Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
NCAA Championships
Players Mentioned
Skiers Finish Third At NCAA Championships
March 10, 2007 | Skiing
             ATTITASH, N.H. - The defending national champion University of Colorado ski team surrendered that claim to Dartmouth Saturday, as the Buffaloes finished third in the 54th Annual NCAA Championships which came to a close in north central New Hampshire.
Dartmouth became the first eastern school to win the national title since 1994, when Vermont was crowned at Sugarloaf, Maine. It's the third title for the Big Green, as they won in 1958 and shared with Colorado in 1976. It marked the 11th straight year that the team leading after three days (six events) all went on to win the title.Â
Â
Dartmouth finished the meet with 698 points, besting Denver (648), Colorado (592) and Utah (536); all but DU had full 12-skier squads competing (the Pioneers were one shy), with the only other fully-stocked team, Vermont, taking a distant fifth (400.5). The Big Green set the stage for their 2007 title with a third place finish last winter in Steamboat, after finishing second fiddle to UVM among eastern schools for 28 straight NCAA meets between 1978 and 2005, and by winning all six eastern events leading up to the NCAA's.
Â
The 12-year dominance by western schools both started in 1995 and now ended in 2006 with Colorado atop the standings; CU and Denver (four each), Utah (three) and New Mexico (one) all claimed crowns during the eastern drought.Â
Â
CU entered the day in third place, with only a very slight chance at catching Dartmouth but with a possible shot at overtaking Denver for second, as both the Buffs and Pioneers still had designs on extending the western win streak.
Â
"We might have been able to go after DU today had we had better finishes, but Dartmouth was well-balanced, skiing in a home environment and have been building to this for years. Nobody was going to catch them, and I congratulate them," CU head coach Richard Rokos said.  "Nothing against Denver, but I was kind of rooting for them, because it will create a little more competition between the two regions. So it's a good thing. Western schools had won so many in a row, if you're going to have a rivalry, the other side has to win, too. Objectively and unselfishly, the east needed this. Thirteen years is a long time."
Â
How balanced were the Big Green? They won the title without a single individual champion, with just two runner-up finishes and two fourth place efforts for a total of four top five finishes in the eight events, but had just one finish outside the top 19 all week. Runner-up Denver had 10 top five efforts, including a meet-best three champions, while CU had five and Utah four. Northern Michigan had the second most with seven, as the Nordic-only program finished eighth in the final standings thanks to a pair of 1-2-3 sweeps in the women's cross country races.   Â
Â
Saturday's slalom started off well for the Buff women, who had all three skiers in the top eight after the first run, including sophomore Lisa Perricone in the top spot and junior Lucie Zivoka in third. But as is often the case with the slalom, things happen.
Â
Perricone felt she was too conservative her second time down and dropped to ninth, Zikova again posted the third best time but it wasn't enough to make up all of the gap to win, and freshman Heidi Hillenbrand, in eighth after the morning run, missed a gate and thus had to stop and hike a bit, a delay that caused her to slip all the way to 28th in the final standings.
Â
New Mexico's Malin Hemmingsson won in a two-run time of 1:45.77, with Zikova just under a quarter-second behind in 1:46.00 to claim runner-up honors. Hemmingsson's win did send UNM head coach George Brooks into retirement with a smile, as the only coach the Lobos have ever had in 37 years of the program coached his last meet here.
Â
Perricone finished in 1:47.33; she had led Hemmingsson by .12 of a second with a 51.27 first run, but posted a 56.06 her second time down. Hillenbrand was clocked in 1:59.88, with her slip-up on the second run likely costing her a top 10 finish.
Â
"I feel like the first course (morning run) was set more for me," Zikova said. "Everyone had to turn a little bit more; it really separated who are the really good skiers. I liked that one much better.Â
Â
 "Also on the first run, I was a little bit nervous.  On the second run I was coming in third... but you know, who wants to be third?," Zikova continued. "Everyone wants to win, and it's really hard to win when you are in the lead after the first run. Usually you don't win the second run anyways. You ski fast enough to hold your lead and that's the goal. It was a really exciting race because all the girls were so close and that usually doesn't happen.  It's always that someone to charge more on the second run because they have that gap to make up but there wasn't that much of one today."
Â
"Obviously the first run was more to my strengths," Perricone said. "The snow changed a lot on the second run and the light got a little flatter. I just was really conservative and over-skied it. I thought the second run was a little more challenging and I didn't set up for it right. The other girls were attacking it a lot more than I was."Â
Â
 "Lucie skied well, like she had all year, and I'm not really sure what happened with Lisa," Rokos said. "Heidi was skiing very well so it was unfortunate that she had to stop and start again, otherwise she would have had an All-American day."
Â
In the men's slalom, Denver's Adam Cole snapped a five-year Dartmouth stranglehold on the title as he won in a two-run time of 1:43.36?but the Big Green didn't surrender it easy. Dartmouth's David Chodounsky was four-tenths of a hundred of a second back in 1:43.40 to claim runner-up honors.
Â
Sophomore Josh Bryan paced the Buffaloes, as he earned second-team All-America honors in finishing 10th in a 1:45.51 time. He started in the 24th position and managed to move up 14 spots, including moving into 15th for the second run.
Â
Freshmen Stefan Hughes and Drew Roberts finished 13th and 15th, respectively, despite starting near the top of the draw. Hughes was 18th after the first run and used the 12th fastest second run to finish in 1:46.03, while Roberts was 17th after his initial run and posted a two-run time of 1:46.15.
Â
"The first course held up pretty well," Bryan said. "The conditions stayed pretty good all the way to me (he started 24th) but it was a little bit rutted out.  It would have been tough to move into the top five from there but you definitely could have moved into the flip and a couple other guys around me did." (The "flip" is to be in the top 15, which is then inverted for the second run.)
Â
"Stef and Drew had a couple of small issues on the first run that normally might not have been a big deal, but in a field that is stacked like this, it makes it pretty tough to move into the flip," Bryan continued. "If you aren't in the flip it makes it really hard to make a move at the top 10 in the second run. As for the second course, I wasn't really hesitant, I think I might have just been edging a little too hard and it wasn't as fast as it should have been."
Â
"I feel like we put a really good effort in and it was pretty difficult for us, especially in the GS when the conditions got pretty bad in the back of the field," he added. "We tried to make moves, and it wasn't like anyone else was able to either. When you can't make moves, it's hard to score points, and when you can't score points, it's pretty hard to win."
Â
"The guys skied pretty good, a little bit on the conservative side and with minimal risk," Rokos said. "They overcame some issues both days, including our own cautiousness. But this was a (NCAA championship) rookie year for several of them, many are used to World Cup formats and not the team thing. It's not introduced to them until they decide to go to college, and it can take some getting used to."
Â
The team will return to Colorado late afternoon Sunday, with Rokos, Nordic coordinator Bruce Cranmer and Zikova immediately heading over to the Sportswomen of Colorado annual banquet, where they will be honored for the achievements of the 2006 team, which is now far in the rearview mirror for Rokos.
Â
 "Everyone who skied here this week comes back, and we had a meeting right after everything was over," CU's 17th-year head coach said. "We've already talked about our goals for next year. The 2008 season has already begun as far as we're concerned."
Â
NCAA Championship Team Scores?1. Dartmouth 698;Â 2. Denver 648;Â 3. Colorado 592;Â 4. Utah 536;Â 5. Vermont 400.5;Â 6 (tie). New Mexico and Middlebury, 390;Â 8. Northern Michigan 380;Â 9. Montana State 310;Â 10. Nevada 288.5;Â 11. New Hampshire 255;Â 12. Alaska-Anchorage 243;Â 13. Bates 231;Â 14. Alaska-Fairbanks 217;Â 15. Williams 152;Â 16. Colby 134;Â 17. Michigan Tech 128;Â 18. Western State 78;Â 19. Whitman 35;Â 20. St. Lawrence 32;Â 21. St. Olaf 25;Â 22. Wisconsin-Green Bay 8.
Â
Men's Slalom?1. Adam Cole, DU, 1:43.36;Â 2. David Chodounsky, Dart., 1:43.40;Â 3. Andrew Wagner, Midd., 1:43.55;Â 4. Scott Veenis, Utah, 1:44.32;Â 5. Francesco Ghedina, DU, 1:44.45;Â 6. Lars Loeseth, UNM, 1:44.47;Â 7. John Buchar, DU, 1:44.63;Â 8. Evan Weiss, Dart., 1:44.80;Â 9. Scott Hume UN, 1:44.97;Â 10. Josh Bryan, CU, 1:45.51;Â 11. Tor Fodnesbergene, UNM, 1:45.58;Â 12. Sean McNamara, UNH, 1:45.71;Â 13. Stefan Hughes, CU, 1:46:03;Â 14. Alex Mach, UNM, 1:46.06;Â 15. Drew Roberts, CU, 1:46.15.
Â
Women's Slalom?1. Malin Hemmingsson, UNM, 1:45.77; 2. Lucie Zikova, CU, 1:46.00; 3. Veronique Archambault-Leger, UNH, 1:46.14; 4. Lindsay Mann, Dart., 1:46.21; 5. Claire Abbe, DU, 1:46.22; 6. Mikaela Grassl, Utah, 1:46.33; 7. Kara Crow, UVM, 1:46.54; 8. Mattie Ford, Midd., 1:47.06; 9. Lisa Perricone, CU, 1:47.33; 10. Michelanne Shields, Dart., 1:47.65; 11. Kate Bragg, UVM, 1:48.28; 12. Jennah Durham, Will., 1:48.40; 13. Hayley Jones, Dart., 1:48.57; 14. Aileen Farrell, UNH, 1:49.83; 15. Emily Sampson, Bates, 1:50.12. Other CU Result: 28. Heidi Hillenbrand, 1:59.88.
Â
(Associate SID Lindsay Lew is with the ski team and contributed to this report)
Â
CU SKIING / 2007 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
Â
CRACKING THE TOP: NCAA West schools had won 12 straight championships, as the skiing elite fraternity remains hard to crack. Dartmouth became just the seventh different school since collegiate skiing went coed in 1983 to win an NCAA Championships, and just the second from the east, joining Colorado, Denver, New Mexico, Utah, Vermont and Wyoming. But since the '72 title meet, Vermont (20 titles or seconds), Utah (19) Colorado (16; 14 wins and two seconds) and Denver (7, four wins, three runner-up) have dominated college skiing over these 36 seasons. Only three other schools, Wyoming (one win and four seconds), Dartmouth (two wins) and New Mexico (one title and two seconds) have been able to crack the top two in this span.Â
Â
CU ALL-TIME: The Buffaloes have won 17 national championships in skiing: 11 men's (1959-60-72-73-74-75-76-77-78-79-82), five coed (1991-95-98-99) and one women's (1982, AIAW). The 16 NCAA titles by Colorado trail Denver by two, as the Pioneers caught and passed CU by winning three straight to open the 21st century. After DU and CU (34 combined), Utah has won 10, Vermont 5, Dartmouth 3, Wyoming 2 and New Mexico 1 (CU and Dartmouth tied for the '76 crown).
Â
INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS: The Buffs did not have an individual NCAA champion this winter, posting five top five efforts with one runner-up finish. Colorado still leads all-time with 74 individual titles, topping Denver (69), Utah (63), Vermont (52), Dartmouth (33), Wyoming (19) and Middlebury and New Mexico (10 each). The Buffs have had three or more individual champions 12 times, including three occasions when CU skiers topped the podium four times: 1960, John Dendahl (skimeister, nordic, cross country) and Dave Butts (downhill); in 1963, Buddy Werner (alpine combined, downhill), Bill Marolt (downhill) and Jimmie Heuga (slalom); and in 2006, Jana Rehemaa (classical, freestyle), Kit Richmond (freestyle) and Lucie Zikova (downhill).   CU has had at least one individual winner 19 of the last 26 seasons.
Â
NACDA DIRECTORS' CUP: Colorado's third place effort earned the Buffaloes 85 points in the NACDA Directors' Cup Standings, as skiing is the first of nine NCAA winter titles decided for 2006-07 (track will be decided tonight).  CU was sixth in the final fall standings with 304 points (California led with 364.5), and has temporarily moved into the No. 1 position with 389 points. Dartmouth picked up its first Division I points of the year, earning 100 and zooming to 54th on the list, while Denver earned 90, vaulting into 32nd place with 140 total. The Buffs were first among Big 12 schools in the standings in the fall, ahead of No. 11 (269) and No. 28 Oklahoma State (155).
Â
HEAD COACH RICHARD ROKOS: Richard Rokos wrapped up his 17th season as head coach of the Buffaloes. He has guided the Buffaloes to national championships in 1991 (his first season), 1995, 1998, 1999 and 2006, to second place finishes in 2000 and 2002, third-place efforts in 1997, 2001, 2003 and 2007, fourth-place showings in 1993, 1994, 1996 and 2004, fifth-place in 1992 and sixth in 2005. Under Rokos, the Buffaloes have won 42 of 105 meets they have skied in, including 37 of 88 in the west and eight NCAA West Regionals (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2006). In his tenure, CU has had 83first-team All-Americans and 136 first- or second-team selections (alpine and Nordic), all adding to 201 top 10 finishes in NCAA championship competition.
Â
IN-THE-END: The NCAA scoring format changed this year to count all skiers for all teams, after using a maximum 21 results to be counted when tabulating the team scores between 1997 and 2006. Had it been applied this year, Dartmouth and Denver would have shared the title with 638 points; CU still held third with 564, and Utah fourth with 530. Other breakdowns:
Â
MEN'S TEAM SCORING: Denver 400, Dartmouth 345, Utah 293, Colorado 289, New Mexico 200, Middlebury 199, Vermont 189, Nevada 165,  Northern Michigan 162, New Hampshire 161.
WOMEN'S TEAM SCORING: Dartmouth 353, Colorado 303, Denver 248, Utah 243, Northern Michigan 228, Vermont 211?, Middlebury 191, New Mexico 190, Montana State 184.
ALPINE POINT LEADERS: Denver 358, Dartmouth 351, Colorado 307, New Hampshire 255, New Mexico 253, Utah 247, Middlebury 243, Vermont 231. Men's Leader: New Mexico 177 (2nd?New Hampshire 161). Women's Leader: Colorado 174 (2nd?Dartmouth 168).
NORDIC POINT LEADERS: Northern Michigan 380, Dartmouth 347, Denver 290, Utah 289, Colorado 285, Alaska-Fairbanks 217, Montana State 176. Men's Leader: Denver 191 (2nd?Utah 189). Women's Leader: Northern Michigan 228 (2nd?Dartmouth 185).
Â
ALL-AMERICANS: Six Buffaloes earned All-America honors in the meet, four gaining first-team status: Lucie Zikova (giant slalom, slalom); Matt Gelso (classical); Maria Grevsgaard (classical) and Lisa Perricone (giant slalom). Gelso became just the second male CU freshman to earn first-team honors, joining Egil Nilsen who did it in 1981.  In addition, Gelso, Grevsgaard and Perricone earned second-team All-America honors in their other disciplines, and were joined by Josh Bryan (slalom) and Stefan Hughes (giant slalom). Top five finishes earn skiers the first-team honor, while finishing sixth through 10th nets a second-team honor.Â
Â
NCAA SKIING ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM: CU placed seven team members on the NCAA Skiing All-Academic Team (its version of Academic All-America), as the qualifications included owning a 3.50 or better grade point average and participation in the NCAA regionals. Mia Gaw, Matt Gelso, Karl Nygren, Rachel Roosevelt, Arman Serebrakian, Kristin Taylor and Lucie Zikova all made the prestigious team.
Â
LOOKING AHEAD: All 12 student-athletes who competed for Colorado in New Hampshire are scheduled to return for the 2007-08 school year. The Buffaloes actually just lose one senior from the entire team, Kristin Taylor, an alpine performer who was also the team captain this winter.
Â
FUTURE SITES: Montana State University will host the 2008 NCAA Championships in Bozeman. The east hosts in 2009, with the site to be selected later this spring, with the west back up for 2010. Colorado and Steamboat Springs will likely bid together for that year, after the success of the 2006 championships in Steamboat, which many called one of the best championships ever hosted in the sport.