Colorado University Athletics
Buff Skiers Ready For RMISA Championships
February 22, 2006 | Skiing
DONNER SUMMIT, Calif. - The University of Colorado ski team completed its training here Wednesday for the 2006 Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association championships, a meet that also serves as the NCAA West Regional, the final tune-up for next month's NCAA Championships.
Colorado was the regular season RMISA point champion, claiming the title on the strength of wins in its own CU Invitational as well as Western State's meet. Denver won the first two meets of the winter by a combined 13 points over the Buffs, but CU rallied to win its pair by 80.5 points in pulling away to claim the crown. CU won with 2,299.5 points, besting DU (2,220.5), New Mexico (1,997) and Utah (1,876.5).
Several individuals have paced the Buffaloes in 2006, most notably sophomores and RMISA most valuable skiers Lucie Zikova (women's alpine) and Maria Grevsgaard (women's Nordic). But it's been a full team effort, as CU leads all western schools in individual wins (13), top five finishes (47) and top 10 efforts (78), with another nine 11th place finishes on the books. Zikova has set a school record for an alpine woman with five wins, while senior Jana Rehemaa and freshman Lenka Palanova both have two in cross country, with one each by Grevsgaard, Kit Richmond (men's Nordic), and Sabrina Mocellin and Lisa Perricone (women's alpine).
As the NCAA West Regional, the meet carries additional importance in addition to serving as the RMISA championships. Schools will be attempting qualify full teams for the NCAA Championships, set for Steamboat Springs March 8-11.
A full team is 12 skiers, comprised of a maximum of three each from the disciplines (men's and women's alpine, men's and women's Nordic); CU is fully qualified in all but men's alpine, where no positions are secure going into Thursday. Seventeen men's alpine skiers from the west will qualify for the NCAA's, and Buff skiers currently hold spots 14, 15, 16 and 17 in the rankings. Thus, CU needs to hold on to those positions if not improve upon them to qualify a full team for nationals, which it has not done since 2003. Colorado has sent a full team to nationals 20 of the 23 seasons since the sport went coed in 1983.
Skiers already qualified for nationals will be working to improve their seed positions.
Thursday's events include the giant slalom races at the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort in Norden, located near Lake Tahoe, with the cross country classical races at the Auburn Ski Club here in Donner Summit, on the outskirts of Truckee, Calif. The slalom and Nordic freestyle races conclude the event on Friday.
