

"Miracles happen on the last day of the championship," head coach Richard Rokos said. "Any thinking about slalom is scary. Even today in training, people were all over the place. It was icy, it's a demanding hill, there is a lot of terrain in it. It was good training, it's more demanding than anything we've seen. It's a course we don't have in Colorado, but it's challenging for everybody, so we'll see how it comes out."

"That's the beauty of championships, between alpine and Nordic we are fighting different teams," Rokos added. "Sometimes one team has it all together, like Utah this year. But usually it goes between schools who only compete in one or maybe they're stronger in one. For example, Northern Michigan doesn't have an alpine team but they're really good in Nordic. The last day will be exciting."

The slalom races Saturday will start early: the men are first with their first run at 7 a.m. MST, with the women's first run at 8 a.m.; the men's second run is set for 10 a.m. and the women's second run at 11 a.m. The weather forecast calls for partly cloudy skies with minimal winds; temperatures for the first runs should hover around 20 degrees, warming some 10 degrees fo the final runs.

NOTES: Today marked a special anniversary for CU head coach Richard Rokos: 40 years ago in 1979, he defected to Austria from the then-communist former Czechoslovakia. "I called my wife, today is actually International Woman's Day in Czech," Rokos said. "The first four or five years, I don't think she appreciated that gift as much, but later. But 40 years, yes, rock and roll. Ben and Jerry (Vermont's home state ice cream company), they've also been around for 40 years." …
"
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Full results through today - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2019/3/8//NCAA_Skiing_Championships_Day_3.pdf

 
It's the day a team champion and podium teams will be determined, with the men's slalom 1st run scheduled to start soon (7:00 AM MT), followed by the women's 1st run at 8:00 MT.
(Assume any good results by the CU men will have to be EARNED today, as they do NOT have good bib #'s, with the last 2 especially probably dealing with some rough snow, as the 3 Buffs are scheduled to start 13th, 30th and 34th (with 34th being the last starter).)

Live video direct link - https://www.ncaa.com/event/skiing/nc/2019/03/09/nc-skiing--slalom

Live Timings -
Men's - https://vola.ussalivetiming.com/rac...sort-2019-ncaa-skiing-championships_8405.html
Women's - https://vola.ussalivetiming.com/rac...sort-2019-ncaa-skiing-championships_8404.html
 
Not a great first run the men come in at 15,27,33. Luukko was dead last. Good news is that they all finished and have a shot at a second run where anything can happen.

Utah’s was okay. Dartmouth had two in the top ten.
 
NOT a good 1st run for the Buff men, as the last 2 initially miss gates, so have to hike up a bit and lose MANY valuable seconds. They are at 27th and 33rd, so probably will not be earning many points for the team. The top Buff is in 15th.
(Must have been a TOUGH course, as I'd say around a third of the skiers had to either hike up the hill or, at minimum, come to a full stop at least once on their runs.)

For the other podium contenders-
Utah - 6-16-26
Dartmouth - 1-10-25
Vermont - 9-12 (evidently no 3rd skier racing for them.)
 
The Buff women are in general in a better place than the men after run #1, as they are in 6th, 14th and 18th.

Their podium competition is also in varying degrees of good shape (especially considering the points CU is possibly/ probably losing on the men's side), but of course just about anything can happen in alpine skiing.
Women's places for the other podium contenders after run #1 -
Utah - 4-19-22
Dartmouth - 9-12-17
Vermont - 1-3-25
 
I had to step away for a few hours- the Buffs DID get a podium spot as they finish 3rd in a very close battle over Dartmouth. Looks like they were led today by a couple of women who did a great job and FAR exceeded their bib #'s and finishing 3rd and 8th.

Congrats to the team and individual Buffs!

And, thanks to the seniors (Nora Christensen and Max Luukko from Alpine and Christina Rolandsen and Alvar Alev from Nordic) for all their work as Buffs. Hope all goes well in their futures.




 
Article after the completion of the Championships-


Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/3/9/skiing-skiers-finish-third-at-ncaa-championships.aspx

"
By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information
Release: March 09, 2019


STOWE, Vt. — The University of Colorado ski team couldn't overcome a 65-plus point deficit entering Saturday's final two events here and eventually settled for a third place finish as the 66th annual NCAA Skiing Championships came to a close.

Utah won its second title in three years, skiing mostly conservatively in both slalom races in winning the event with 530½ points. Entering the day with a 65½-point lead over the Buffaloes, all the Utes really needed to do was have all six of their skiers finish in the middle of the pack to secure the victory. Host Vermont overtook the Buffaloes for second place with 476 points, while CU claimed third with 455. Dartmouth (447) and defending champion Denver (409) rounded out the top five.

The third place finish ended a run of three straight runner-up finishes by the Buffaloes, as those followed CU's last title in 2015. Vermont's second place effort this year marked the first time an eastern school cracked the top two since 2014, when UVM placed behind champion Denver; it's just the sixth time in the last 22 championships the west didn't have the top two finishers.

Colorado actually had slipped into fourth after the men's slalom, trailing Dartmouth by 10 points. A strong showing by the Buff women in their slalom, especially by two freshmen, secured third place, the 22nd time in 29 years under head coach Richard Rokos that CU finished in the top three, including eight titles and eight runner-up showings.
...

Senior Nora Christensen rounded out the CU performers here, finishing her collegiate career with an 18th place effort in 1:53.76. The women scored 70 points, third-best behind Denver (80) and UVM (77).

"It's still sinking in … I was crying some tears going into the finish," Christensen said. "It's very emotional to be done with skiing. It's been such a good ride, I met so many amazing people and had so much fun. I think that's what makes me so emotional, because I met so many cool people that I'm going to miss so much. To be part of this family of college skiing is such a good experience. When I decided to come four years ago, I didn't know what to expect, it's definitely been one of the best decisions I've ever made and to be part of the Buffs is so cool, and we've always tried to do our best and have fun, in the end that's what matters, it's been a great ride."

"It's always good to get on the podium, but like any other year our goal is to win the title," she added. "It's a little bit of a bummer, in the end you can't do anything more than try your best and sometimes that's not enough. Hopefully they can do it next year, I'll be cheering them on."

"We didn't have anything to lose, we were going out as hard as we could," head coach Richard Rokos said. "We needed to save face a little bit. We couldn't save the championship, being 40-50 points behind is very difficult, not mathematically impossible, but we need everybody else to do really bad and us to do well. In the end, they didn't do bad. Utah had a mistake free race, on all levels, alpine and Nordic, they did great.

"We didn't come here for third place, but we had great effort from everybody," he continued. "We had some misfortune from the guys especially, we'll have to think about how we've done and how we could be better. On Max's side, it was pure bad luck. I think he was in a good position to put a good time in and his ski fell off. Filip, in some cases it's just the lack of understanding of the whole concept, this is just a different scenario, it's down every mistake counting against you."

Of his four-year seniors, Rokos beamed about their careers.

"Max and Nora, they are dream athletes for college skiing. You always hope you have somebody like this, it doesn't happen too often. In their case, they have been fantastic, the same with Christina on the Nordic side. They came, they've been here before, they've produced throughout their whole four years, that's a fantastic scenario."

"For Stef, I don't think she expected to make an impact in her first year as a freshman," Rokos noted. "Even Mikaela is a freshman as well, but with more experience. I think for both of them, they like the format and it's good to have them. They're good souls for the team and that bodes well for the future.."

NOTES: Utah's win was the 517th NCAA championship by Pac-12 member school in 2018-19, and the fourth in 2018-19; the Buffaloes won the women's cross country title in November … CU and Utah also had one individual title here, the Pac-12 count now stands at 2,336 … A real rarity: only one skier, Dartmouth's Drew Duffy, finished in the top 10 in both the giant slalom (fourth) and slalom (eighth) on the men's side (whereas with the women, seven skiers finished in both top 10's, including the same five among the top six) … This was just the eighth time in the 37 years since skiing went coed that the slalom races will finish off the NCAA's; it's almost always the longer cross country events. The last time had been in 2015 … This now marks the eighth straight year where the defending champion did not repeat (since Denver claimed three straight from 2008-10) … Dartmouth remains the last eastern school to win in the east, doing so in 2007; since, Denver (2009), CU (2011, 2013, 2015) and Utah (2017, 2019) have won the titles held on eastern turf.

NCAA Skiing Championship Team Scores (Final)— 1. Utah 530½; 2. Vermont 476; 3. Colorado 455; 4. Dartmouth 447; 5. Denver 409; 6. New Mexico 330; 7. Northern Michigan 206; 8. Alaska-Anchorage 204; 9. Montana State 184½; 10. Middlebury 150; 11. New Hampshire 131; 12. Colby 83; 13. St. Michaels 72; 14. Westminster 70; 15. Alaska-Fairbanks 57; 16. Michigan Tech 55; 17. Bowdoin 39; 18. St. Lawrence 33; 19. Williams 20; 20. Bates 11; 21. Plymouth State 10; 22. Harvard 6; 23. St. Scholastica 3; 24. Wisconsin-Green Bay 0.
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Full Full Championships results - https://i.turner.ncaa.com/sites/def...9/03/09/ncaa_skiing_championships_-_final.pdf

 
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