Kjoelhamar, Buffs Win Awards At RMISA Banquet

BOULDER - University of Colorado newcomer Vegard Kjoelhamar was awarded the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association men's nordic most valuable skier award Thursday night at the annual banquet held during the RMISA Championships. The Buffs were also honored by winning the RMISA regular season championship and also took home the RMISA men's regular season championship and the RMISA men's nordic regular season championship, as well.

The MVP awards take into account all races during the regular season and are determined by a point system based on placement in both disciplines within the alpine and nordic ranks. There are four MVP awards given out, one in alpine and nordic for each gender.

Kjoelhamar had a stellar regular season for the Buffaloes in which he compiled a pair of victories, one in freestyle and one in a classical race, and he was runner-up three other times. In eight total races during the regular season, he finished in the top five six times, failing to do so only during the last meet when he was not at 100 percent.

The Buffs' Maria Grevsgaard finished second in the MVP race among women's nordic skiers. Despite winning each of the last five races of the season, Grevsgaard was sick in Alaska for the first two meets of the year and had a 12th place finish when she had just decided to race at all within the hour before the start of the race. That proved to be enough for Denver's Antje Maempel to hold on to the award. Grevsgaard played catch-up the rest of the season and ended up losing out by just three points.

The Buffs earned the RMISA regular season championship on the strength of winning three of the four meets during the regular season. In four meets, the Buffs picked up 2,161 points and won the championship by 139 points over second place Denver, who tallied 2,020 during the season. The Buffs margin is certainly larger than last year, when they edged out Denver by just 14 points to win the regular season championship.

Colorado also earned recognition for having the best combined men's teams as the men's alpine and men's nordic squads combined to score 1,183 points on the season, 157 more than second place New Mexico. The men were boosted by the nordic squad, who was also recognized as being the best in the RMISA by scoring 663 points throughout the season, 161 more than the second place Lobos. When looking at both alpine and nordic, men's and women's squads, the CU men's nordic squad was the highest scoring team in the league and the only one who broke the 600-point plateau. Denver men's alpine team scored 598 to earn recognition there and also tally the second most points when looking at all four lists.

CU's men's nordic squad is one of the deepest in RMISA history. Three different Buffs won races throughout the year and a total of five Buffs made it to the podium with a top three finish at some point. A recap:

Vegard Kjoelhamar won two races and placed second three other times in eight total races.
Jesper Ostensen also won a pair of races and had three podium finishes and five top five finishes and he sat out one race during the DU meet.
Matthew Gelso won one race and had another second place and three additional third place finishes in just six races, meaning he made it to the podium five times in six races.
Josh Smith came on as the year wore on and tallied four consecutive top 10 finishes to close out the season.
Patrick Neal earned three top 10 finishes and had his best outing during the DU meet with a third place finish in the freestyle race.
Reid Pletcher raced to open the season in Alaska but was concentrating on other forms of racing and when he finally was able to concentrate on the collegiate races for the DU meet, he responded with a second place and fourth place showing.

In all, the men's nordic squad won five of the eight races on the year and had 15 total podium performances out of a possible total of 24. Twice the Buffs swept the podium in men's nordic action, which was the first time that happened at CU in the last 47 years since March 4, 1962.

The CU men's alpine squad finished fourth in the standings, but tallied enough points, 520, to help earn the overall men's regular season championship. The Buffs were just 12 points out of second place in men's alpine points and were paced by newcomer Gabriel Rivas, who won two races and had three other podium appearances. Stefan Hughes was particularly solid as one of just eight skiers league-wide to finish every race and in the five slalom races, he had three top 10 finishes and was never lower than 16th. Hughes was the Buffs' top men's apline performer in the MVP standings coming in at fifth.

The women's alpine team held the team lead until the last meet of the season in Winter Park and ended up being edged out by New Mexico by just 13 points. The Buffs were paced by Carolina Nordh, who would've been in contention for the MVP award and finished third despite not finishing one race. Had Nordh completed that one race and finsihed in the top 15, she would've captuerd the MVP award. Her lowest finish was a 10th place on the season. Lisa Perricone finsihed just behind Nordh in fourth place in the MVP race for women's alpine.

The women's nordic squad was hampered by having just two high scorers thoughout the season but still managed the fifth most points in the league short-handed. The top two women's nordic skiers made up for it by combining for six wins in the eight races and three other podium finishes. Grevsgaard continued her assault on the CU record book and how has won 24 races in her career while newcomer Alexa Turzian won a race and has three total podium appearances and her lowest finish was 11th during the regular season.

The Buffs continue action at the RMISA Championships Friday with the conclusion of the alpine competition with the giant slalom races and the beginning of the nordic competition with the classical race. CU is looking to repeat as RMISA Champions just like they repeated as RMISA regular season champions, but the Buffs have their work cut out as they stand in fourth place after the first two races of the meet.