University of Colorado Athletics
Buffs Slip To Fourth At NCAA Champioships
March 06, 2003 | Skiing
By David Plati
Assistant AD/Media Relations
(Associate SID Colleen Reilly Krueger on-site)
LYME, N.H. - The University of Colorado ski team slipped one spot into fourth place here Thursday at the midway point of the 50th Annual NCAA Championships, but there is a silver lining in the storm clouds that have hung over the Buffaloes the first two days of the meet.
While Utah is in command through four events with 357 team points, good for a healthy 67.5 lead over runner-up New Mexico (290.5), the Buffaloes are taking some solace in the fact that their two best events, the classical (nordic) and slalom races are on deck. Vermont is currently in third (284), with the Buffaloes in at 263.5; three-time defending NCAA champion Denver is fifth with 236.5.
[Only five schools participating qualified full 12-member teams however, as no other team qualified more than 10 skiers. Since school can count only a maximum 21 results (out of 24) toward their team score, when the low three scores at the halfway mark are kicked out, things tighten up a bit, as Utah leads with 314, followed by Vermont (284; the Catamounts are skiing with just 10), New Mexico (264.5), CU (228.5), DU (215.5) and Dartmouth (205). All other teams in the field will not have their scores adjusted as they will be counting 20 scores at best, and in most cases, not even that many.]
But CU head coach Richard Rokos wanted his Buffaloes to be in better position than where they stand with four races remaining. One of the more disappointing overall team performances in the giant slalom races in recent memory left Rokos scratching his head.
"I'm still hoping that the alarm clock will ring, I'll get up, brush my teeth and wash my face and start this day all over. This was not what we're capable of doing," he said. "We don't ski on ice like this in the west, but it doesn't change the fact that this was a perfect course and perfect race conditions. And Utah handled it just fine, to their advantage in putting some space between them and the rest of the field."
It's been cold, warm, windy, snowy and rainy in the last 48 hours in New Hampshire, making for classic March eastern snow conditions. Those usually include an icy, and thus very fast, course.
"I would say that the kids were a little intimidated by the speed of the course... that's the only explanation that I have," lamented Rokos.
In the men's giant slalom, held at the Dartmouth Skiway, Utah's Benjamin Thornhill claimed NCAA title honors with a two-run time of 1:59.78, edging Brad Wall of the host school by .19 seconds. If Wall's name sounds familiar, it's because he skied for the U.S. in the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics.
CU's first finisher was freshman Brad Hogan, who placed ninth in 2:01.00; he was also ninth after the morning run and was unable to make up any ground on the leaders. A Vermont native, the conditions really didn't faze him, and he did earn second-team All-America honors with his finish.
"It was a pretty simple hill, but I over-skied the first run," Hogan said. "Then I made two really big mistakes (on the second run), went off course and almost fell and lost a lot of time. It was right before the flat part of the course so it was hard to pick up speed on that part. But I made up about five-tenths of a second on the bottom the second time, and I skied the bottom very well. We're only halfway through. We're fine, but there is a lot of work to do."
Senior Jed Schuetze was 23rd, skiing the pair of runs in 2:04.01, with sophomore Tyler Shepherd coming in 25th in a 2:04.43 clocking.
"There are a couple of key parts to this course that if you don't nail and don't ski with confidence, you lose speed," Schuetze said. "The course was flatter than a lot of courses we ski on. It was a tough day for all of us."
The Buffs failed to have a top 10 finisher in the women's GS, as frosh Erika Hogan posted CU's best effort in tying for 13th in 2:11.77. That was well behind Vermont's Jamie Kingsbury, who recorded a 2:06.71 effort to defeat Utah's Lina Johansson by seven-tenths of a second. The bright spot for Utah was that it also had the third place finisher, Rowena Bright, who skied the two runs in 2:08.69. After Sophie Ormond of Denver's fourth place time of 2:10.52, the fifth through 14th place racers were separated by just three-quarters of a second.
Hogan, Brad's younger sibling and also a Vermont native, had no problems with the conditions. "The ice didn't bother me, I liked it," she said. "But I made mistakes on both runs on the pitch and you've got to put two clean runs together to ski well."
Senior Tove Pashkowski finished 20th (2:13.12) and junior Mia Cullman 24th (2:15.01), uncharacteristically low finishes for both.
"It was an unfortunate showing, not much else I can say," Pashkowski said. "The combination of ice and a flat, straight course is not suited to my style of skiing. I tried to make the best of it and I don't know what really happened."
"I'm not from the east, I don't like the ice, I like powder," Cullman said bluntly. "Maybe if we can come in a little earlier and train more on the ice, it would have helped. And the training days that we've had have been so cold, and then it rained a lot yesterday which lent to the course's icy nature. I just have to put today behind me."
Rokos remained optimistic when asked how much he thought CU could make up over the next two days. "Well, hopefully all of it. Slalom is typically our better event and on paper so is classical. Paper and snow are both white, but we don't ski on paper. We have two more chances to prove it on the snow."
The skiers are focused. On Saturday's slalom, Erika Hogan simply said, "That's our thing." Cullman added, "It's our stronger event, so I think we will always be competitive in slalom regardless of the conditions. Hopefully we've saved the best for last and will make up some points. We have to."
The classical cross country races are set for Friday, with the women's 15-kilometer competition at 7 a.m. mountain time, with the men's 20K event at 8:30. The slalom races will wrap up the meet on Saturday.
NCAA Championship Team Scores--1. Utah 357; 2. New Mexico 290.5; 3. Vermont 284.0; 4. Colorado 263.5; 5. Denver 236.5; 6. Middlebury 209.5; 7. Dartmouth 205.0; 8. Nevada 190.5; 9. New Hampshire 184.0; 10. Alaska-Anchorage 167.5; 11. Alaska-Fairbanks 137; 12. Colby 129.5; 13. Northern Michigan 129.0; 14. Williams 111.5; 15. Western State 62; 16. Bates 48; 17. Whitman 19; 18. Montana State 17; 19. Harvard 13; 20. Michigan Tech 13; 21. Wisconsin-Green Bay 2; 22. St. Cloud State 1.
Adjusted Team Scores Of Five Schools Qualifying Full Teams--1. Utah 314; 2. New Mexico 264.5; 3. Colorado 228.5; 4. Denver 215.5; 5. Dartmouth 194. (The low three scores are eliminated for each team, as a maximum 21 skier results (out of 24) count toward team scoring; all other teams in the field qualified 10 or fewer skiers, thus their scores will have no need to be adjusted.)
Men's Giant Slalom--1. Benjamin Thornhill, Utah, 1:59.78; 2. Bradley Wall, Dart., 1:59.97; 3. James Cochran, UVM, 2:00.26; 4. Jernej Bukovec, Utah, 2:00.31; 5. Greg Blaisdell, UNH, 2:00.34; 6. Pierre Olsson, Utah, 2:00.46; 7. Chris Berg, DU, 2:00.48; 8. Robert Saunders, Colby, 2:00.66; 9. Brad Hogan, CU, 2:01.00; 10. David Coriell, Midd., 2:01.10. Other CU Finishers: 23. Jed Schuetze, 2:04.01; 25. Tyler Shepherd, 2:04.43.
Women's Giant Slalom--1. Jamie Kingsbury, UVM, 2:06.71; 2. Lina Johansson, Utah, 2:07.41; 4. Rowena Bright, Utah, 2:08.69; 4.. Sophie Ormond, DU, 2:10.52; 5. Gilliam McFetridge, UVM, 2:11.03; 6. Caroline Schicht, UNM, 2:11.18; 7. Laura Scripture, Midd., 2:11.19; 8. Abbi Lathrop, Colby, 2:11.37; 9. Sydney Mikkelson, UNH, 2:11.38; 10. Jenny Lathrop, Colby, and Cecily Lowenthal, Will., 2:11.42. CU Finishers: 13. Erika Hogan, 2:11.77; 20. Tove Pashkowski, 2:13.12; 24. Mia Cullman, 2:15.01.
