I know our day 1 events were our weakest, but does anyone know generically how our team stacks up these last two days?
Just to throw my 2 cents in (admittedly over-valued at that)-
In short, I'd say fans. like in pretty much any sport, shouldn't take earlier season results as any excuse to fall into "we've got this (victory) now" thinking until the
last skier in the
last race of the championships has finished.
(I remember being pretty surprised at the time when DU beat CU in freestyle Nordic at the conference championships (
http://www.rmisaskiing.com/meet.php?m=245), as it was the Buffs' strongest and Pioneers' weakest events during the regular season (as cmgoods' post above shows).)
And, of course, in Alpine,
ANYTHING can happen***, so who knows.
(***Although they're in 4th so obviously still in it, but if they ca
n't come back for a podium finish (if not win),
Dartmouth will probably definitely feel the need for a little "what could have been" post- championship reflection, as they had a TOUGH women's GS. 2 of their skiers (including the top-ranked GS skier in the East), didn't complete their 2nd runs after being in solid 6th and 11th places after their 1st runs. That led to them only earning 4.5 points overall (from their 3rd skier) in that race, and they now have quite a bit of work to do (especially to catch the Buffs and Pios). IF they had been able to finish their 2nd runs and keep their 1st round position, Dartmouth would probably be VERY close to, if not in, 1st place.)
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And now for something completely different....
Article on today's races. (Sounds like 2 Buffs had tough things, of varying degrees, occur during their races; makes it more impressive they still got the overall points win for the day.) -
Direct link -
http://cubuffs.com/news/2018/3/8/skiing-buffs-take-lead-in-tight-ncaa-championship-race.aspx
"
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — The 2018 NCAA Skiing Championship heated up Thursday under the sun at Howelsen Hill where the Colorado Buffaloes were able to take over the top of the leaderboard at the midway point of the national championships.
In the first Nordic races of the four-day event, Colorado won the women's 5K classical to start the day and then finished third in the men's 10K in the early afternoon. Overall, the Buffs scored 146 points Thursday and now has 276 total points after 4-of-8 events to hold a slim nine-point advantage over the Denver Pioneers who are right on the Buffs'tail.
"It is pretty exciting right now and no one is running away with the trophy," head coach
Richard Rokos said.
Colorado earned four All-America honors on Thursday and saw two Buffs get up on the podium.
Anne Siri Lervik, in her first NCAA Championship race, finished second in the women's race to start the day and then
Petter Reistad also finished second in the men's race. Both earned first-team All-America honors; for Reistad it is his fifth career All-America honor (three first-team), but first time he got up on the podium in his third and final NCAA Championship.
Petra Hyncicova finished sixth in the women's race and
Sondre Bollum seventh in the men's in his first NCAA race. Hyncicova, the defending classical and freestyle NCAA Champion and 2018 Olympian, earned the sixth All-America honor of her career (three first-team, three second-team).
"I'm happy with the team, it was an awesome day," head Nordic coach
Bruce Cranmer said. "It looks like we are in the lead and still have a lot of fighting left to do on both the alpine and Nordic side. We are only halfway there, but at least we don't have a big hole to dig ourselves out of it. It is tight and it will be interesting."
...
UP NEXT: Friday will mark the final alpine day of the championship, and one of the most exciting with the night slalom races. They will be held at Howelsen Hill with fireworks kicking off the event at 6:45 p.m.
"
