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Ski team in Alaska for an Invitational and 2019 RMISA Championships/ NCAA Regional

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Best wishes to the ski team Buffs as they get to the critical part of the season, including the conference championships/ NCAA Regional!

All the action the next 2 weeks is in Alaska, with those schools (Anchorage and Fairbanks) hosting both an Invitational and the combined conference championship/ NCAA West Regional, with the 1st races this Sunday. (Interesting that the 2 competitions look to be intermingled scheduling-wise.)

(I traditionally start posting threads for individual competitions for the "individual sports" once conference championships begin, and with the next 2 weeks blending both the invitational AND championships, decided to create this new thread. Previous action this season has all been covered in the https://www.allbuffs.com/threads/buff-ski-team-2018-19-news-and-early-results-thread.136335/ thread.)

Preview - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/2/15/skiing-buffs-head-north-to-alaska-for-pair-of-meets.aspx

"
Buffs Head North To Alaska For Pair Of Meets

By: Curtis Snyder, Assistant AD/Sports Information
Release: February 15, 2019

BOULDER—The Colorado ski team is 75 percent of the way through it's regular season. After an eight-day, two-meet trip to Alaska, not only with the regular season be complete, but two-thirds of the postseason will be, as well.

The University of Alaska Anchorage will host the final regular season meet of the season and then the RMISA Championships, which double as the NCAA Western Regional. When the Buffs return from Alaska after races are done on February 24, more than half the team will be done with the season as just those Buffs that qualify are are selected to represent CU at the NCAA Championships will have any collegiate races remaining. The Buffs NCAA team will consist of no more than 12 skiers.

"This trip to Alaska is critical," CU coach Richard Rokos said. "We still need some solid results, and the results from Alaska will have a great impact on who we bring to Vermont for NCAA Championships. Hopefully the snow holds up and we can get some good racing completed."

The schedule between the two meets will go back and forth throughout the week.

UAA/UAF INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE: Nordic teams will get the action underway on Sunday, Feb. 17, with 10K freestyle races at Kincaid Park. Nordic teams will conclude their participation in this meet the next day with Classic Sprint races, also at Kincaid Park. The alpine schedule is more condensed and will begin on Thursday, Feb. 21, with GS races. Slalom races will conclude the meet on Saturday, Feb. 23.

RMISA CHAMPIONSHIPS/NCAA WESTERN REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Nordic teams will get the championships underway with 5/10K freestyle races at Governors Park Recreation Area on Wednesday, Feb. 20. Friday, Feb. 22 will be the only day of combined alpine and Nordic action on the same day in the same meet, as Nordic teams will conclude competition for the week with 15/20K Classic Races at Kincaid Park and GS races will take place on the alpine side. All action concludes with the slalom races on Sunday, Feb. 24.
...

WHAT TO LOOK FOR: The Buffs will be as healthy as they have been all season and it's a good thing because they need a good end to the regular season and solid showing at the RMISA Championships to shore up solid qualification and see(d)ing spots for the NCAA Championships, especially on the alpine side, where the Buffs have just one skier in the top 10 on each of the four qualification lists (men, women for slalom and GS).
...
"
_______________________________________________________________________

Edit- More info on this coming week's competitions-

Host U. of Alaska- Anchorage (UAA) notes - https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf9/...0.1045115297.1550413620-2099728119.1550413620

Schedule from the notes

"
Feb. 17
UAA Invite - Kincaid Park, Anchorage,
Alaska Men’s 10-kilometer freestyle, 10 am (mass start)
Women’s 10-kilometer freestyle 10:30 am (mass start)

Feb. 18
UAA Invite - Kincaid Park, Anchorage,
Alaska Classic Sprints Qualifying, 10 am followed by heats

Feb. 20
NCAA Regional, Government Peak, Palmer, Alaska
Men’s 10-kilometer freestyle, 11 am (interval start)
Women’s 5-kilometer freestyle, 12 pm (interval start)

Feb. 21
UAA Invite, Alyeska Resort, Girdwood, Alaska
Giant Slalom, 10 am

Feb. 22
NCAA Regional, Alyeska Resort, Girdwood, Alaska
Giant Slalom, 10 am

NCAA Regional, Kincaid Park, Anchorage, Alaska
Women’s 15-kilometer classic, 10 am (mass start)
Men’s 20-kilometer classic, 11:30 am (mass start)

Feb. 23
UAA Invite, Alyeska Resort, Girdwood, Alaska
Slalom, 10 am

Feb. 24
NCAA Regional, Alyeska Resort, Girdwood, Alaska
Slalom, 10 am
"
_______________________________________________________________________
Re live timings/ results (Below are just placeholders right now. Will add actual links in new posts as races commence.) -
Nordic - Wasn't able to find any so far, at least for the 1st day's races.
Alpine - Usually, almost all live timings can be found via link near race-time at https://livetiming.usskiandsnowboard.org/, although the Buff's last prior races (in New Mexico) were at https://vola.ussalivetiming.com/# .

_______________________________________________________________________

Edit- Since I always forget the scoring system in skiing, the below is copied from what I've quoted 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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The start of an intense week of races for the team started today with the Nordic folk racing 10K freestyle races, and the Buffs have a narrow lead over the Utes, with the women’s race having to deal with a moose issue.




Note- I’ve added more info (schedule, etc.) to the original post for this week’s 2 competitions.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Full recap for today -


Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/2/17/skiing-buffs-take-lead-in-alaska-after-freestyle-races.aspx

"
By: Curtis Snyder, Assistant AD/Sports Information
Release: February 17, 2019

ANCHORAGE, Alaska—A podium finish for senior Christina Rolandsen and six finishes in the top eight have vaulted the University of Colorado ski team into first place after the first day of the UAA Invitational, kicking off a busy eight days of skiing here Sunday at Kincaid Park.

Despite the appearance of a moose on the course for the women's race, Rolandsen hit the podium for the first time in 2019 while three Buffs finished in the top six in the women's race with junior Anne Siri Lervik taking fifth and sophomore Hedda Baangman finishing sixth. Freshman Erik Dengerud led the men with a fourth place finish, just seven seconds behind the race winner, while senior Alvar Alev took seventh and sophomore Sondre Bollum finished eighth.

The moose did interrupt the race, as Rolandsen and an independent skier had a significant lead and had to stop while the two skiers that ended up finishing ahead of Rolandsen were able to catch up to the lead pack.

"It did interrupt the race a little bit, but I don't know if it changed the results," CU Nordic coach Jana Weinberger said. "Christina did have to stop and some skiers caught up to her. I don't know if it would've changed anything, though. Despite that it was a good start, any time you can take the lead over this level of competition, it's a good day."
...

WHAT IT MEANS: It's always good to get off to a good start, and the Buffs did just that. Most of the six skiers who finished in the top eight did something to improve their placement for NCAA Qualification, some significantly, which is a close secondary goal this week to winning the two meets. The Buffs have seven more days and 14 races left before the UAA Invitational and RMISA Championships are complete leaving just the NCAA Championships left, so Sunday was a good start to what will hopefully be a fruitful week in the Last Frontier.
...

QUOTEWORTHY:
Jana Weinberger: "Overall, it was a good day. The guys went first and Alvar had a good skate result finally, Sondre is looking better and Erik's fourth place I'm really happy with. Christina looked very strong and very good, I was happy with her performance. Anne Siri worked herself all the way back up after a bad start and Hedda said she feels good."

"The sprint races tomorrow will probably have some surprises. We may have somebody who's usually not in the top five get there. Most of our guys are good sprinters."

UP NEXT: The Buffs are just getting started in Alaska. Monday the Nordic teams will continue action in the UAA Invitational with Classic Sprint races, the only deviation from distance skiing the entire season. Tuesday will be an off day before the Nordic teams open the RMISA Championships Tuesday with freestyle races. Alpine teams have a more condensed schedule, planning to get all eight races in two meets done in four days from Thursday through Sunday.
...
"
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Full results - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2019/2/17//2019_UAA_Invite_Day_1.pdf
 
Sounds like an "eh" kind of day overall for the Nordic folk, but their still in contact points-wise heading into the Alpine portion of the UAA Invitational. Congrats to Ms. Baangman and the others who individually DID have a good day. (Luckily, today's races (sprints) are not competed in either of the upcoming BIG races (Conference/ Regionals or National Championships), so not a big deal overall.



"
By: Curtis Snyder, Assistant AD/Sports Information
Release: February 18, 2019
ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Sophomore Hedda Baangman took second in the women's classic sprint races and the University of Colorado ski team slipped from first to third in tight team standings here Monday at the Alaska Anchorage Invitational with races taking place at Kincaid Park.
Aside from Baangman's runner-up finish, the Buffs had two top 10 finishes, both in the men's race with freshman Erik Dengerud taking sixth and senior Alvar Alev finishing seventh. Monday's races are the only sprint races of the season on the college circuit.

"Our team is not really built to be a sprinting team," CU Nordic coach Jana Weinberger said. "We definitely have skiers that are better at distance. I'm bummed out that we fell to third place, I always want to see us in the lead, but it is what it is, we'll put this behind us and gear up for the postseason starting Wednesday."
...

UP NEXT: The Buffs have Tuesday off, the only off day on the eight day trip between alpine and Nordic action. Wednesday the Nordic teams will open the RMISA Championships with 5/10K freestyle races at Governors Park, about an hour outside of Anchorage. They will then come back to Kincaid Park in Anchorage for the 15/20K classic races Friday. Alpine action will begin Thursday and run through Sunday. The teams will race consecutive giant slalom races on Thursday and Friday followed by slalom races on Saturday and Sunday, with the first race in each discipline counting toward the UAA Invitational and the second the RMISA Championships.

ALPINE UPDATE: The Buffs alpine team is headed to Alaska today in preparation of four straight days of racing that commences Thursday. As a tune up, some of the team competed in a slalom race at Winter Park over the weekend and the Buffs had some solid results, hopefully gaining some confidence headed into an important stretch of the season.

On the women's side, freshman Stef Fleckenstein won the race and the Buffs newcomers swept the podium with freshman Kaitlyn Harsch taking second and freshman Olivia Gerrard took third. Junior Andrea Arnold finished sixth to give the Buffs four of the top six. On the men's side, sophomore Joey Young took second and was just 11-hundredths behind the race winner while senior Max Luukko took fourth.

UAA INVITATIONAL TEAM RESULTS (through 4 of 8 events)—1. Utah 331; 2. Denver 315; 3. Colorado 312; 4. New Mexico 246; 5. Alaska Anchorage 241; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 195; 7. Montana State 176.
...
"
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Full Nordic results - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2019/2/18//2019_UAA_Invite_Day_2.pdf
 
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Today are the 1st races in Alaska for the Alpine skiers, and it looks like (per the below live results pages) it could overall end up being one of their stronger races of the year, as the CU men's top 3 have finished 2-7-21, while the women have many skiers in pretty good shape after one run (1-9-12-15-19-21) to possibly contribute good points for the team.

Men's final results - https://www.live-timing.com/race2.php?r=197327 (In document form- https://www.live-timing.com/report/197327 Race Results.pdf)

Women's live results (As I type this, the timings for the 1st 2nd run skier has just started.) - https://www.live-timing.com/race2.php?r=197326
 
With the top 30 women's racers now finished with their 2nd and final runs of the giant slalom at the UAA Invite, looks like the Buff women came through with very solid results (maybe best of the year?), with the top 3 Buffs ALL in the top 10 (1-7-8), while the other 3 also finished successfully and solidly (16-18-20) in the "race" to get better bib numbers for the NCAA championships.
 
Full recap for today's giant slaloms. (The alpine side of the team looking a lot stronger with everyone coming back as the season reaches its zenith!) -


Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/2/21/...uffs-move-into-first-at-uaa-invitational.aspx

"
GIRDWOOD, Alaska—Freshman Mikaela Tommy won the women's race, freshman Filip Forejtek took second in the men's race and the University of Colorado ski team moved from third into first after the first day of alpine here Thursday at Aleyska Ski Resort.

Tommy became the first women's alpine skier to win three straight giant slalom races in CU history and her three wins are tied for the most in a single season in CU history. Forejtek's second place finish is the first podium of his career and just the fourth race he's competed in after injuring himself in the first race of the season.

Third entering the day, the Buffs finished second to Utah in the men's race by just 1.5 points, 75.5 to 74 while Denver scored 71 points. The Buffs then took the lead after the conclusion of the women's race, which the Buffs won handily, scoring 88 points to Utah's 66 and Denver's 65. Through six of eight races in the meet, the Buffs are up by just 1.5 points on Utah, 474-472.5, while Denver is just 22 points back with a total of 452.

The UAA Invitational will conclude on Saturday after the RMISA Championships kick back up on Friday with Nordic classic and another set of giant slalom races.
...

UP NEXT: Action continues in Alaska Friday but returns to the RMISA Championships, where the 15/20K classic races will take place at Kincaid Park in Anchorage and another set of giant slalom races at Aleyska will take place. After Friday, the Nordic action will be complete and just the slalom races will be left on the alpine side, first in the UAA Invitational on Saturday and then in the RMISA Championships on Sunday.

ALASKA ANCHORAGE INVITATIONAL TEAM RESULTS (through 6 of 8 events)—1. Colorado 474; 2. Utah 472.5; 3. Denver 452; 4. Alaska Anchorage 362; 5. New Mexico 360.5; 6. Montana State 237; 7. Alaska Fairbanks 195; 8. Westminster 80; 9. Colorado Mountain 25.
...
"
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Full results - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2019/2/21//2019_UAA_Invite_Results_Day_3.pdf
 
Ah- the fickle nature of Alpine skiing.

After a great day at the UAA Invite, the Buff women have a so so day in the same giant slalom discipline in the NCAA Regional/ Conference Championship race, as their top 3 only finish in 8-12-14. Yesterday's individual winner Tommy, along with 2 other Buffs, weren't able to finish their 2nd runs after being in great to decent shape (2nd, 6th and 17th) after run #1.
 
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Article on today's races. (Men's giant slalom was delayed, but looks like when it DID go the Buffs did well (but not as well as the Utes). Sounds like bad luck for a lot of the Alpine side.)



Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/2/22/skiing-buffs-utes-battling-tough-at-rmisa-championships.aspx

"
By: Curtis Snyder, Assistant AD/Sports Information
Release: February 22, 2019

ANCHORAGE & GIRDWOOD, Alaska—In what has essentially turned out to be a Pac-12 Championship, the University of Colorado ski team battled throughout the day with Utah to take control of the 70th Annual RMISA Championships here Friday at Kincaid Park and Aleyska Resort.

At the end of the day, the Utes extended their two-point lead entering the day over the Buffs to 33.5 points by bettering the Buffs in three of the four races, although not by much in any of them. What's more, those two teams have an almost 100 point lead on the rest of the competition.

On the strength of a 3-4 finish from Erik Dengerud and Alvar Alev in the men's 20K classic race, the Buffs beat Utah by seven points, 84-77. The two teams comprised the top five spots in the women's 15K classic race as Hedda Baangman took second and Christina Rolandsen fifth but a Utah 1-3-4 finish gave the Utes the edge, 105-87.5. In the men's giant slalom race, Utah went 1-2 while CU went 3-4 with Max Luukko hitting the podium in third and Filip Forejtek taking fourth, as Utah outscored the Buffs, 93-85.

It was the women's giant slalom race where the Buffs had a chance to cut into the Utes lead, but an unlikely series of unfortunate events prohibited that from taking place. After the first run, CU held the second, sixth and seventh spots and only one Utah skier was in the top 10. But after Olivia Gerrard and Stef Fleckenstein both lost their skis, a rare occurrence, that put a damper on the Buffs hopes. Further, Nora Christensen was skiing right behind Gerrard and had to take a rerun later on a course that was in worse shape than her initial run. And even further, Mikaela Tommy didn't finish her second run despite having the second-fastest first run. The Utes took advantage of the Buffs misfortune, outscoring CU 72-59 in the race.

"I can honestly say I've never seen anything like that," CU coach Richard Rokos said. "Olivia, Stef and Max Bervy all lost their skis today, no other skier from any other team had that happen. The mechanics of the bindings are the same, it's hard to put a finger on it, but it happened. We took more than our share of back luck."

Still, the Buffs had a solid day. Andrea Arnold had her career best finish of eighth in the women's GS race while the Buffs had a pair of top five finishers and a podium appearance in each of the other three races.

With Nordic action now complete, the remaining two days of races here in Alaska will both feature slalom action. Saturday's slalom races will be part of the UAA Invitational and Sunday's will conclude the RMISA Championships.
...
"
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Full results - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2019/2/22//SKI_RESULTS_RMISA_Championships_Day_2.pdf
 
The Buff women in decent shape (but a little behind the utes) after the 1st of 2 runs of the slalom, showing at 6-9-11-21-22-26.

 
It ended up NOT being a good day for the Buffs, as they slip some to finish 3rd at the UAA Invite. Sounds like the women held their own, but the men's slalom race had big issues.

Also a bummer it sounds like, as the coach makes clear in the below quote, the day (in conjunction with the results from earlier in the season) was bad enough it might hamper the Buffs overall NCAA championship hopes by giving almost all the CU men a higher range of bib numbers that will equate to their 1st slalom runs at the Championships being in choppier "dirtier" snow. (I'd guess (???) it's like the World Cup bib process, where this is a drawing before each race to determine the exact bib number, but the drawing starts where the top rated 10-20 skiers will be drawing for the 1st 10-20 bib numbers, then the next tier of ranked skiers for the next range of bib #'s, etc.. So, if you're ranked too low, you will be skiing late in the 1st run.)



Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/2/23/skiing-buffs-slip-finish-third-at-uaa-invitational.aspx

"
GIRDWOOD, Alaska—The University of Colorado ski team had a tough day in men's alpine action at the Alaska Anchorage Invitational, and in the end fell from first to finish third here Saturday at Aleyska Ski Resort.

The women's race was first and three Buffs finished in the top 10, including clutch performances from freshmen Mikaela Tommy and Stef Fleckenstein that greatly enhanced their NCAA Qualification points, and another top 10 from senior Nora Christensen. Utah outscored the Buffs by 2.5 points in the women's race to take a one-point lead in the meet headed into the men's race. That's where things went south for the Buffs, as Joey Young was the only CU skeir to finish in the top 10, taking ninth, while senior Max Luukko finished 20th and freshman Max Bervy 27th as the only three Buffs to finish the race. In the end, not only did the Buffs fall to Utah by 53 points, but also allowed Denver to pass them for second place, as well.

"It was my hope on the men's side that we would improve our placement for NCAA Qualification," CU coach Richard Rokos said. "This was a disaster and will impact us far beyond today. This will follow us to Vermont and impact our starting positions for the NCAA Championships. I'm really disappointed in some of the guys for various reasons."

There is now just one day left before the NCAA Championships, as the teams will hold another slalom race Sunday to conclude the RMISA Championships, which double as the NCAA West Regional. Tomorrow's slalom action will still take place at Aleyska Ski Resort, but will be held on a different hill. The Buffs are currently in second place behind Utah.

"We will go out tomorrow and do our best," Rokos said. "The hill tomorrow isn't as challenging as today's was and the hope is that we will perform better."
...

WHAT IT MEANS: Some days hurt in ski racing, and for the men's alpine team, today was one of those days. With just one day of slalom action left, the Buffs need good results tomorrow for NCAA Championship seeding. The Buffs likely aren't at risk to not qualify a full team as four Buffs are in the top 15 on the giant slalom qualification list, but as it stands now, only two of the men's skiers are in the top 35 of the qualification list on the slalom side. The women's team had a really good day Saturday and if the men's team can rebound, the Buffs have a big opportunity tomorrow not only to improve their qualification seeding, but make a run for a conference and regional championship at the same time.

NOTEWORTHY: Tommy's seventh place finish is her career best and just her second finish in a slalom race, as she missed the UNM Invitational with World Cup action. Fleckenstein finished in the top 10 in slalom for the third straight race and she now has six top 10s in eight finished races this season. Christensen had her 22nd career top 10 finish and fifth in slalom action this season in five races. Young continued his impressive season on the men's side and is the most consistent skier this season. He and Luukko are the only two alpine skiers to finish all 11 races to date and he now has nine finishes in the top 11 on the season, including a pair of top five finishes and one race victory.

UP NEXT: The Buffs eight day, two meet, 16 race adventure in Alaska comes to an end Sunday, as does the RMISA Championships, with the running of another slalom race at Aleyska Ski Resort. After tomorrow, the Buffs will return to Boulder for less than a week before embarking to Stowe, Vt., with less than half the team for the 2019 NCAA Championships.

ALASKA ANCHORAGE INVITATIONAL TEAM RESULTS (FINAL)—1. Utah 638; 2. Denver 598.5; 3. Colorado 585; 4. New Mexico 508.5; 5. Alaska Anchorage 449; 6. Montana State 349; 7. Alaska Fairbanks 195; 8. Westminster 182; 9. Colorado Mountain 64.
...
"
 
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