Buffs In Sixth After Day One Of NCAA Championships

Wednesday, March 10

Steamboat Springs, Colo.

All Day

Colorado

Giant Slalom

March 10, 2010 | Skiing

Day 1 Results

By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS - If there ever was a case of a team looking to practice d?j? vu, look no further than the University of Colorado ski team, at least after day one of the 57th NCAA Skiing Championships Wednesday.

The Buffaloes hosted the '06 event here in Steamboat, and after the first day four years ago, Colorado was in sixth place, 52 points out of the lead. And competing one athlete short of the 12-skier maximum as well. But the Buffs rallied to become the first school to win an NCAA title without the maximum number of skiers, and became the first team in as low as sixth place after the first day to rally for the crown.

Fast forward to 2010, and where are the Buffaloes? In sixth place.

Two-time defending champion Denver is in the lead with 239 points, with Utah second with 196.5 points, Vermont third with 178.5 and New Mexico fourth at 173. Dartmouth (148) and Colorado (143) are a bit back of the initial pursuing pack but ahead of the next logjam.

So, if history is to repeat itself, CU will have to wipe out a 95-point deficit this time around. But four years ago, not only did the Buffs rally, they posted the fourth largest margin of victory in NCAA history, 98 points, thus pulling off a massive 150-point turnaround. This time around, CU, which came in ranked No. 1, has the full complement of skiers. So the question is, "Does Colorado have the ability to do it again?"

"It's great to look back to 2006 and see how we rallied, but we were hoping to learn from our past mistakes," CU head coach Richard Rokos said. "We repeated the same mistakes again, and it's inexcusable. The strategy was to finish without making mistakes and to finish the two runs. We made mistakes today, and those cost us 70 points, if not more. Some might call it bad luck, but I call them mistakes. It was a lack of attention to detail. The girls skied a lot better than the guys, they basically stuck to the plan, and maintained reasonable contact with the leaders. But a couple of the guys had problems.

"Now we're looking at a sleepless night and maybe four days of torture."

The women's giant slalom led off this year's championships, and Utah junior Eva Huckova was not to be denied. She had the fastest runs both the first (58.67) and second (55.87) times down Mount Werner's Sitz and See me trails for a total time of 1:54.54, which was good for nearly a full-second victory over Denver's Lindsay Cone (1:55.48).

Colorado junior Katie Hartman, skiing in her second NCAA meet, finished third in 1:55.86. It was the fifth best result of her collegiate career, and much improved over her 20th place finish in the GS in last year's NCAA's in Maine. The "bronze" finish earned her first-team All-America honors.

"I've skied at Steamboat so many times, it's like a second home to me," Hartman said. "I know I didn't have a great finish here two weeks ago, but that's ski racing, it happens. You can't dwell on that. I was just excited to be back here. It was exciting." She led the GS in the regional by a wide margin but had to hike her second run.

"I love night races, it puts a whole different element to skiing, it's always fun," she added in looking forward to Friday night's slalom competition, "The scoreboard is right there, people are everywhere, you hear everything. It puts a totally different excitement into skiing."

"Congratulations are definitely due to Katie, our podium finisher and our only All-American out of this race," Rokos said. "She skied consistent, she didn't overkill things, she could have won the race. She put together two safe but fast runs to finish third. She had the discipline and a responsible approach after having one run in the regional two weeks ago that was over a second better than everyone else."

Freshman Erika Ghent, just missed out on second-team All-America accolades, as she finished 12th in 1:57.90; there was a tie for 10th just a quarter of a second ahead of her. Still, her 12th place effort was the best by a CU freshman woman in the GS since 2006, when Steamboat's own Lisa Perricone finished fifth on her home hill, along with the third best in the last 15 years.

"Erika also stuck to our plan," Rokos said of his frosh performer. "The pressure for a freshman and someone who hasn't experienced this format of racing is enormous. For her, it's a whole new ball game and she has to suppress her nature to go as fast as possible and think about her responsibility to the team. She mastered that format."

Junior Carolina Nordh was CU's final woman to ski Wednesday, starting 16th but would finish 25th (Hartman started sixth, Ghent 10th). Nordh was 21st after her first run and finished both runs in 1:59.04; she was on the tail end of a group where just 9/10ths of a second separated 12 spots (14th through 25th).

In the men's GS, junior Gabriel Rivas was CU's top finisher, his two-run time of 1:51.04 placing him 16th; wearing bib No. 1, he was fifth after the first run, but lost precious seconds when he suffered a fall, though he kept his momentum and didn't have to hike. It was his first finish outside the top nine in the giant slalom this winter. Last year, he was 18th in the GS, and capitalized on the frustration to come back and win the slalom two days later.

Denver's Leif Haugen captured the race in 1:48.84, topping Dartmouth's Ace Tarberry (1:49.01) and Vermont's David Donaldson (1:49.13). Western skiers have won the men's GS at the west host site 12 times in 14 tries since the sport went coed in 1983.

CU freshman Spencer Nelson, starting in the 23rd position, was 15th after his first run but would finish 21st in 1:51.46, while senior Drew Roberts, racing on his home hill but starting 31st, was able to move up four spots into 27th (1:58.81), despite having to hike a bit on his first run.

Nelson's finish as a true freshman in the GS at the NCAA's was more of the norm, as just three Buff freshmen in the last decade were able to post top 20 efforts in the event, which is always the first alpine race in the national meet.

It's now up to CU's cross country team to start making up the difference. The Buff Nordics won four of five meets overall this past winter, the men outscoring the foe four times and the women doing so once with three runner-up efforts, but were with out one of their top skiers for two of those meets.

Thus, the Nordic performers take center stage Thursday with the classical cross country races, the women's 5-kilometer up first at 9:30 a.m., with the men's 10K to follow at 11:30 a.m. The slalom races complete the alpine events on Friday, March 12, with the return of the popular night races that were successful in 2006 at Steamboat; the men's first run is at 6:15 p.m. followed by the women's first run at 7:30; second runs follow at 8:25 (men) and 9:30 (women). The freestyle cross country races will finish off the NCAA meet on Saturday, March 13: the men's 20-kilometer is now set for a 9 a.m. start, with the women's 15K to follow at 11 a.m.; both races were moved up an hour by the coaches on Wednesday.

NOTES: Western schools had five of the top seven teams after Wednesday first two events, and collectively are looking to have five of the top six for the third time in the last nine seasons, having done so last year and in 2002 ... Six central schools will join the fray Thursday, as all are members of the Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) and field only Nordic teams. Northern Michigan has a full squad of six here, and usually plays a role in shaking up the standings for those with both disciplines.

NCAA Championship Team Scores (2 of 8 events)-1. Denver 239; 2. Utah 196.5; 3. Vermont 178.5; 4. New Mexico 173; 5. Dartmouth 148; 6. Colorado 143; 7. Alaska-Anchorage 111; 8. New Hampshire 104; 9. Middlebury 99.5; 10. Montana State 53; 11. Colby 51.5; 12. Williams 44; 13. Bates 30; 14. Nevada 25; 15. St. Lawrence 22; 16. St. Michael's 6.

Women's Giant Slalom-1. Eva Huckova, UU, 1:54.54; 2. Lindsay Cone, DU, 1:55.48; 3. Katie Hartman, CU, 1:55.86; 4. Malin Hemmingsson, UNM, 1:56.04; 5. Ida Dillingoeen, DU, 1:56.24; 6. Anne Brusletto, UNM, 1:56.35; 7. Sofia Smith, UU, 1:57.33; 8. Courtney Hammond, DAR, 1:57.55; 9. Jennie VanWagner, DU, 1:57.64; 10 (tie). Meg Ryley, UVM, 1:57.65 and Alexandra Parker, UAA, 1:57.65; 12. Erika Ghent, CU, 1:57.90; 13. Lyndee Janowiak, UVM, 1:57.96; 14. Anna Kocken, UU, 1:58.14; 15. Marie-Elaine Lepine, UNH, 1:58.21; 16. Kate Williams, UNM, 1:58.26; 17. Kelsey Roddick, DAR, 1:58.40; 18. Ashley-Kate Durham, SLU, 1:58.41; 19. Petra Gantnerova, UAA, 1:58.43; 20. Valerie Kechian, UVM, 1:58.48; 21. Geordie Lonza, WIL, 1:58.60; 22. Veronique Archambault-Leger, UNH, 1:58.73; 23 (tie). Dana Breakstone, CBC and Nicole Dvorak, MID, 1:58.99; 25. Carolina Nordh, CU, 1:59.04; 26. Aileen Farrell, UNH, 1:59.23; 27. Annie Rendall, DAR, 1:59.36; 28. Amy Lattimer, MSU, 2:00.16; 29. Emily Porter, WIL, 2:03.30; 30. Tasha Woodworth, MID, 2:03.57; 31. Laurel Carter, WIL, 2:04.75; 32. Kayla Fry, UAA, 2:07.77; 33. Nicole Poleschuk, UN, 2:14.63; 34. Amy Harris, UN, 2:47.74; 35. Erika Horst, UN, 5:06.72.

Men's Giant Slalom-1. Leif Haugen, DU, 1:48.84; 2. Ace Tarberry, DAR, 1:49.01; 3. David Donaldson, UVM, 1:49.13; 4. Bryan Schpall, MID, 1:49.28; 5. A.J. Avrin, DU, 1:49.63; 6. Chris Colpitts, UVM, 1:49.73; 7. Thomas Schwab, UNM, 1:49.79; 8. Andreas Kilde, DU, 1:49.90; 9 (tie). Torjus Krogdahl, UU and Andreas Adde, UAA, 1:50.30; 11. Mike Cremeno, UNH, 1:50.39; 12. Kyle Kung, UU, 1:50.70; 13. Max Lamb, UU, 1:50.71; 14. Michael Mackie, MSU, 1:50.98; 15. Christopher Acosta, UNM, 1:51.03; 16. Gabriel Rivas, CU, 1:51.04; 17. Trevor Leafe, DAR, 1:51.08; 18. Halfdan Falkum-Hansen, UAA, 1:51.11; 19. Erik Gilbert, UVM, 1:51.18; 20. Jake Lund, MID, 1:51.34; 21. Spencer Nelson, CU, 1:51.46; 22. Vince Lebrun-Fortin, CBC, 1:51.52; 23. Josh Kernan, CBC, 1:51.63; 24. Bump Heldman, BAT, 1:51.66; 25. Chris Barber, MSU, 1:51.67; 26. Ben Manter, BAT, 1:51.68; 27. Drew Roberts, CU, 1:58.81; 28. Bobby Poehling, MID, 1:59.13; 29. Petter Brenna, UNM, 1:59.18; 30. Willie Ford, UNH, 2:00.91; 31. Luke McLaughry, DAR, 2:05.91; 32. Paul Atkinson, UNH, 2:09.70; 33. Martin Harris, UN, 2:19.79; 34. Brad Harden, SMC, 2:22.36; 35. Alex Dyroff, WIL, 2:27.11.