Skiers Ready To Make NCAA Championship Run

STOWE, Vt. - It's been six years since the University of Colorado ski team returned to Boulder with the national championship trophy in tow. But the odds are against the Buffaloes ending that streak this winter; just don't tell that to coach Richard Rokos' team.

The 52nd Annual NCAA Championships get underway with the men's and women's giant slalom here Wednesday, or are at least scheduled to. With 8 to 14 inches of snow expected overnight and the potential for winds to gust up to 50 miles per hour during the morning, there is a chance the championships could be delayed a day.

Colorado, statistically the second best team in the west this past winter behind Denver, qualified just 10 of the maximum 12 skiers for the NCAA's and thus the Buffaloes have their backs against the wall. Teams can count a maximum 21 of 24 results toward the final tabulation come this Saturday, so CU will have to try to outscore the field with every bit it can muster from its 20 scores it will be able to post.

"We're going in as an underdog, but it's not hopeless. UVM (Vermont) proved two years ago that you can come in two skiers short, and they still took second place and challenged for the title," Rokos said. "It comes down to what you can accomplish with whom you bring and also to some good luck. You can help create that by skiing sound and staying focused. We'll take the challenge."

Denver won all five meets in the west this winter, completing the sweep with a 30-point win over defending NCAA champion New Mexico in the West Regional at Bozeman, Mont. Colorado finished third, but finished with the second most total points overall in the five meets behind the Pioneers.

"Regionals didn't go as well as we had liked, but we also had some really good things happen," Rokos said. "We never placed four girls in the top eight before. In certain ways we have a unique situation. We have a very strong women's alpine team and a very strong men's Nordic team; they know they'll have some added pressure on them at the NCAA's (since CU did not qualify a full team) but they have the confidence as they have skied well all season. As for the others, it will come down to day-to-day preparation."

On the plus side for the Buffaloes, flu and other illnesses don't appear to be a problem.

"We appear to be as healthy as we've been all season, we've overcome all of the flu bugs that haunted us greatly," Rokos said. "Many of the cross country kids are peaking, and hopefully their immune systems are solid. I think we post the best results as a team that we have all year, similar to last year's performance (when CU was the Nordic point champion at the NCAA's).

"The women's alpine team speaks for itself," Rokos bragged. "We had four girls who could place anywhere in the top 10 all year, so the three who are here should post some top five finishes. We're just depleted on the men's alpine side, and to come here with just one guy, we're already short at least one result. It will take some diligence and a responsible approach. We can be confident, we just have to ski smart and not give up anything, as we can't afford to. All risks have to be calculated risks."

CU's 10-skier roster breaks down into three seniors, four juniors and three freshmen, with six of the 10 having skied in the NCAA Championships before. Junior Erling Christiansen earned the No. 1 seed out of the west in men's cross country, with freshman Lucie Zikova also earning a top five seed in women's alpine (No. 5). Four others earned top 10 seeds: Muriele Huberli (No. 6 in women's X-C), Rachel Roosevelt (No. 7 in women's alpine), Tor Erik Schjellerud (No. 7 in men's Nordic) and Henrik Hoye (No. 9 in men's Nordic).

"It's exciting to see what the younger kids have done," Rokos said. "We're losing a solid group of seniors this year, but to see what the new skiers have accomplished in what in a way has been a transition year. Next year, it's our show at Steamboat and we want to have a great showing there (CU hosts the 2006 NCAA Championships at Steamboat Springs). We're building toward that next year and a lot of what we're doing revolves around that. It's good to have people on your team who are familiar with future race sites at the championships."

This winter in the NCAA West, six different women were individual race champions compared to 14 for the men. Alaska's Mandy Kaempf and Denver's Florence Roujas each won six times and New Mexico's Martina Stursova four; Pia Rivelsrud (DU) was a two-time winner (both slaloms). The only other women to make it to the top of the podium were Utah's Rowena Bright (GS) and CU's Roosevelt (SL), both of whom did so in the UNM Invitational.

New Mexico's Lars Loeseth Sunde was the only men's skier to win three times, claiming both alpine races in the Lobos' meet and the GS at Denver. Four others won twice: Western State's Timothy Theaux, the slalom champ in the Utah and Alaska invites; CU's Christiansen, the freestyle winner at Alaska and DU; Utah's Daniel Sonntag, claiming the freestyle in Utah and New Mexico; and Denver's Rene Reisshauer, the classic champ in his own meet before being crowned the regional champion.

DU scored 2,817 points on the year, with the next three an eyelash within each other but well behind the Pioneers: CU totaled 2,483?, UNM 2,463? and Utah 2,414. The Buffs and Lobos both logged a pair of second and third place finishes (Utah had one each), while the Utes and Alaska had two fourth place efforts as those four schools generally were fighting to place second behind a dominant regular season Denver team.

"We had our share of ups and downs throughout the season," he continued. "Even though things didn't work out for the (alpine) men, they were skiing their best when they had to at the end of the year and came close to qualifying two skiers if not a full team. But with more schools skiing, a couple of the spots always available in the past to teams used to qualifying full teams, just weren't there for the taking."

If all goes as scheduled, the giant slalom races open the championships Wednesday, with the women first up at 7:30 a.m. MST (first run; second will follow at 9:15), with the men going at 11:00 and 12:45 p.m. The classical cross country races take center stage on Thursday, with the men's 10k at 7:30, followed by the women's 5k at 9:30. The slalom races are set for Friday, as first runs are at 7:30 (men) and 8:30 (women); second runs follow at 10:15 and 11:15, respectively. The competition wraps up Saturday, with the freestyle cross country races, with the women's 15K at 8:00 and the men's 20K at 10:00.

"The teams to beat are going to be the four who qualified full teams," Rokos spoke of DU, Dartmouth, Utah and UVM. "Denver is strong, they recruited well overseas, but we're right there with them in women's alpine though they always seem to have the winner, we'll get seconds and thirds. Utah has a pretty good group of girls, and UVM did very well back east, so they'll be right there. Over four days, a lot of things can happen, and a lot can change just with the slalom when it's run on the different snow back east.

"Our attitude is going to be, ?Let's be the first to win it two skiers short.'"

BUFFALO BITS

? Three CU skiers were named to the Division I Academic All-America Ski Team. Senior Tahir Bisic (aerospace engineering major), junior Erling Christiansen (philosophy/geography) and sophomore Kristin Taylor (integrated physiology) all were presented with the honor, which requires a minimum 3.50 grade point average and having participated in the NCAA regionals).

? CU sophomore Tim Damrow is participating in the 2005 Junior Olympic Nordic Ski Championships in Truckee, Calif., and on the first day of competition Monday, he won he gold medal in the sprint competition. Damrow, one of several freshmen and sophomore collegians participating, covered the 1-kilometer course in 1 minute and 57.03 seconds. Competition continues Wednesday with the 15K freestyle, followed by the 10K classic Friday and the 3x5K classic relay Saturday. Damrow has quite an impressive resume in junior competition. He won the silver medal in the 10K freestyle in the 2004 Junior Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., and was the 30K classic U.S. junior national champion at the 2004 U.S. Senior National Championships held in Rumford, Maine. He was a member of the 2004 U.S. World Junior team that competed in Stryn, Norway.

The Roseville, Minn., product figures big into CU's future in men's cross country competition. His two best finishes this year were a pair of 12th place efforts in the freestyle events at the Denver and New Mexico invitationals.