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2022/23 SKI TEAM pre and regular season news, results and discussion (Team competing in Alaska 2/20-25)

AztecBuff

AztecBuff

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With the season beginning tomorrow, at least for the Nordic Buffs, I'm past due to begin this thread where, as for all the "individual" sports, we can report on news and results throughout the regular season, which this year ends with the RMISA (Conference) Championships/ NCAA Western Regionals, scheduled to be contested from Feb. 22nd-25th outside Anchorage, Alaska. (As usual, the NCAA Championships, to be held in Lake Placid, NY from March 8th-11th this season, will get their own thread.)

This year's schedule:

DateTimeAtOpponentLocationTournament
January 2, 2023 (Monday)All DayNeutral10K FreestyleHoughton, Mich.RMISA Nordic Qualifier
January 4, 2023 (Wednesday)All DayNeutralClassic SprintsHoughton, Mich.RMISA Nordic Qualifier
January 13, 2023 (Friday)All DayNeutral10K FreestyleBozeman, Mont.Montana State Invitational
January 14, 2023 (Saturday)All DayNeutral15K ClassicalBozeman, Mont.Montana State Invitational
January 30, 2023 (Monday)All DayNeutralGiant SlalomBozeman, Mont.Montana State Invitational
January 31, 2023 (Tuesday)All DayNeutralGiant SlalomBozeman, Mont.Montana State Invitational
January 26, 2023 (Thursday)All DayNeutralSlalomSnowbird, UtahWestminster Invitational
January 27, 2023 (Friday)All DayNeutralSlalomSnowbird, UtahWestminster Invitational
February 3, 2023 (Friday)All DayHome20K ClassicalSteamboat Springs, Colo.Colorado Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational
February 4, 2023 (Saturday)All DayHome10K FreestyleSteamboat Springs, Colo.Colorado Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational
February 9, 2023 (Thursday)All DayHomeGiant SlalomNederland, Colo.Colorado Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational
February 10, 2023 (Friday)All DayHomeGiant SlalomNederland, Colo.Colorado Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational
February 10, 2023 (Friday)All DayNeutral5K FreestyleMinturn, Colo.Denver Invitational
February 11, 2023 (Saturday)All DayNeutral10K ClassicalMinturn, Colo.Denver Invitational
February 11, 2023 (Saturday)All DayNeutralSlalomMInturn, Colo.Denver Invitational
February 12, 2023 (Sunday)All DayNeutralSlalomMinturn, Colo.Denver Invitational
February 20, 2023 (Monday)All DayNeutralFreestyle SprintsAnchorage, AlaskaAlaska Anchorage Invitational
February 21, 2023 (Tuesday)All DayNeutralGiant SlalomGirdwood, AlaskaAlaska Anchorage Invitational
February 21, 2023 (Tuesday)All DayNeutral10K ClassicalAnchorage, AlaskaAlaska Anchorage Invitational
February 23, 2023 (Thursday)All DayNeutralSlalomAnchorage, AlaskaAlaska Anchorage Invitational
February 22, 2023 (Wednesday)All DayNeutralGiant SlalomGirdwood, AlaskaRMISA Championships
February 24, 2023 (Friday)All DayNeutralSlalomGirdwood, AlaskaRMISA Championships
February 24, 2023 (Friday)All DayNeutral10K FreestylePalmer, AlaskaRMISA Championships
February 25, 2023 (Saturday)All DayNeutral20K ClassicalPalmer, AlaskaRMISA Championships
March 8, 2023 (Wednesday)All DayNeutralGiant SlalomLake Placid, N.Y.NCAA Championships
March 9, 2023 (Thursday)All DayNeutral10K FreestyleLake Placid, N.Y.NCAA Championships
March 10, 2023 (Friday)All DayNeutralSlalomLake Placid, N.Y.NCAA Championships
March 11, 2023 (Saturday)All DayNeutral20K ClassicalLake Placid, N.Y.NCAA Championships
 
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Preview of this week's U.S. Nordic (AKA Cross Country) Championships, which also include races that count towards qualifying for conference (RMISA) standings. The article also covers MANY other things, including fall training, earlier individual Nordic competitions this academic year which included Buffs, and initial notes on the World University Games, which look to begin around January 13th (per https://www.lakeplacid2023.com/events/list/?tribe__ecp_custom_3[0]=All+Skiing+Events).

Note - Great to see it looks like streams will be available for the U.S. Championships. (See links near the bottom of post for both the stream AND Live Timing sites.)




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/1/1/s...s-ready-for-fast-start-to-college-season.aspx

"
HOUGHTON, Mich.—As far as CU star Magnus Boee is concerned, this will be one fun season.

Boee and the Colorado Buffaloes Nordic ski team kicks off the season Monday here at the U.S. National Cross Country Ski Championships, a week of racing that includes two races that count as extra NCAA Qualifiers for the RMISA Skiers in the field. Shortly after, while some skiers head to Montana for the MSU Invitational, seven Buffs will divert to Lake Placid to take part in the World University Games.

Those two events, Boee said, will be the highlight of the early season and will give a glimpse into what we can expect from the team throughout the 2023 season.

Here at the US National Championships, nine Buffs are slated to compete in four races over six days. The Buffs will be a little short-handed with only half of the women's alpine team in attendance while six of the seven men on the team are slated to compete.

Monday the racing will commence with the 10K Freestyle races with Classic Sprint races schedule for Wednesday (Jan. 4) a classic mass start race on Friday (Jan. 6) will be followed by freestyle sprints on Saturday (Jan. 7) to close out competition. The first two races, the 10K freestyle on Monday and classic sprints on Wednesday, will count as extra qualifiers to the NCAA Championships for the RMISA skiers in attendance.

Then World University Games will take place Jan. 12-22, 2023 in Lake Placid, N.Y. An Olympic-like event, the World University Games includes 12 sports, 86 medal events and athletes represent more than 600 universities worldwide in 50 countries and more than 2,500 athletes and coaches are expected to attend. A total of 14 Buffs are expected to compete.

"World University Games is one of the bigger events this year," Boee said, and he also noted that most of the top skiers in the RMISA are scheduled to compete there. "And it's in Lake Placid, where we will also compete at NCAA Championships. I'm excited for that combination of competing at the US Nationals this week and continuing to get into shape and performing well at the World University Games and getting familiar with the courses that we'll see for the NCAAs in March."
...

For the US Championships, the Buffs will be without Dietze, Abrahamsson and Karolina Kaleta on the women's side and Oyvind Haugan on the men's side. Each is still in Europe training and competing and will return to the United States the following week.

WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES

In all, 14 Buffs could compete at the World University Games, seven in Nordic action and seven in alpine.

The seven Nordic Buffs will be competing are Boee (Norway), Dietze (Germany), Haugan (Norway), Weronika Kaleta (Poland), Will Koch (United States), Alexander Maurer (United States), and Fredrik Nilsen (Norway).

On the alpine side, Alex Birkner (United States, alternate), Jacob Dilling (United States), Elena Exenberger (Austria), Louis Fausa (Norway), Emma Hammergaard (Sweden), Kaitlyn Harsch (United States) and Jack Reich (United States) will compete.

Also on the alpine side, former coach Richard Rokos will head the U.S. delegation on the alpine side and assistant coach Chad Wolk will do the same for Norway.
"
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Links for U.S. Cross Country Championships:

Live Streams -

Link to links to Live Timings - https://www.superiortiming.com/2022/12/u-s-cross-country-ski-national-championships-2023/
 
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Don't know if I've posted this somewhere else, but this past September the team released an article about its 5 member freshman class - https://cubuffs.com/news/2022/9/20/skiing-five-new-buffs-join-cu-ski-team.aspx

"
BOULDER—Five new skiers have joined the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team for the fall 2023 semester to continue their studies and compete on the snow for the Buffs, head coach Andy LeRoy and Nordic coach Jana Weinberger announced Monday.

Elena Grissom (women's Nordic), Hugo Hinckfuss (men's Nordic), Sebastian Kohlhofer (men's alpine), Jack Reich (men's alpine) and Luka Riley (men's Nordic) are all enrolled and have begun dryland training with the ski team.

Grissom is a freshman from Park City, Utah, and has competed for the Park City Ski and Snowboard Club since 2011. At the U.S. Junior Cross Country Championships in 2022, she brought home two top five finishes including a fourth place in the 10K classic race. She was also a member of the U.S. National Training Group and the Western Regional Elite group of skiers for both 2021 and '22.

Hinkfuss joins the Buffs from the Australian National Team, where he competed in the 2022 Winter Olympics. He also competed at the Junior World Championships and had two top 30 results in Lygna, Sweden, and was a Youth Winter Olympian in 2020 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Kohlhofer is a freshman from Vail where he attended Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy and also skied for Ski Club Vail. He competed in seven Nor-Am Cup races in 2021 and scored points in two slalom races, both at Copper Mountain. Since 2021, he's had three podium appearances in FIS races, taking third in a slalom at Steamboat Springs in 2021 and in 2022, his best finish was a third place at Winter Park in Slalom and second place in a giant slalom race at Vail.

Reich joins the Buffs from Colorado Mountain College, a non-NCAA school that's an associate member of the RMISA, and he has four years to ski four in eligibility. A Denver native, he has skied for Team Summit, Front Range Ski Club, Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club and Ski and Snowboard Club Vail spanning 14 years. He was given the Spencer Nelson All-Star Athlete of the Year award from SSWSC and was a member of several development camps.

Riley is a freshman from Boulder, attended Fairview High School and has skied for the Boulder Nordic Junior Racing Team since 2018 and also for Rocky Mountain Nordic. At the 2022 U.S. Junior National Championships, he had two top 10 finishes including sixth in the 10K freestyle race and seventh in the 15K classic race.

"
 
Detailed schedule for the U.S. Cross Country Championships - https://www.michigantechhuskies.com/sports/U.S._Cross_Country_Ski_Championships/2023/race_schedule

For the official races, converted to Mountain Time:

Monday, 1/2 - Freestyle 10 km Interval Start:
Women's - 7:30 AM MT
Men's - 9:30 AM MT

Wednesday, 1/4 - Classic Sprints
Qualifiers -
Men's - 7:30 AM MT
Women's - 8:35 AM MT

Open quarterfinals - 10:00 AM MT

Open semifinals - 11:00 AM MT

Open finals - 11:30 AM MT

Junior quarterfinals - 12:05 PM MT

Junior semifinals - 1:05 pm MT

Junior finals - 1:35 pm MT

Friday, January 6 - Classic Mass Start​


7:30 am MT - Men's Classic Mass Start (20 km)

9:15 am MT - Women's Classic Mass Start (20 km)

11:00 AM MT - Junior Boys Classic Mass Start (10 km)

12:00 pm MT - Junior Girls Classic Mass Start (10km)

Saturday, January 7, 2023 - Freestyle Sprint

7:30 am MT - Women's freestyle sprint qualifier

8:05 am MT - Men's freestyle sprint qualifier

9:00 am MT - Open quarterfinals begin

10:00 AM MT - Open semifinals

10:30 am MT - Open finals

11:10 am MT - Junior quarterfinals begin

12:10 pm MT - Junior semifinals

12:40 pm MT - Junior finals
 
Schedule seems really road heavy -- only four days of competition instate and only two at home (correct me if I'm mistaken about Eldora being the home slopes for CU).

I know little about NCAA skiing, but I'd expect a perennial NC contender to command more home events.
 
hokiehead said:
Schedule seems really road heavy -- only four days of competition instate and only two at home (correct me if I'm mistaken about Eldora being the home slopes for CU).

I know little about NCAA skiing, but I'd expect a perennial NC contender to command more home events.
Click to expand...

I'd say skiing usually gets at least as many home state days as all the other "individual" CU sports that don't play dual competitions (cross country, track and field, and the golfs), which makes sense since there aren't nearly as many schools competing in skiing. With almost every ski competition in the season including ALL the teams in the Western region (who also need to periodically host races), the hosting is always going to be moving around, and every school is going to be on the road the majority of the time . (The Utah Utes have been the NCAA champions the last 3 years, and they aren't hosting ANY races this season, and their schedule shows them only competing in Utah 2 days (a couple slalom days hosted by Westminster Collage) all season.)

Note- there are actually 8 days in Colorado this year, as DU is also hosting an invitational for 4 days in the Minturn/ Loveland area.

Changing the topic a little, It would be fun for me to hear how Steamboat became CU's "home" site for all significant Championships, as that has been the location for the last 6 NCAA's hosted by the Buffs, the 1st being in 1979. The last Buff-hosted Championship not held in Steamboat was way back in 1977, which was in Winter Park.

Note 2 - For any big Buff and/ or ski fans, next season's (2024) Championships are also scheduled to be hosted by CU in Steamboat!
 
Article after yesterday's racing. (As noted in the schedule in post #4, there are no official races today, but tomorrow is scheduled to host the always crazy sprint competitions with heat after heat being run in quick succession.)



Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/1/2/skiing-kaleta-koch-pick-up-top-10s-in-nordic-qualifiers.aspx

"
HOUGHTON, Mich.—The Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team got off to a successful start of the 2023 season, highlighted by the efforts of Weronika Kaleta and Will Koch, who both picked up top 10 performances here Monday at the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships, which are doubling as an RMISA Qualifier for the NCAA Championships.

"I would say it was just an average day," CU Nordic Coach Jana Weinberger said. "People are coming back from break, getting used to racing again. We should do better as the week progresses."

Kaleta and the women started the day and she finished ninth among RMISA skiers, just beating the 30 minute barrier in 29:59.1 for the 10K freestyle race. Freshman Elena Grissom finished 20th for a top 20 in her collegiate debut and sophomore Kili Lehmkuhl rounded out the women's racers in 23rd place.

"Weronika hasn't done a ton of distance training, so that wasn't a bad result for her," Weinberger said. "If we had Hanna (Abrahamsson) and Anna-Maria (Dietze) we likely would've had a few others near the top. With Wednesday's sprint races, I wouldn't be surprised to see Weronika in the thick of it."

On the men's side, the Buffs were led by junior Will Koch, whose two-lap time came in 26:04.6, good for 10th place among the RMISA Skiers in the 10K freestyle race. Freshman Luka Riley was the second CU finisher in 16th and then the rest were clumped together with sophomore Fredrik Nilsen taking 19th, senior Magnus Boee 20th, freshman Hugo Hinckfuss 21st and freshman Alexander Maurer 22nd.

"I thought Luka had a good college debut," Weinberger said. "But the rest of the guys looked a little flat. It's good to get the first races out of the way and I think we'll be better for the next races."

The Buffs were a little short-handed, especially on the women's side, with Abrahamsson, Dietze and Karolina Kaleta all still back in Europe competing and training. On the men's side, the Buffs were down one skier with junior Oyvind Haugan missing the week of racing.
...
"
 
Article after today's racing, which looks to have been stronger overall than Monday's -




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/1/4/skiing-boee-wins-rmisa-qualifier-at-us-championships.aspx

"
HOUGHTON, Mich.—After an average day Monday to open the 2023 ski season, the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team responded with authority by placing 1-3-5 on the men's side and fifth on the women's in the Classic Sprints races here Wednesday in another RMISA Qualifier at the U.S. National Cross Country Ski Championships.

"Overall we had a much better day today than Monday," CU Nordic Coach Jana Weinberger said. "Magnus, Will, Hugo and Weronika all skied very strong. Will and Magnus didn't qualify super high but worked their way through the heats. Hugo qualified seventh and was the top U20 skier, and Weronika qualified fifth and outside of getting boxed out a little in the final heat, she did great, as well. We skied more like we should be skiing, and in Classic distance races, I think Luka (Riley) and Zander (Mauer) will move up quite a bit, too."

This is the second race of the U.S. Championships and the second that counts as an NCAA Qualification race for the RMISA skiers in attendance. The remaining two races later this week will not count at RMISA Qualifiers.

Senior Magnus Boee picked up the win on the men's side, finishing second overall behind Kristoffer Karsrud from Northern Michigan (not an RMISA school). Junior Will Koch finished fourth overall, picked up a podium as the third place RMISA skier and was the second-place American in the field, earning a podium appearance as only US skiers are eligible to be named the U.S. National Champion.

Freshman Hugo Hinckfuss earned a fifth-place RMISA finish as he was the first skier out of the final, taking third in the first semifinal heat. Hinckfuss was the top U20 skier in the qualifier and the only one that advanced to the quarterfinal heats, as the next highest U20 or U18 skier finished 41st in the qualifier.

No team scores are kept for RMISA Qualifiers, but had this been a scored meet, the men's team would've easily won the race over Utah by a score of 103-85.

On the women's side, junior Weronika Kaleta picked up a fifth place finish as five RMISA skiers advanced to the final. She struggled a bit at the end of the final and finished last after winning her quarterfinal heat and taking second in her semifinal heat.

For Boee, after finishing outside the top 10 for just the third time in 36 (now 37) career races on Monday, he responded with his 15th collegiate win, which moves him alone into fifth place in CU history for all gender's and disciplines, alone into third for men's skiers and he maintains his second place standing among men's Nordic skiers in CU history.
..
"
 
Busy time for the team today and for the next week or so, with the Alpine side getting its 1st action since the season started.

Preview -




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/1/12/buffs-send-14-to-world-university-games.aspx

"
BOULDER—The Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team is sending 14 skiers to the 2023 Winter World University Games, an Olympics-like event for college athletes around the world.

Hosted at Lake Placid and in the United States for the first time since 1972, the games will feature more than 2,500 athletes from 50 countries and more than 600 college and universities competing in 12 sports and 86 events. Normally hosted every two years, this is the first event since 2019 in Russia as the 2021 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Of the 14 Buffs, seven are alpine and seven Nordic, with four men's alpine, three women's alpine, five men's Nordic and two women's Nordic. Six Buffs will represent the United States followed closely by four Norwegians, then one each from Austria, Germany, Poland and Sweden.


In the past the Buffs have sent a similar-sized alpine team, but combined with Nordic competitors this season, this is believed to be the largest contingent the Buffs have ever sent to World University Games.

Alpine skiing will comprise of slalom, giant slalom, Super-G, Alpine Combined and Mixed Team Parallel. The Cross Country events will include sprint, interval start, mass start, relay, pursuit and a mixed team sprint.

Alpine Skiing Calendar:
  • Jan. 13, 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. – Men's and Women's Super-G
  • Jan. 14, 7:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Women's Alpine Combined
  • Jan. 15, 7:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Men's Alpine Combined
  • Jan. 17, 7:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Women's Giant Slalom
  • Jan. 18, 7:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. – Men's Giant Slalom
  • Jan. 19, 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. – Mixed Team Parallel
  • Jan. 20, 7:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Women's Slalom
  • Jan. 21, 7:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. – Men's Slalom
Cross Country Skiing Calendar:
  • Jan. 13, 7 a.m. – 8 a.m. – Mixed Team Classic Sprints
  • Jan. 15, 7 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. – Men's and Women's Freestyle Sprints
  • Jan. 17, 7 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Women's 5K and Men's 10K Classic (Interval Start)
  • Jan. 18, 7 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Women's 5K and Men's 10K Freestyle Pursuit
  • Jan. 20, 7 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. – Men's and Women's Mixed Freestyle Relay
  • Jan. 22, 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Men's 30K and Women's 15K Freestyle (Mass Start)

The Montana State Invitational' s Nordic portion will be during World University Games, set for Friday, Jan. 13 and Saturday, Jan. 14, at Crosscut Mountain Sports Center in Bozeman, Mont. The Buffs will be short-handed there with just two men competing, freshmen Hugo Hinckfuss and Luka Riley, along with four women, Hanna Abrahamsson, Elena Grissom, Karolina Kaleta and Kili Lehmkuhl.

The alpine teams do not have any conflicts with World University Games, but will kick off their season shortly after it's over at the Westminster Invitational at Snowbird, Utah, on Thursday, Jan. 26 and Friday, Jan. 27.
"

 
Some links for the World University Games:

Homepage - https://www.lakeplacid2023.com/

General Schedule (with links to individual competitions) - https://lakeplacid2023-results.microplustimingservices.com/#/general-schedule
(Note - looks like the giant slaloms are now shown as being tomorrow, so assume there may be snow or weather issues.)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

For the Montana State Invitational:

MSU's overall season schedule (with links to results, etc. for this Invitational) - https://msubobcats.com/sports/mens-skiing/schedule/2022-23

Note - Looks like many of the top CU Nordic skiers are at the World Games linked to below, so results of these races probably aren't too meaningful as to how the Buffs match up against other teams.

Live Results:
For today's races - https://my.raceresult.com/229778/


For tomorrow's - https://my.raceresult.com/229780/
 
Articles after the last 2 days of racing -

Yesterday -




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/1/13/skiing-abrahamsson-podiums-at-msu-invitational.aspx

"
BOZEMAN, Mont.—Sophomore Hanna Abrahamsson finished on the podium in second place and the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team sits just nine points out of second after the 15K Classic races Friday here at Crosscut Mountain Sports Center.

All five Buffs that competed in races either set or tied a new career best or finished in the top 10. Abrahamsson and Karolina Kaleta both matched their career best finishes, Luka Riley set a new career best and Kili Lehmkuhl set her career best for classic races. Hugo Hinckfuss finished ninth in another impressive performance for the Australian freshman.

"Hanna was awesome, just seeing her beat all the Utes but one was awesome," Nordic coach Jana Weinberger said. "Karolina did well, she just got back from Europe and raced pretty well. Even without the full squad here we're less than 10 points out of second, so overall I'd say it was a good day."

Abrahamsson battled with a trio of Utes and came in second behind Utah's Novie McCabe by just 3.2 seconds as the two battled to the end. Two other Utah skiers, who swept the classic race at last year's NCAA Championships, took third and fourth and those four skiers were all within a minute of each other. There was then over three minutes to the next skier, which happened to be CU sophomore Karolina Kaleta in fifth place, as she led the second wave of skiers through the finish line.

The CU women only had three skiers race today with freshman Elena Grissom not starting and Weronika Kaleta and Anna-Maria Dietze participating in the World University Games.

The men's team is even more depleted than the women's due to the World University Games, with CU's two freshmen competing Friday in Bozeman. Hinckfuss took ninth and Riley earned his best collegiate finish in 11th.

Team scoring consists of the top three skiers in each race earning points, and the CU men are the only team in either gender to be one skier short. Despite that the Buffs are in fourth place and just nine points out of second, finishing the day with 127 points. Utah leads with 199 and is 63 points ahead of second place Alaska Anchorage (136) with Alaska Fairbanks (133) just ahead of the Buffs and Denver (127) just behind. Host Montana State rounds out the team scoring with 110 points.

WHAT IT MEANS

With most of CU's Nordic team at the World University Games (see a recap of action below), specifically only scoring two men's skiers, the fact the Buffs are just nine points out of second place is encouraging. Abrahamsson hanging tough with the Utah trio is a great sign for the Buffs and Kaleta taking fifth and the men's freshmen skiers both in the top 11 all point to the depth of the team. Once the Nordic team is together and fully healthy, they should be able to significantly close that gap on the Utes.

UP NEXT

The Nordic portion of the MSU Invitational will conclude Saturday with the 5K women's and 10K men's freestyle races. Both will be interval start races and are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. for the women's race and 11 a.m. for the men's race. After Saturday, focus will shift fully to World University Games as the next collegiate race is Jan. 26.
...

MONTANA STATE INVITATIONAL TEAM SCORES (Thru 2 of 8 races)—1. Utah 199; 2. Alaska Anchorage 136; 3. Alaska Fairbanks 133; 4. Colorado 127; 5. Denver 124; 6. Montana State 110.
...
"
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Today -




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/1/14/skiing-abrahamsson-again-leads-buffs-at-msu-invite.aspx

"
BOZEMAN, Mont.—Sophomore Hanna Abrahamsson again led the Colorado Buffaloes ski team, this time finishing sixth in the freestyle races held here at the Crosscut Mountain Sports Center Saturday to close out the Nordic portion of the Montana State Invitational.

Unfortunately for the Buffs, she was the only top 10 finisher and with just two men in attendance, the Buffs fell two spots to sixth at the conclusion of the Nordic portion of the meet. With seven Buffs competing at the World University Games, including six that have skied for CU at the NCAA Championships, the Buffs are nonetheless within striking distance of at least four of the other five teams in the meet when the alpine portion commences to close out January.

Utah dominated and won both the men's and women's race, including earning a podium sweep on the women's side, to take a commanding lead with 396 points. Alaska schools sit second and third with Alaska Anchorage (276) second and Alaska Fairbanks (267) third. Host Montana State moved up two spots to fourth with 253 points followed by Denver with 241 and the Buffs with 225.

Abrahamsson took sixth place behind a trio of Utes and pair of Seawolves, all five of which broke the 16-minute mark. Abrahamsson's sixth place finish was in 16:10.8. The other three women in the race finished in succession with Karolina Kaleta finishing 12th, and then Kili Lehmkuhl (13th) and Elena Grissom (14th) both setting new career best finishes. All three skied the 5K course within eight seconds of each other.

On the men's side, two freshmen are representing the Buffs and Luka Riley ended up finishing 16th in the men's 10K freestyle and Hugo Hinckfuss ended up 20th.

WHAT IT MEANS

Everybody knew going in short-handed, that it could be a toss-up if the Buffs could hang with the rest of the RMISA. While it was a good sign the Buffs hung in and were only 10 points out of second on Friday, it caught up to them a little as they slipped into sixth. However, the alpine portion of the meet should see the Buffs move up a bit and with a good showing, move up more than a few spots is possible. The good news is the Nordic team should be a full strength for the remainder of the season when the schedule resumes in early February.

UP NEXT

The 14 Buffs at World University Games will be competing over the next eight days, but the next college races will be in late January when the Westminster Invitational, an alpine-only meet, will start on Jan. 26-27. Teams will then head to Bozeman and Bridger Bowl to finish out this MSU Invitational. Nordic teams are off until the CU Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational, which will see Nordic races in Steamboat Springs Feb. 3-4 at Howelsen Hill.
...

MONTANA STATE INVITATIONAL TEAM SCORES (Thru 4 of 8 races)—1. Utah 396; 2. Alaska Anchorage 276; 3. Alaska Fairbanks 267; 4. Montana State 253; 5. Denver 241; 6. Colorado 225.
...

WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES

The 31st Winter World University Games continued Saturday with the delayed Super-G races on the alpine side. None of the CU women competed in the race and two men did. Jacob Dilling finished in 12th place and Jack Reich finished 26th.

Next up for the Buffs at World University Games will see action in both alpine and Nordic on Sunday. The Freestyle Sprint races will take place in Cross Country and on alpine, the Super-G portion of Alpine Combined will take place with the slalom portion of that competition taking place Monday.
"
 
Looks like the team had some solid to NICE results over the last couple days, highlighted by a World medal for Ms. Dietze! (Today sounds like another BUSY day for both the Alpine and Nordic Buffs.)

Articles summarizing the action:

Sunday -




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/1/15/skiing-dietze-medals-at-world-university-games.aspx

"
LAKE PLACID, N.Y.—Senior Anna-Maria Dietze picked up a bronze medal Sunday at the World University Games, coming in third place in the Women's Freestyle Sprint competition at Mt. Von Hovenberg.

Dietze is the fifth know CU skier and first Nordic skier to medal at the Winter World University Games, joining Erika Hogan (bronze, slalom, 2003), Katie Hartman (gold, Super-G, 2013), Erika Ghent (gold, overall and silver, super combined, 2013), and Adam Zika (gold, team parallel, 2017, silver, GS, 2011).

To start the day, Dietze had the third fastest qualification time, just behind teammate Weronika Kaleta (second). Both then won their quarterfinal heats to advance to the semifinals. They were then in the same semifinal heat where Dietze took second to advance to the final and Kaleta was third, just missing out on a trip to the final and earning a seventh-place finish overall. Kaleta missed out on a final heat by less than two-tenths of a second as both "lucky losers" came from the first heat.

In the final heat, Dietze came in third place to pick up the bronze medal.

On the men's side, junior Will Koch finished sixth while advancing all the way to the final. He had the third-fastest qualifying time and won his quarterfinal heat while placing second in his semifinal heat to advance to the final.

Sophomore Fredrik Nilsen ended up with a 15th place finish advancing out of qualification with the 22nd fastest time and finishing third in his quarterfinal heat. Magnus Boee had the ninth-fastest qualifying time and then had a mishap in his quarterfinal heat to end his day in 26th place. Oyvind Haugan finished 48th in the qualifying race.

In alpine action, the Super Combined Super-G races took place and Jacob Dilling finished in 15th place and Jack Reich in 18th place. Both will compete for a medal Monday with the conclusion of the Super Combined races with a slalom race. The times of the two races will be added together to figure out final placement.

Aside from Monday's slalom races for Dilling and Reich, Tuesday things will pick up for the Buffs with a good chunk of the Buffs skiers in attendance expecting to compete. The women's GS race will take place on the alpine side while the women's 5K and men's 10K classic races will take place.
"
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Monday -




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/1/16/skiing-dilling-takes-fifth-in-alpine-combined-at-wug.aspx

"
LAKE PLACID, N.Y.—Sophomore Jacob Dilling used the third-fastest slalom run to move up from 15th to a final position of fifth in the Alpine Combined position Monday at World University Games.

Dilling sat in 15th place after Sunday's Super-G race and then ran the slalom run in 45.69, third fastest in the field, moving up 10 spots into fifth in the final placements for the Alpine Combined competition.

Freshman Jack Reich, who sat in 18th after the Super-G race, moved up four spots to finish 14th with the 19th fastest slalom time in the field.

After racing Monday, the World University Games are at its midpoint. The current alpine schedule is medal competitions each of the next five days. On the cross country side, four medal events remain that will take place over the next six days.

Alpine Schedule
  • Tuesday, Jan. 17 – Women's Giant Slalom
  • Wednesday, Jan. 18 – Men's Giant Slalom
  • Thursday, Jan. 19 – Mixed Team Parallel
  • Friday, Jan. 20 – Women's Slalom
  • Saturday, Jan. 21 – Men's Slalom

Nordic Schedule
  • Tuesday, Jan. 17 – 5K Women's and 10K Men's Classical (Interval Start)
  • Wednesday, Jan. 18 – Women's 5K and Men's 10K Freestyle Pursuit
  • Friday, Jan. 20 – 3x5K Women's and 4x7.5K Men's Relays
  • Sunday, Jan. 22 – 15K Women's and 30K Men's Freestyle (Mass Start)

After World University Games are over, racing will return to the college circuit with alpine teams competing in the Westminster Invitational Jan. 26-27 at Snowbird then heading to Bozeman to finish out the Montana State Invitational Jan. 30-31. CU's Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational will then open February at Steamboat Springs (Feb. 3-4, Nordic) and Eldora (Feb. 9-10, Alpine).
"
 
2 more individual World medals earned by Buffs between Tuesday and yesterday -




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/1/18/skiing-hammergaard-boee-medal-at-world-university-games.aspx

"
LAKE PLACID, N.Y.—In a busy two days at World University Games, the Colorado Buffaloes made history by securing two more medalists to match the best performance by a group of Buffs with still several competitions ahead before it's all said and done at the 31st Winter World University Games.

Tuesday saw two medalists as senior Magnus Boee took sliver in the 10K classic race and senior Emma Hammergaard took bronze in the women's giant slalom.

Those two join Anna-Maria Dietze, who medaled Monday to give the Buffs three medals at these games, matching the most by a CU contingent in World University Games history and marking the first time three different Buffs earned medals in one games. In 2013, the only other time CU had more than one medal at the games, Katie Hartman (gold, Super-G) and Erika Ghent (gold, overall competition and silver, super combined) brought home three medals.

Boee and Hammergaard are the sixth and seventh known medalists to medal, and Boee is just the second Nordic skier to do so, joining Dietze. Aside from Hartman and Ghent, Erika Hogan (bronze, slalom, 2003) and Adam Zika (gold, team parallel, 2017 and silver, GS, 2011) make up CU's medals at the games.

And by no means were Boee and Hammergaard the only Buffs putting up impressive performances. Several other Buffs put up performances that left them just off the podium and overall as a group, the Buffs were impressive from top to bottom.

Dietze almost medaled two more times the past two days. After picking up her bronze in the freestyle sprints, she took sixth in the women's 5K classic race was less than 18 seconds off the podium and just under 40 seconds behind the race winner. Weronika Kaleta was also impressive in that race taking 19th after being in the top 10 at the 2.5K mark of the race.

Behind Boee in the men's 10K classic race was sophomore Fredrik Nilsen finishing eighth followed closely by Will Koch in 11th and Oyvind Haugan in 17th. Alexander Maurer was also 36th giving CU four in the top 17 and all five in the top half of the field as the race saw 82 finishers.

Wednesday saw the men's GS and freestyle pursuit races. The best performance that day was likely sophomore Jacob Dilling finishing fourth in the men's GS race, missing a medal by a heart-breaking four-hundredths of a second. Alex Birkner continued his impressive skiing by taking 10th. He was an alternate and didn't know he'd make the games until about 24 hours before the opening ceremonies. Louis Fausa and Jack Reich both did not finish their second runs.

And not to be outdone, Wednesday's Nordic action saw two more top six finishes as Dietze took fifth and Boee sixth in the 5K women's and 10K men's freestyle pursuit races. Dietze moved up one spot from her sixth place classic finish and Boee fell four spots but was still within medal contention.

On the men's side behind Boee, Nilsen finished 14th, Maurer 27th and Haugan 29th. Koch along with Kaleta on the women's side both did not start the pursuit race.

Alpine skiers will next take part in the mixed team parallel races on Thursday morning. The exiting action is slated to begin at 9 a.m. MT and will feature several Buffs. Half of the US team is Buffs as Kaitlyn Harsch and Dilling have the first two legs for the U.S. team that's seeded third. Fausa is also part of the Norwegian team that is seeded fifth.

The alpine competition will then close with slalom races, with the women's race on Friday and men's on Saturday.

Nordic skiers will have Thursday off before returning to racing action on Friday with the 3x5k women's and 4x7.5K men's relay races. They'll then close out the competition on Sunday with the 15K women's and 30K men's freestyle races.
"
 
Missed the below article from Thursday, where a 4th Buff (Weronika Kaleta) earned a World (Silver in her case) medal!

Article - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/1/19/skiing-kaleta-medals-at-world-univeristy-games.aspx

"

Links​

LAKE PLACID, N.Y.—Another day, another medal for the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team. Junior Weronika Kaleta picked up a silver medal with the Poland 1 team in the Mixed Team Nordic Combined competition.

The event combines ski jumping and a cross country relay. The jumping competition was first, and Kaleta's teammates Nicole Konderla and Andrzej Szczechowicz earned a combined 209.7 points, good for third place, meaning Kaleta and Szczechowicz would then start the cross country race in third place and 33.1 seconds after the jump leaders with each skiing a 2.5K lap. Szczechowicz did the first lap and sat in fourth place when tagging Kaleta in for the final leg. Kaleta was able to pass a Japanese and another Polish team to move up to second place to earn the trio a silver medal.

Kaleta's medal is the fourth for CU skiers during these games and she's the fourth different CU skier to earn a medal, both program bests at the World University Games. The only other time more than one medal was earned by a CU skier was 2013 when Katie Hartman picked up one medal and Erika Ghent two. Additionally, the four Buffs who have earned medals have doubled the skiers in CU history that have medaled at WUG.

Kaleta is now the eighth known skier to medal alongside Anna-Maria Dietze, Magnus Boee and Emma Hammergaard, and it's the third medal in Nordic competition. Those four join Hartman and Ghent along with Adam Zika (two medals) and Erika Hogan as Buffs who have medaled.
..
"
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note - Looking at some later results for which there isn't a cubuffs.com article available yet, Buffs have continued strong, highlighted by a trio of Nordic Buffs (Nilsen, Boee and Haugan ) being 3 of the 4 skiers on Norway's 4X7.5Km relay team that earned a silver medal yesterday. Then today, it looks like Buff Jacob Dilling earned the bronze medal in the men's slalom.

Tomorrow looks to be the end of the University Games, with Buff Nordic skiers still having one more LONG race opportunity left for great results. I believe 3 Buffs are racing in the Men's 30km Mass Start Free(style) scheduled to begin at 8:05 AM MT, while 2 or so are scheduled in the Women's 15km Mass Start Free(style) scheduled for a 11:05 AM MT start.

Go Buffs!!!
 
Articles after Friday's - Sunday's racing. Looks like a historical medal hall for the Buffs overall, and Mr. Boee individually.

Congrats to the team!

Article covering Friday and Saturday - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/1/21/skiing-four-more-medals-for-buffs-at-world-university-games.aspx

"

Four More Medals For Buffs At World University Games​

CU Trio Picks Up Silver For Norwegian Relay; Jacob Dilling Bronze In Men's Slalom​


LAKE PLACID, N.Y.—More days gone by, more medals for the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team. Already having more medals than any CU contingent ever at World University Games, the Buffs doubled their medal count to eight thanks to the men's Norwegian relay team and Jacob Dilling.

The Buffs now have more medals in these games than all other World University Games combined, with the all-time total now up to 14 medals from 11 skiers. Boee is the first double medalist on the Nordic side and joins Adam Zika and Erika Ghent as the only Buffs with multiple medals and only Ghent got two medals at one games.

Friday's action included the Men's 4x7.5 Mixed Relay and the Norwegian team featured three Buffs as Fredrik Nilsen, Magnus Boee and Oyvind Haugan were joined by Andreas Kirkeng from the University of Denver. The quartet finished in second place. Nilsen had the team in the lead after the first leg and Boee and Haugan both had the second-fastest legs.

Alexander Maurer was the other CU men's Nordic skier in action, he had the fourth leg of the United States team, which finished fifth.

In the Women's 3x5K Relay race, Anna-Maria Dietze anchored the German team to a sixth place finish. Weronika Kaleta was scheduled for the lead leg with the Poland team but that team did not start the race.

In alpine action Friday, the women's slalom took place and the Buffs were led by Elena Exenberger in 17th place. Kaitlyn Harsch finished 27th and Emma Hammergaard didn't finish the second run.

Saturday saw the Buffs get yet another medal as Jacob Dilling picked up a bronze medal in the men's slalom race. Dilling had the fastest first run in the field and was just nine-hundredths of a second out of a gold medal as the podium was that close but then there was almost a second difference behind Dilling in fourth place.

Louis Fausa had a solid race in eighth place with Alex Birkner taking 24th, and Jack Reich didn't finish the first run.

The final day of World University Games happen Sunday with the women's 15K and men's 30K freestyle races. For CU, Boee will start second, Maurer 19th and Haugan 30th out of the 60 racers in the men's race and Dietze will start 12th in the women's race.
...
"
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Article after yesterday's Championships closing racing - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/1/22/skiing-boee-nabs-fourth-medal-at-world-university-games.aspx

"

Boee Nabs Fourth Medal At World University Games​

As Games Close, Boee Sets New Mark With Three Medals​


LAKE PLACID, N.Y.—It's only fitting that on the final day of competition, Magnus Boee would earn yet another medal for the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team at the 31st World University Games.

Boee picked up his third medal of these games in the Men's 30K Freestyle race, taking second and finishing just 2.5 seconds out of a gold medal after nearly 73 minutes of racing.

Boee remained in the lead pack the entire race and never clocked in lower than 11th at any interval. He briefly led the race three times, the last time at the 20K mark. He would slip to fifth at the 26.6K mark but then moved up three spots before the penultimate check in at the 28.3K mark and held that place through the end of the race.

Alexander Maurer finished in 22nd but less than three minutes behind the race leaders, as there was nearly a minute between Mauer and 23rd place and almost two minutes to 24th. Oyvind Haugan also started the race but did not finish, calling it at about the midway point of the race.

In the Women's 15K Freestyle race, Anna-Maria Dietze finished fifth in a time of 40:39.2, just 1:00.8 behind the race leader Mariel Pulles from Alaska Fairbanks. Dietze finishes a fantastic games in which she competed in six events, not finishing lower than eighth and earning a bronze medal in the Freestyle Sprint race.

Boee put together one of the most dominant performances by a CU skier at World University Games. After finishing 16th in the mixed team sprint and 26th in the freestyle sprint race, he turned it on, earning three silver medals in the 10K classic, the 30K freestyle and the 4x7.5K relay, a medal he shared with Haugan and Fredrik Nilsen as the Buffs made up 75% of the silver medal winning relay.

In all the Buffs earned nine medals at these games, having earned a combined six in CU's extensive history at the event. He was in a tie with Erika Ghent and Adam Zika with two medals before Sunday's final race, and he became the first skier to win three medals either in a single games or in multiple games combined.

Aside from Dietze, Boee and his Relay with Haugan and Nilsen, Emma Hammergaard (Women's GS), Weronika Kaleta (Nordic Combined Mixed Relay), and Jacob Dilling (Men's Slalom) also earned medals.

Thirteen of the 14 skiers who represented the Buffs and their respective countries here in Lake Placid will now return to Boulder to prep for the remainder of the college season. Nordic skiers will have a little break before CU's Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational races take place in Steamboat Springs on Feb. 3-4. The alpine teams, meanwhile, will be busy with four meets in the span of two-and-a-half weeks starting with the Westminster Invitational Jan. 25-26 at Snowbird.

The fourteenth skier is Will Koch, who left Lake Placid after the 10K Classic race to make his World Cup debut for the United States in Livingo, Italy. There he finished 41st in the freestyle sprints and the U.S. took 12th in the team sprint final.
...
"
 
Article after yesterday's women's slalom races -




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/1/26/skiing-hammergaard-gets-two-top-10s-at-westminster.aspx

"
OWBIRD, Utah—Senior Emma Hammergaard picked up a pair of top 10 finishes as the women's alpine team got its 2023 season underway for the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team here Thursday at the Westminster Invitational.

With two slalom races on the docket, Hammergaard finished eighth in both races and was joined by graduate student Kaitlyn Harsch the top 10 of the first race when she finished seventh.

"Snowbird did a good job of getting the course ready," Alpine coach Chad Wolk said. "They watered the course over the past few days and then got 10 inches of snow that we had to push around, but it held up really well."

In the first race Elena Exenberger was CU's third finisher in 20th place before she broke her pole in the final run of the day to pick up a DNF in the second race. Harsch had three solid runs but had to hike on her first run of the second race to finish 26th. Cleo Braun finished 25th in the first race and 23rd in the second.

The Buffs picked up 62 team points in the first race and 47 in the second to finish the day with 109 points in sixth place. Utah and Denver battled it out in the two races and finished one point apart at the top of the standings with the Utes taking a 182-181 lead over the Pioneers. Montana State is third with 129 followed by Alaska Anchorage (127) and host Westminster (111).

WHAT IT MEANS

With just four healthy skiers on the women's alpine team, days like this can happen especially when student-athletes are asked to ski two races, four full runs, in one day. The men's team has more depth and should be able to rebound and climb the standings a bit on Friday. Next week in Montana State the GS races will play more to the Buffs strength.

UP NEXT

The Westminster Invitational will conclude Friday with two men's slalom races. Teams will then head to Bozeman for a pair of Giant Slalom races early next week.
...

MONTANA STATE INVITATIONAL TEAM SCORES (Thru 2 of 4 races)—1. Utah 182; 2. Denver 181; 3. Montana State 129; 4. Alaska Anchorage 127; 5. Westminster 111; 6. Colorado 109; 7. Nevada 58; 8. Colorado Mountain 29.

WOMEN'S SLALOM #1 (34 collegiate finishers)—1. Madison Hoffman, UU, 1:37.83; 2. Sara Rask, DU, 1:37.99; 3. Michelle Kerven, UU, 1:38.19; 4. Nora Brand, DU, 1:39.48; 5. Ella Bronee, UAA, 1:39.55; 6. Evelina Fredricsson, WMC, 1:39.81; 7. Kaitlyn Harsch, CU, 1:39.82; 8. Emma Hammergaard, CU, 1:39.92; 9. Kristiane Bekkestad, MSU, 1:40.14; 10. Eleri Smart, DU, 1:40.16. Other CU Finishers: 20. Elena Exenberger, 1:42.22; 25. Cleo Braun, 1:43.47.

WOMEN'S SLALOM #2 (31 collegiate finishers)—1.Sara Rask, DU, 1:34.49; 2. Madison Hoffman, 1:35.92; 3. Michelle Kerven, UU, 1:36.00; 4. Nora Brand, DU, 1:36.43; 5. Justine LaMontagne, MSU, 1:37.43; 6. Ella Bronee, UAA, 1:38.26; 7. Kristine Bekkestad, MSU, 1:38.71; 8. Emma Hammergaard, CU, 1:39.20; 9. Ylva Falksete, 1:39.69; 10. Galena Wardle, DU, 1:39.97. Other CU Finishers: 23. Cleo Braun, 1:42.07; 26. Kaitlyn Harsch, 1:46.17. Did Not Finish Second Run: Elena Exenberger.
...
"
__________________________________________________________________________________

Re today's men's slalom races -




(After the 1st run of the low bib #'s in the 1st of 2 scheduled slalom competitions today, the top Buffs stand in 4th, 12th, 15th and 24th positions. (the 2nd run is scheduled to begin at 10:45 AM MT.) As I also mentioned in the prior thread, live timings for today (this morning's competition) look to be available at https://www.live-timing.com/race2.php?r=242997. Also, live timing for the 2nd competition (scheduled to begin at 12:45 PM MT; 2nd run at 2:30 PM MT) looks like it will be available at https://www.live-timing.com/race2.php?r=243432.)

Also, as with yesterday's races, looks like Youtube live video is supposed to be available for today's action -

 
Article after Friday's men's races, where the Buffs were able to move up from 6th to 4th at the end of the Alpine (slalom) only Invitational. - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/1/28/skiing-dilling-forejtek-podium-in-slalom-races-at-wmc.aspx

"
SNOWBIRD, Utah—Jacob Dilling and Fillip Forejtek both finished in third place in two slalom races as the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team finished fourth Friday here at the conclusion of the Westminster Invitational.

Dilling had three solid runs on the day, and after he had the fourth-fastest first run, he moved up one spot to hit the podium in the morning race. He then had the third-fastest first run in the next race and looked good until the end of the second run but ran out of gas and had to hike, which moved him down to 37th place.

Forejtek had one solid run in both races, and put together like would've produced a win. In the first run, he was 15th after the first run but then had the fastest run in the field to move all the way up to seventh place. In the second race, he sat in fourth after the first run and still moved up despite having the 16th fastest second run.

"Conditions were touch today," Alpine Coach Chad Wolk said. "Overall I though we did well fighting through them. It was a long day, but Jacob and Filip especially skied well today."

Louis Fausa and Alex Birkner were both consistent throughout the day with Fausa finishing 14th in the morning and 13th in the afternoon and Birkner taking 25th in the morning and 22nd in the afternoon.

The Buffs moved up two spots in the final team rankings to take fourth. After the morning race during which the Buffs finished second with 78 points, they moved up from sixth to third, but then slipped one spot after Westminster won the afternoon race as a team.

Utah finished as the meet winner with 365 points, followed by Denver (302) and Westminster (268) ahead of the Buffs total of 251. The Buffs passed both Montana State (237) and Alaska Anchorage (220) with Nevada (125) and Colorado Mountain College (107) rounding out the scoring.

sUtah's Wilhelm Normannseth won both races with Westminster's Mikkel Solbakken and Utah's Oliver Parazette taking second with the Buffs rounding out the podium in both races.
...

UP NEXT

The Buffs will have three days off before the next meet, closing out the Montana State Invitational next Tuesday and Wednesday with giant slalom races on both days. The races were moved back a day due to extreme cold temperatures expected in the area on Monday, with forecast lows around -35 degrees. Then the Buffs will host the Spencer James Nelson Memorial Colorado Invitational with Nordic races next Friday and Saturday at Steamboat Springs and alpine races Feb. 9-10 at Eldora.

TEAM NOTES
  • The Buffs scored 142 points in the two races, 78 in the first and 64 in the second. The Buffs finished third among men's teams.
...

WESTMINSTER INVITATIONAL TEAM SCORES (FINAL)—1. Utah 365; 2. Denver 308; 3. Westminster 268; 4. Colorado 251; 5. Montana State 237; 6. Alaska Anchorage 220; 7. Nevada 125; 8. Colorado Mountain 107.
...
"
 
It is interesting that they put out a release about the meet today but nothing about LeJoy. I wonder if it is something like the Kritza thing when they fired her. Definitely odd. btw they had a great day and lead their own invite
 
Today was the 1st of 3 opportunities to see the Alpine part of the team live and in person as the team is hosting 3 days (Wednesday-Friday) of giant slalom (GS) racing in Eldora.

Today's men's GS looks to overall have been a nice one for the Buffs, as at least per live timing Jacob Dilling got the win and Filip Forejtek earned 3rd.

I can't see exact details, but I'd assume today's men's giant slalom races might (???) have just been for RMISA individual qualifying only, while tomorrow, per the live timings linked to below, contains both men's and women's giant slaloms that I'd assume are part of the CU-hosted Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational. Since there usually are 2 Alpine competitions per Invitational, I'd GUESS Friday may also include men's and women's races to complete the CU Invitational, although live timing doesn't show anything for Eldora for that day as I type this.


______________________________________________________________________

Live timing links:
Wed (Men's only). - https://www.live-timing.com/race2.php?r=246062

Thurs.:
Women's (8:45 AM scheduled start fo 1st run) - https://www.live-timing.com/race2.php?r=246062
Men's (9:30 AM scheduled start fo 1st run) - https://www.live-timing.com/race2.php?r=246118

Friday (EDITED to reflect actual links.) -
Women's (8:45 AM scheduled start fo 1st run) - https://www.live-timing.com/race2.php?r=246562
Men's (9:30 AM scheduled start fo 1st run) - https://www.live-timing.com/race2.php?r=246563


NOTE - As can be seen in the tweet above, it's a VERY busy local few days for the Buffs, as DU's Invitational begins Friday for the Nordic folk in Minturn, with the Alpine crew competing in Loveland for THAT Invitational the day after finishing work in Eldora.
 
Last edited:
Team is competing in Alaska tomorrow through Saturday in the last action before the NCAA Championships (which are scheduled to begin March 8th).

Preview -





Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/2/19/skiing-buffs-head-north-to-alaska-for-two-meets.aspx

"
ANCHORAGE, Alaska—The Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team heads north to Alaska for two critical meets, closing out the regular season with the Alaska Anchorage Invitational while the Seawolves also host the 2023 RMISA Championships here Monday through Saturday at Kincaid Park, Government Peak and Alyeska Resort.

The schedule of competition over the next six days is as follows:

• Monday, Feb. 20 – UAA Invitational Nordic Freestyle Sprints (Kincaid Park)
• Tuesday, Feb. 21 – UAA Invitational Nordic 10K Classical (Kincaid Park) & Alpine Giant Slalom (Alyeska)
• Wednesday, Feb. 22 – RMISA Championships Alpine Giant Slalom (Alyeska)
• Thursday, Feb. 23 – UAA Invitational Alpine Slalom (Alyeska)
• Friday, Feb. 24 – RMISA Championship Nordic 5/10K Freestyle (Government Peak) & Alpine Slalom (Alyeska)
• Saturday, Feb. 25 – RMISA Championship Nordic 20K Classical (Government Peak)

Perhaps more crucial as the meets themselves are NCAA Qualification and seeding that come from individual results of the final two meets prior to the NCAA Championships.

The season to date has been somewhat disjointed, with Buffs missing college races due to the World University Games and U23 and Junior World Championship, and various other competitions. The Buffs will be nearly at full strength in Alaska with just Weronika Kaleta expected to miss due to competing at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica, Slovakia.
"

____________________________________________________________________________________________


A couple possible link to results for tomorrow's and Tuesday's Nordic races - https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/event-details.html?sectorcode=CC&eventid=51929&seasoncode=2023 , https://zone4.ca/event/2023/2128BFF0/

The main webpage where links to live timings for the Alpine races will eventually be available - https://www.live-timing.com/races.php
 
Article after yesterday's completion of the Aalaska Invite - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/2/23/skiing-buffs-finish-third-at-uaa-invitational.aspx

"
ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Louis Fausa hit the podium for the second straight day and Kaitlyn Harsch and Elena Exenberger both had top 10 finishes in slalom races to close out the Alaska Anchorage Invitational here Thursday at Alyeska Resort.

Those three skiers also moved up the NCAA Qualification lists in impressive fashion, each moving up multiple spots to strengthen the Buffs overall chances for the NCAA Championships.

Fausa's third place finish matches his third in the GS race Wednesday and sets a new career best finish in slalom and moved him to within a point of earning a top seed at the NCAA Championships, which would be starting in the top 10. Harsch's eighth place gives her two top 10 performances on the season and solidifies her spot for the Championships and puts her within striking distance of moving up even higher with another solid performance Friday.

Exenberger's performance was perhaps the most clutch, as she finished ninth, her best finish by seven spots, and while she is still sitting as the first skier out in the qualification list, she got one solid result under her belt and set herself up for potentially moving into the final spot on Friday with another good performance.

In the team standings, the Buffs remained in third place, where they were firmly entrenched after the GS races on Tuesday. The Buffs finished the final regular season meet with 521 points, 22 behind Denver (543) while Utah (671) ran away with the meet. Behind CU were Montana State (468) and Alaska Anchorage (449) in the top five.
...

WHAT IT MEANS:

The individual performances continue to impress for the Buffaloes as they make a strong push toward their primary goals of the week of improving qualifying positions and making a push to qualify a full team. Those goals are all still on the table with one day of alpine and the entire Nordic competition left for the RMISA Championships.

UP NEXT:

The alpine teams have one more day of slalom Friday, which will conclude four straight days of racing. Nordic teams will pick up after a few days off to open up competition in the RMISA Championship with the women's 5K and men's 10K freestyle races at Government Peak.
...
"

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note - From a few recent articles, sounds like this could be a VERY rare year (don't know if/ when it last happened?) where the Buffs are in a fight to even qualify a full team to this year's NCAA Championships. Hope they make it!
(I have NO idea the qualifying criteria for skiing, and for the Buffs the question always has been, at least as long as I've been following them, what their chances were at WINNING the Championship as a team, not just competing to qualify.)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Both the Alpine and Nordic skiers are busy today at the RMISA (Conference) Championships.

Some links for live timing:

Nordic races - https://zone4.ca/race/2023-02-24/78df657a/results
(Looks like the top 3 Buffs in the women's race finished 6th, 19th and 23rd. The men's race is still pending.)

Link for tomorrow's race timings should be available on the https://zone4.ca/event/2023/B1F3CD30/ tomorrow.)

Alpine races:

Women's (1st run scheduled to begin 12:50 PM MT; and run 3:25 PM MT) - https://www.live-timing.com/race2.php?r=248904
Men's (1st run scheduled to begin 1:30 PM MT; and run 3:50 PM MT) - https://www.live-timing.com/race2.php?r=248907
 
Today's the last of competition before the NCAA Championships, with the Nordic crew scheduled to compete in long 20km classic races.

Link to what I assume will become live results when the races complete (Assuming this link shows Alaska start times, the men's race is scheduled to begin at noon MT, with the women following at 1:30 PM MT.) - https://zone4.ca/race/2023-02-25/3a283efa/startlist Edit - https://zone4.ca/race/2023-02-25/7c7e3fa0/results

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Article after yesterday's busy day - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/2/24/skiing-womens-alpine-shines-at-rmisa-championships.aspx

"
ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Elena Exenberger finished as the third CU skier but put together one of the more clutch performances in Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team history, throwing down the fastest second run in the field to push herself into the final qualification spot for women's alpine into the NCAA Championships here Friday at the 74th Annual RMISA Championships.

Exenberger entered the day in the No. 18 qualification spot, the first one out of qualifying for the championships, and after the first run she sat in 18th place while the skier occupying the No. 17 and final spot was in 11th place. Exenberger needed to finish in the top 15 and one spot ahead of her to secure the final spot. She did more than that, winning the second run to move all the way up to ninth to secure the final spot, thus enabling CU to qualify a full 12-skier team for the NCAA Championships.

Emma Hammergaard finished sixth and Kaitlyn Harsch seventh ahead of Exenberger as the group put together the best team finish of the season and in the process, each of the three improved their positioning for the championships.

On the men's side, Louis Fausa and Filip Forejtek were both set for high finishes, as Fausa had the fastest first run and was gunning for a top seed position in slalom at the NCAAs, but he skied out on his second run. Forejtek was then in position to slip into the top seed, but was disqualified sitting in fourth place. Along with Jacob Dilling, who is in the top seed in both disciplines, as it stands all three should be in the first half of the field at NCAAs in both disciplines as one of the strongest teams in Lake Placid.

Alex Birkner also qualified as an alternate for the Buffs and led the way in 17th place while Chase Seymour finished 28th just ahead of Sebastian Kohlhofer to pick up team points for the Buffs.

On the Nordic side, the Buffs participated in the 5K women's and 10K men's freestyle races. With Hanna Abrahamsson and Will Koch sitting out, the Buffs were a little short handed and led by Anna-Maria Dietze, who finished sixth in the women's race and Oyvind Haugan, who was ninth in the men's race.

Behind Dietze was Karolina Kaleta in 19th and Elena Grissom in 23rd as scoring Buffs. On the men's side, the trio of Magnus Boee (14th), Fredrik Nilsen (15th) and Hugo Hinckfuss (16th) finished in succession in the top 20.

In the team standings, Fausa and Forejtek skiing out did hurt the overall standings for the Buffs, who sit in fifth place with 307 points. Montana State leads a close race at the top with 446 points while Utah (427.5) and Denver (417.5) are within 30 points of the Bobcats and host Alaska Anchorage Is just ahead of the Buffs in fourth place.

WHAT IT MEANS:

It cannot be understated how clutch Exenberger's finish was. Down to what could have been her last run of the season and down eight spots to the skier she needed to catch, she had no choice but to send it and pulled through with the fastest run in the field to move into the position she needed to. And some years the skiers that sneak in at the 11th hour end up finishing lower at the NCAA Championships and not making a big impact, but Exenberger, along with all three Buffs, are all capable of earning All-America honors and top 10 finishes if not higher at the championships.

UP NEXT:

The final day of the RMISA Championships and final day of six racing in Alaska take place Saturday with the 20K freestyle races at Government Peak. The Buffs will then return home where the 12 selected Buffs will prep for the NCAA Championships, which take place in Lake Placid, N.Y., from March 8-11.
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