Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Ready For NCAA Skiing Title Run
March 03, 2003 | Skiing
HANOVER, N.H. -- The University of Colorado ski team arrived here Saturday in preparation for its run at bringing the NCAA Championship back to Boulder for the first time since 1999.
The University of Denver is the three-time defending national champ, and with CU claiming the '98 and '99 titles, the state of Colorado has produced the NCAA titleist for five consecutive years.
Only five teams qualified the NCAA maximum of 12 skiers, and no school that has not qualified the full compliment of performers has ever won the title. Thus, the favorites for the 50th NCAA Championship that begins here Wednesday include the west's "Big Four," CU, DU, Utah and New Mexico, and host Dartmouth, the lone eastern school to qualify a dozen participants.
The "Big Four" waged their tightest battle in years, with Utah winning two of the five races including the NCAA West Regional, with New Mexico claiming two and the Buffs one. However, in the western seedings for nationals, the Buffs came out on top with 20 (out of a possible 24) in the top 10, followed by Utah (19), UNM (16) and DU (12). In addition, CU's nine top five seeds are second only to Utah's 10. In the east, Dartmouth led with nine top 10 seeds, followed by Middlebury's and Vermont's eight each.
A top seed is important, especially in alpine, as it indicates starting position. The first15 spots out of the gate in the giant slalom and slalom are generally considered the most favorable before ruts eventually begin to develop on the course.
"Our seedings are excellent. I think we have more people in the top 10 than any year ever before," CU head coach Richard Rokos said. "It gives us a good chance to get off to a good start. But the winning team always needs a little bit of luck."
Colorado's roster is a mix of seasoned NCAA championship participants and first-timers, as six of the 12 have raced in the NCAA's previously with six to make their first-ever appearance. Representing the Buffaloes will be Brad Hogan, Jed Schuetze and Tyler Shepherd (men's alpine), Mia Cullman, Erika Hogan and Tove Pashkowski (women's alpine), Erling Christiansen, Henrik Hoye and Norbert Pelc (men's nordic) and Claire Critchley, Muriele Huberli and Jana Rehemaa (women's nordic).
Schuetze and Pashkowski are skiing in their fourth NCAA title meet, with Cullman in her third and Shepherd, Pelc and Huberli in their second. And of the six NCAA "rookies," Brad Hogan brings seven years of U.S. Ski Team experience, with his younger sister, Erika, the lone American to medal in skiing at the World University Games in January. But Rokos feels the team is basically peaking when it should, though he's not overly comfortable with the use of the term.
"Looking at the results, all three alpine guys are pretty consistent, and Mia is probably starring for the ladies.," Rokos said. "Cross country came around at the right time and posted outstanding results at the end of the year. It's very encouraging. I think it's a matter of being physically and mentally prepared, and being healthy, more so than peaking at the right time. If we're all of those things, we can ski to our potential."
Though four of the nordic skiers are at the NCAA's for the first time, Rokos is pleased with how the unit has performed to date. "The new people are skiing well, better than imagined," he said. "I didn't think that they would come in and ski so strong so fast, because there is an adjustment period for the altitude. It'll be interesting to see Henrik and Jana at low altitude, because that's where they accomplished most of their preseason training."
CU skiers only won five races this winter, as compared to seven in 2002 (out of 40), but the Buffs this year had 14 more top five finishes and 27 more top 10 efforts than a year ago, showing that this year's collection of Buffaloes are a much deeper team. DU won the 2002 meet with 656 points, with Colorado the runner-up with 612, so the fact that the Buffs are deeper bodes well, at least on paper, for 2003.
As a unit, the alpine team won four of the five races in the west (the men won four and the women once), with their skiers posting a collective 28 top five (out of 50) and 52 top 10 finishes (out of 100). The nordic team finished second in points twice, including at the regional, with the men winning on two occasions (again, including the regional). The nords posted 18 top five and 38 top 10 efforts on the year.
Brad Hogan and Cullman led the team in wins with two (two slaloms for Hogan, one GS and one slalom for Cullman). Hogan led the team in top five finishes with nine, and became the first CU skier to place in the top 10 for all 10 races since 1991. Cullman added three runner-up finishes in posting six top five efforts. Cullman and Christiansen were second in top 10 finishes with eight.
The Buffs were as healthy as they've been all year heading to New Hampshire, and have had no serious injuries to contend with. "Right now, knock on wood, everyone is 100 percent and it doesn't seem like anyone is recovering from something or coming down with something," Rokos said. "We've been healthy for a week now, and we just have it to maintain it for another week. Then we can all go to the hospital," he mused.
"There are four tough teams in the west, and I assume it'll stay that way for the NCAA's," Rokos said in sizing up the NCAA field. "The scenario we've seen the last few years is that the west is a little stronger than the east, and they lost some of their allocation slots as a result. But with Dartmouth qualifying a full team, it makes them a formidable foe on their home courses. Though the hill is relatively easy, they'll be more familiar with it as to where to let it all out and gain speed. So that puts them in a really good position to challenge."
The freestyle cross country races open the meet on Wednesday, with the men's 10k at 7:00 a.m. mountain time, followed by the women's 5k at 8 a.m. The giant slalom races take center stage on Thursday, with the men's first run at 7:30 a.m. (the second is at 10:30), with the women going at 9:00 and Noon. The classical cross country races are set for Friday, with the women's 15K at 7 a.m. and the men's 20K at 8:30. The competition wraps up Saturday with the slalom races, as the men's commences at 7:30 a.m. (second run at 11), with the women's first run at 8:30 and the second at Noon.
QUICKLY
The 50th NCAA Ski Championships are scheduled for March 5-8 in Hanover, New Hampshire, with all alpine events taking place at the Dartmouth Skiway in Lyme, and all nordic competitions are slated for the Dartmouth Cross Country Center (right in Hanover)... It's the eighth time that New Hampshire is the host state for the NCAA meet, but the first time it will be in Hanover since 1978; the state last hosted in 1995 in Jackson, with Colorado winning the title; CU also won in the meet in Hanover in '78 for its two tiles won in the Granite State... The Buffs have won 16 national championships in skiing: 11 men's (1959-60-72-73-74-75-76-77-78- 79-82), four combined (1991-95-98-99) and one women's (1982, AIAW)... Colorado has won 24 of the last 54 meets it has skied in; the men's alpine skiers won four meets this winter (alpine as a unit has won 18 of the last 30), the nordic men won two and the alpine women one; the nordic women posted two second place finishes, but are technically the defending NCAA champion unit as CU scored the most women's nordic points in the '02 meet... The 2004 NCAA Championships will be hosted by the University of Nevada in Norden (alpine events at Sugar Bowl) and Truckee, Calif.; Colorado is bidding to host the 2006 event at Steamboat Springs, the only major ski area in the state with the elevation to satisfy the Eastern nordic skiers because of their altitude concerns.
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE NCAA's
Denver enters as the three-time defending champion, but the Pioneers came up short in the west this winter, going winless in five meets with four third and one fourth place finishes. DU won last year in Anchorage, in 2001 at Middlebury and in 2000 at Park City and Soldier Hollow, Utah. The Pioneers won the '02 title with 656 points, followed by the Buffaloes (612), Utah (609?), New Mexico (569) and Vermont (521?), marking the first time since 1966 that one region could claim the top four team spots; Nevada (444 points) was sixth to give the west five of the top six spots. Colorado won the '98 crown in Bozeman, Mont., with 654 points; Utah was second with 651?, and Denver third (638); the Buffs then repeated in Bethel and Rumford, Maine, in 1999 (CU had 650 points, DU 636 and Vermont 600).
TRADITIONAL FAVORITES
Vermont (18 titles or seconds), Utah (17) and Colorado (15; 13 wins and two seconds) have dominated college skiing over the past 31 seasons (dating back to 1972). Only four other schools, defending champion Denver (three wins, two seconds), Wyoming (one win and four seconds), Dartmouth (one co-title) and New Mexico (one second) have been able to crack the top two in this span. Colorado, Utah and Vermont were the only schools to win titles in 1990s, as CU won four with Utah and UVM three apiece, with DU now an annual favorite since resurrecting its program in 1995 and claiming the last three titles.
PARTICIPANTS
A total of 22 schools will be participating in New Hampshire (*-qualified full 12-skier roster): Alaska-Anchorage, Alaska- Fairbanks, Bates, Colby, *Colorado, *Dartmouth, *Denver, Harvard, Michigan Tech, Middlebury, Montana State, Nevada, New Hampshire, *New Mexico, Northern Michigan, St. Cloud State, *Utah, Vermont, Western State, Whitman, Williams and Wisconsin- Green Bay. Only five schools qualified the NCAA maximum of 12, and four of those were from the west to join host Dartmouth; Middlebury, New Hampshire and Vermont qualified 10, Nevada 9, Alaska-Anchorage 8 and Williams 6. Alaska-Fairbanks and Northern Michigan qualified full nordic teams (six), but they do not compete in alpine.
REGIONALLY
In the WEST, Utah won its first regional since 1998, and won two of the five invitationals, as did New Mexico; CU won the other, the only school to defend its home mountain. Utah won with 581 points, edging Colorado (563) with Denver third (541.5) and New Mexico fourth (439, the furthest behind the leader all year for an improved Lobo squad). CU now has an 11-year run of finishing either first or second in the regional (with six wins).
In the CENTRAL, where the only competition is nordic, Northern Michigan won the regional with 169 points, topping Alaska- Fairbanks (160), Montana Tech (125) and UW-Green Bay (122). NMU and UAF battled all winter and both qualified full nordic teams.
In the EAST, Vermont won four of the six carnivals this winter with Dartmouth winning the other two: UVM finished second in the pair Dartmouth won, yet Dartmouth was third in the four it did not win and still was the only eastern school to quality a full team. New Hampshire finished second three times and Middlebury had a second and two thirds. Vermont won its sixth straight NCAA East Regional, claiming the carnival with 859.5 points; host Middlebury was second (845) followed by Dartmouth (839) and New Hampshire (769.5).
