HOGAN SECOND IN GS; SKIERS EIGHTH AT NCAA'S

Wednesday, March 10

Donner Summit, Truckee, Calif.

All Day

Colorado

NCAA Championships

Buffs Finish Second At NCAA Ski Championships

Saturday, March 14

Buffs Back In Lead At NCAA Ski Championships

Friday, March 13

Ski Buffs In Second Place At NCAA Championships

Thursday, March 12

Buffs In Lead After Opening Day Of NCAA Championships

Wednesday, March 11

Next Event

NCAA Championships

Mar 11 (Thu)

All Day

Recap

Full Schedule

March 10, 2004 | Skiing

By: David Plati, Assistant AD/Sports Information

DONNER'S SUMMIT, Calif. - The University of Colorado ski team is a "deceptive" eighth after the first two events of the 51st NCAA Championships, but the Buffaloes are poised to move up the rankings come Thursday's switch of venues.

Denver is in the lead with 188 team points, ahead of Vermont (168), New Mexico (155) and Middlebury (150.5). Colorado is in eighth place with 107 points following the conclusion of Wednesday's giant slalom races, arguably the event CU has faired its most poorly this winter.

That, and the reminder that the low three scores are dropped off the totals come the final event; applied at this juncture, while CU is still in eighth, it's 32 points off the lead instead of the 81 the Buffs currently trail in the gross standings. Colorado is competing here one skier short than the maximum 12, as it did not qualify a third men's alpine skier, the reason the Buffs stood in their lowest place at any point of any NCAA title meet since the sport went coed in 1983.

That standing should change as early as Thursday, when the action shifts to nordic and CU's cross country team has a chance to prove that they are the best in the nation after winning the title at the NCAA West Regional two weeks ago.

"Everybody finished and placed, which was important because we don't have a complete alpine team with only the two guys here," CU head coach Richard Rokos said. "We need every point we can get if we're going to be in the mix come Saturday, so we got off to a good start. Given the circumstances, we're hoping tomorrow will be our day in cross country as we're ready and where we hoped to be."

In the women's giant slalom that opened these championships, Colorado sophomore Erika Hogan finished second to grab the silver, as she posted a two-run time of 1:59.67. She had the fastest first run (59.38), but New Mexico's Jennifer Delich, who was tied for fourth after the first run at 59.58, blistered the course the second time around in 59.60 to pass Hogan and earn the win in 1:59.18. Hogan skied the second run in 1:00.29, the sixth fastest, but Delich's time was one of just three sub-60 second efforts and catapulted her to the top. Hogan's finish earned her first-team All-America honors.

"I think I skied very well; giant slalom isn't my strongest event, so I'm actually really excited," Hogan said. "This most definitely helps my confidence for Friday's slalom. During training I didn't ski very well, but I really don't know why I skied as well as I did today. I went out there to just have fun, so I wasn't nervous and it turned out to be a good strategy that worked for me."

"Erika skied very well, capitalizing on all the hard work she's done this year and it was good to see this result for her," Rokos said. "She was first after the first run, but a little mistake cost her in her second run or she would have won. But every mistake costs something; she was maybe a foot wide at one of the middle gates, and it was just enough to keep her from the top level of the podium."

Senior Erin McEachren, who started in the 27th position, managed to move up and finish 21st in 2:02.53, while freshman Kristin Taylor started 21st and finished 23rd in 2:02.53. Hogan actually started in the 12th spot, making her runner-up effort that much more impressive, while Delich came in seeded first, starting in the fourth position as the top 10 seeds are inverted in a double flop.

Vermont grabbed the third and fourth spots en route to scoring 99 team points in the women's GS, while the Buffs earned the fourth most with 74, also trailing Denver (84) and Middlebury (76.5).

The men's giant slalom was dominated by the western schools, as the top eight finishes were posted by skiers from four different NCAA west competitors. Utah's Benjamin Thornhill won in a 1:52.24 time, edging New Mexico's Petter Roering by a blink of an eye, as he was just .04 behind. Nevada's Michal Rajcan was only .08 back of Roering in finishing third in the hotly contested race.

Junior Tahir Bisic placed 20th for the Buffs in a 1:55.22 time, but skied a fabulous second run in 56.88, the 17th best overall, enabling him to move up six spots from his first effort. Freshman Cody Jenick also had a solid second run, using a 57.61 for a two-run time of 1:56.89 to finish 27th.

"They finished a bit ahead of where they started, which is hard to do if disaster doesn't strike the competition" Rokos said of the two Buff men. "We just didn't qualify well, we had to start back in the field (all season) and it carries through to the championship. The course just gets worse and worse with each and every skier, and it's always an uphill fight. But they put great effort behind it, and had exceptional second runs, but because of their low seeds and the deteriorating track, it was going to slow them down. But they really hung in there."

Bisic was 23rd (58.34) and Jenick 29th (59.28) after the first runs, as they started in the 24th and 32nd spots, respectively. The weather conditions Wednesday were sunny and warm, great for spectators but not necessarily for the participants.

The nordic teams now will take over the center stage Thursday, with the women's 5k freestyle at 10:30 a.m. (mountain), followed by the men's 10k version at 11:30 a.m. The slalom races are set for Friday, as the men's commences at 10:30 a.m. with the women's at 11:30 a.m. The competition wraps up Saturday with the classical cross country races, with the men's 20K at 10 a.m. and the women's 15K at Noon.

NCAA Championship Team Scores-1. Denver 188; 2. Vermont 168; 3. New Mexico 155; 4. Middlebury 150.5; 5. Utah 137; 6. Dartmouth 126; 7. Colby 112.5; 8. COLORADO 107; 9. Nevada 83; 10. Williams 68; 11. Alaska-Anchorage 57; 12. Montana State 50; 13. New Hampshire 44; 14. Boise State 41; 15. Whitman 21; 16. Bates 16; 17. Western State 6. (Note: only a maximum 21 of 24 skiers will score for those five schools that qualified full-squads; Colorado and Vermont qualified one short, so 21 of their 22 will count.)

Women's Giant Slalom-1. Jennifer Delich, UNM, 1:59.18; 2. Erika Hogan, CU, 1:59.67; 3. Hilary McCloy, UVM, 1:59.77; 4. Jamie Kingsbury, UVM, 1:59.84; 5. Pia Rivelsrud, DU, 1:59.87; 6. April Mancuso, Utah, 2:0010; 7 (tie). Jenni Lathrop, Colby, and Jessica Smith, Midd., 2:00.22; 9. Rowena Hyldahl, Utah, 2:00.43; 10. Abbi Lathrop, Colby, 2:00.64. Other CU & Area Finishers: 15. Sophie Ormond, DU, 2L01.20; 16. Barbara Knor, DU, 2:01.34; 21. Erin McEachren, CU, 2:02.53; 23. Kristin Taylor, CU, 2:02.93.

Men's Giant Slalom-1. Benjamin Thornhill, Utah, 1:52.24; 2. Petter Roering, UNM, 1:52.28; 3. Michal Rajcan, UNR. 1:52.32; 4. Dominick Schweiger, DU, 1:52.56; 5. Lars Ola Kjos, DU, 1:52.65; 6. Tommi Viirret, UNR, 1:52.66; 7. David Lamb, DU, 1:52.71; 8. Lars Loeseth, UNM, 1:52.73; 9. Roger Brown, Dart., 1:43.09; 10. Warner Nickerson, Colby, 1:53.30. CU & Other Area Finishers: 20. Tahir Bisic, CU, 1:55.22; 27. Cody Jenick, CU, 1:56.89; 34. Luke Patterson, WSC, 2:32.96.