Wanted to add a few more things about the team.
1) They haven't updated the roster yet or released an article about incoming Buffs, with the below post being the only thing announced about the incoming Buffs. Therefore, it's largely hard for me to comment on what contribution might be expected from them. However,the one I'd DEFINATELY expect to look to be an immediate contributor is transfer Tilda Baangman***, who from looking at her prior school's roster page (Montana State.
https://msubobcats.com/sports/womens-skiing/roster/tilde-b-ngman/6333) may be a junior with CU this season. With her strong results so far this season based on the 2nd post below, she looks to be in even better form than she was in last season's NCAA Championships, where she was a double All-Amercan for the Bobcats, finishing 1st team after her 4th place finish in the 7.5km freestyle and 2nd team after a 7th place finish in the 20km classic. (***For Buff skiing fans, her last name will ring as a bell as her older sister Hedda raced with the Buffaloes up through her 2020 graduation.).
2) Just generally starting with last year's Championships' preview (
https://cubuffs.com/news/2024/2/27/skiing-buffs-qualify-full-team-for-ncaa-championships), here are what the various components of the team looks like/ (With no roster up or article for this season's newcomers, don't know which of them (other than the aforementioned Ms. Baangman) might be looked at to be contributors this season. Note that with skiing's relative low profile, I don't know for sure whether any of those I'm noting below may have transferred out, or decided (as has happened to the Buffs a few times in the past) to quit school to be full-time pros.
- Men's alpine - All 3 skiers who raced in the Championships were freshmen, so assume this part of the team will look to be MAJOR contributors this season (even if none of the newcomers or other returners can displace any of the 3). That incudes Norwegian NCAA slalom Champion Filip Wahlqvist, who also earned All-American (2nd team) honors with his 8th place in the giant slalom (GS) . Although his Championships started with a rough skiout in his GS before he earned 2nd team All-American honors in the slalom, also wanted to highlight American Ryder Sarchett, who WON the junior world championship this past February in the GS.
- Women's alpine - 2 of the 3 who competed at the Championships were listed as grad students in last season's roster, so assume are gone. However, the one returner is HUGE, as it's the NCAA's women's alpine skiier of the year, Pole Magdalena Luczak (believe she'll be a junior this coming season) who won individual titles in both her races (slalom and GS) at the Championships. (I did search out her Instagram page, and she did post about participating in this season's CU picture day, so believe she will still be a Buff this season.)
- Women's Nordic - 2 of the 3 who were selected and competed in last season's championships I believe are moving on, but Swede Hanna Abrahamsson, who led the CU women with her 4th place finish in the 20km classic, and also earned a few points for the team with her 23rd place finish in the 7.5km freestyle, was shown as a junior in last year's roster so may be coming back. And, as already mentioned a couple times above, assume Ms. Baangman will be also looked to be one of the major contributors.
- Men's Nordic - This group will be looking to replace 2 HUGE pieces, as I assume both last year grad student Magnus Boee (who won the 20km Classic and finished 6th in the 7.5m freestyle races at the 2024 Championships) and last year senior Will Koch (4th in the freestyle and 3rd in the classic) are both moving on. The one who looks like he may be coming back, though, is a good one, as the Norwegian, Johannes Flaaten, contributed crucial 7th place and 11th place finishes at the Championships in the freestyle and classic races, respectively, was a true freshman last season.
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Also, for those wanting to relive the
excitement of last season's THRILLING come from behind CU Championships victory (they were 57 points behind the Utes and even a few behind DU heading into the final day before easily bypassing DU and earning the Championship over Utah by 2 points overall (I believe one of if not THE closest finishes in NCAA history) in the 20km classic races), below are a couple links for those interested:
Full team scoring and individual timings for all of the races -
https://www.ncaa.com/_flysystem/public-s3/images/2024/03/09/NCAA Ski Championship Results -FINAL.pdf
NCAA's skiing video page where one can watch both full replays and shorter (2-4 minute) highlights of all 4 days of racing at last (and even earlier) year's NCAA Championships -
https://www.ncaa.com/video/skiing
