Buffs Lead NCAA's At Midway Point

Wednesday, March 9

Stowe, Vt. (Trapp Family Lodge)

All Day

Colorado

Freestyle

March 09, 2011 | Skiing

By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information

STOWE, Vt. - The University of Colorado ski team won two events and had five top five performers here Wednesday as the Buffaloes built a commanding lead in their quest for an 18th national title through the midway point of the 58th Annual NCAA Skiing Championships.

Colorado, ranked No. 2 in the nation behind Vermont, amassed 408 points after Wednesday's four events, which included the giant slalom being moved up a day because of a storm expected in the area overnight. That has the Buffaloes on an 800-plus point pace, which would be the first at nationals under the current scoring format adopted in 2009, and would also translate to one of the highest point total under the old format dating to 1983.

Dartmouth holds second with 362 points, with Utah (353.3) and No. 1 Vermont (349.5) on its heels; New Mexico rounds out the top five with 305, while three-time defending champion Denver is sixth with 262.

With no races now scheduled for Thursday, CU's alpine skiers have two days of training ahead of the slalom, provided the weather allows for it. CU's 46-point lead is the fifth largest at the midway point in the last 20 NCAA meets, with those who owned bigger margins all going on to win: Utah in 1993 (60-+) and 2003 (66-+), and Denver in 2001 (59-+) and last year (69). Schools leading at the halfway point have won eight of the previous 10 titles, with those leading after three days (six events) having won 14 of 16, including 13 straight years at one point (1995-2007).

All six schools from the west are in the top 10 of the standings; western schools have posted at least three of the top four finishes every year since 1993, and captured all four top spots in 2002, 2004, 2009 and 2010. Individually, CU and Dartmouth led the way with five top five efforts in the GS and the Nordic freestyle races, with six schools sharing the other 10 recorded.

"I think all four teams performed consistently, and all racers finished which is important since all are scorers," CU head coach Richard Rokos said. "In alpine, I know both guys and girls gave up a lot on their second runs in order to finish without problems and to maintain the point lead. That's the unfortunate part of competition, to go a little slower individually to win as a team."

The women's giant slalom opened the events here, with Denver's Ida Dillingoen winning her first career race in dramatic fashion. Seeded 16th and in 11th after the first run, she came back and smoked the field by over a second the next time down in winning in a two-run time of 2:05.98. CU junior Sara Hjertman was second in 2:06.51, with Alaska's Alex Parker third in 2:06.81.

Sophomore Erika Ghent was fifth in 2:06.97, with senior Carolina Nordh 22nd in 2:09.21; Hjertman and Ghent earned first-team All-America honors for their top five efforts. The Buffs won the race as a team with 104 points, edging Vermont by half a point.

"Today was fun. I was relaxed and I'm really happy that I'm just getting over a concussion from a week ago," Hjertman said of the injury that forced her to miss regionals. "Training yesterday was good and I felt confident. I couldn't sleep last night I was really nervous but I woke up and felt good and thought I could have a really good day. I was thinking a top 10 would be good. I won the first run so that was great, and I had a solid second run and am happy.

"The atmosphere is amazing right now, everybody is so happy," she added. "When you know that your team is doing well, and Arman (Serebrakian, assistant alpine coach) told me in the gate that Erika and Carolina skied well, I was even more relaxed and skied even better. That does so much for the team spirit that everybody is doing well."

Hjertman had won the first run in 1:02.23, with Ghent third in 1:02.51; Parker was in-between in 1:02.35 as eight of the 34 racers completed the first time down the hill in under 1:03. Nordh was in 21st, her starting position, in 1:04.37. Western skiers set the tone early, occupying 11 of the top 17 spots after one run and had 10 in the top 16 when all was over; on the day, skiers from five schools in the west region posted 22 of the 36 top nine finishes, to 13 by eastern skiers and one from a central performer.

"I'm really happy, it was a perfect way to start as a team for NCAA's," Ghent said. "It was definitely a good way to start a championship. Conditions were great, they did a great job of prepping the hill after it snowed a ton. The snow was awesome and held up great, it was a little chowder the second run starting further back, but it was good."

"It's definitely different than snow in the west, there's a sugary almost slippery layer on top, and underneath it's much harder," she continued. "I don't think that matters because we're all good skiers and as long as we are good technical skiers, things will work out. We're all really happy with how we did as a team; Carolina wasn't super happy but it's what we needed, we're in a good spot. It is what it is, it's how alpine skiing goes, it's always hurry up and wait. Hopefully we can get a good day of training either tomorrow or Friday and also watch the Nordies."

In the men's GS, the Buffaloes had three in the top nine after the first run (4-6-9), but followed Rokos' instructions the second run, skiing a little conservative with the plan producing three efforts in the top 13 and a second place team finish in the race (92 points, behind 98 by New Mexico).

DU's Seppi Stiegler won in a 2:01.90, with senior Gabriel Rivas posting CU's top effort, coming in sixth in 2:03.48. Sophomore Max Lamb was 12th (2:03.92) and freshman Andreas Haug 13th (2:04.04), the second best effort by a frosh in the race (Dartmouth's Robert Cone was fourth), and the best by a CU freshman in the GS at NCAA's since 2003, when Brad Hogan finished ninth in Lyme, N.H.

"It's what we were looking for, to be strong as a team," Rivas said. "It's never fun to slip a few spots in the second run, but we just wanted to make sure we finished. There were a few guys who didn't finish, Vermont for one. The conditions were good; it was hard snow, consistent, equal for everybody. The visibility was worse on the second run, but it didn't really bother us. This is a really fun hill, it's really technical and moving and changing and it was really good for us today."

"All three Nordic girls did a super job, and Vegard as well. Sara got a second place. Carolina had a couple mishaps today," Rokos said. "Sara recovered very well, I think in her case a lot of things came together well for her, obviously she's a good skier and her knee isn't bothering her like last year, she gained confidence throughout the season and now she's benefiting from that confidence.

Meanwhile, in the originally scheduled opening Nordic freestyle races, the Buffaloes didn't race as well as they would have liked in the men's 10-kilometer race (third as a team, 40 points behind Dartmouth and 11 back of Utah), but the women placed three in the top nine, including two on the podium, in topping Dartmouth 122-110 in their 5km version that followed.

Junior Eliska Hajkova continued her fine season with a second place finish in 14:01.7, just behind Utah's Maria Graefnings, who won in 13:51.9; those two skied basically skied away from the field in the interval start race. But CU sophomore Joanne Reid recorded her fifth podium finish this winter, her fourth in the last five races, in clocking the third fastest time in 14:32.0. Senior Alexa Turzian grabbed ninth in 14:49.8.

"The strategy was just to go hard, it's such a short race so give it everything you got," Hajkova said. "It helped that we went to U.S. Nationals right before the season, it was a long time ago but we remember the conditions from then, with the lower altitude and the snow. I had some problems with my back in the beginning of the season, so I've just been getting healthier it went on. I liked this course a lot, it was nice and wide."

"There were a few more hills than I expected, everybody says the east is flat and there are no hills, but those hills today didn't feel very flat," Reid recounted. "I didn't really have any expectations. The course was awesome, they did a fantastic job getting it ready and the atmosphere is great. If they could hold off the rain a few more days, it would be better, but we'll be ready on Friday."

Senior Vegard Kjoelhamar was second in the men's 10km, clocked in a 26:10.3 time, less than five seconds back of Dartmouth's Sam Tarling (26:05.7). Senior Jesper Ostensen was 14th in 26:54.7) and junior Reid Pletcher, skiing in his first NCAA meet, 23rd in 27:25.4.

"I didn't feel like I was racing that fast," Kjoelhamar said. "When you come from altitude to sea level, the first few workouts were hard. I was thinking it would be harder in the beginning of the race, but I kept going and the second half of the race was much better. I pushed through and got stronger in the later part of the race. I did really well the last couple of kilometers, but in the final few meters I think I lost some time, I got really tired."

"The waxing will be very interesting (Friday), but we will be prepared. We have a few more days at low altitude so by Friday we should be even that much more acclimated to the weather."

"It was a great day, really," CU Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer said. "You can always wish for the perfect day but at championships, those are hard to come by. To get one down, everybody is a little more relaxed. I'm always really nervous, especially the first day, so it's good to get it out of the way. There are many good skiers from the rest of the country, and we know the west, but Dartmouth, Vermont and the east in general have a bunch of good skiers. This is their home course, they've skied here a ton.

"It was good having two people fighting for the top spot most of the race," he continued. "Eliska was very close and Vegard was coming on strong at the end. Vegard came on strong near the finish, and he said he felt he could have closed better and got a little tight right at the end. He kept coming faster and faster and then he felt he slowed right at the end from increasing so much. Joanne and Alexa skied well and gave us two very important finishes. With Eliska, those three as a group regularly finished in top 10 during the season, which you can't take for granted at nationals."

"Reid didn't have the race he was looking for, I'm just guessing but I think he wanted it a little too much and he got a little tight," Cranmer added. "I think it's just getting the butterflies out, the first time (in the NCAA's) for anybody is different."

"Eventually I will look at the Nordic only stuff at the end, it's good to know how you stack up against other teams, but I don't worry too much about it now. You take care of the little details and the rest of the stuff takes care of itself."

"Our goal was - we talked about it during the season - to race 110 percent and then come to NCAA's and ski 90 percent and not take chances," Rokos said. "The guys accomplished that concept very well; it's pretty obvious having better placement on the first run and giving up a little on the second run makes things a lot safer. Going for personal accomplishments at NCAA's is not recommended and can hurt the team effort."

After Thursday's unplanned day off, the championships resume Friday with the classical cross country races, the women's 15-kilometer up first at 7:30 a.m. and the men's 20km to follow at 9:30 a.m. The slalom races will finish off the meet Saturday: the men's first run is at 7 a.m., followed by the women's at 8:15; second runs follow at 10:15 (men) and 11:30 (women), respectively.

"It feels weird to be halfway through NCAA's after one day of competition, it's a quick step forward, we will do our best to maintain the lead," Rokos concluded.

NCAA Championship Team Scores (4 of 8 events)'1. Colorado 408; 2. Dartmouth 362; 3. Utah 353.5; 4. Vermont 349.5; 5. New Mexico 305; 6. Denver 262; 7. Alaska-Anchorage 241.5; 8. New Hampshire 188; 9. Middlebury 125.5; 10. Montana State 109; 11. Bates 98; 12. Northern Michigan 95; 13. Alaska-Fairbanks 93.0; 14. Williams 88; 15. Colby 67; 16. St. Lawrence 44; 17. Wisconsin-Green Bay 25; 18. Harvard 21; 19. Maine-Presque Isle 16; 20. Michigan Tech 8; 21. Gustavus Adolphus 4.

Women's Giant Slalom (35 finishers)-1. Ida Dillingoen, DU, 2:05.98; 2. Sara Hjertman, CU, 2:06.51; 3. Alex Parker, UAA, 2:06.81; 4. Kate Ryley, UVM, 2:06.95; 5. Erika Ghent, CU, 2:06.97; 6. Tii-Maria Romar, Utah, 2:06.98; 7. Lyndee Janowiak, UVM, 2:07.14; 8. Anne Brusletto, UNM, 2:07.22; 9. Stefanie Demetz, UNM, 2:07.71; 10. Courtney Hammond, Dart., 2:07.72. Other CU Finisher: 22. Carolina Nordh, 2:09.21.

Men's Giant Slalom (34 finishers)-1. Seppi Stiegler, DU, 2:01.90; 2. Kevin Drury, UVM, 2:02.69; 3. Ryan Wilson, Utah, 2:02.95; 4. Robert Cone, Midd., 2:03.08; 5. Christopher Acosta, UNM, 2:03.14; 6. Gabriel Rivas, CU, 2:03.48; 7. Torjus Krogdahl, Utah, 2:03.50; 8. Petter Brenna, UNM, 2:03.63; 9. Trevor Leafe, Dart., 2:03.65; 10. Zach Clayton, UNH, 2:03.89. Other CU Finishers: 12. Max Lamb, 2:03.92; 13. Andreas Haug, 2:04.04.

Women's 5K Freestyle (39 finishers)- 1. Maria Graefnings, Utah, 13:51.9; 2. Eliska Hajkova, CU, 14:01.7; 3. Joanne Reid, CU, 14:32.0; 4. Erika Flowers, Dart., 14:37.6; 5. Rosie Brennan, Dart., 14:37.9; 6. Caitlin Patterson, UVM, 14:44.2; 7. Jaime Bronga, UAA, 14:46.2; 8. Lucy Garrec, UVM, 14:47.5; 9. Alexa Turzian, CU, 14:49.8; 10. Sophie Caldwell, Dart., 14:52.4.

Men's 10K Freestyle (39 finishers)- 1. Sam Tarling, Dart., 26:05.7; 2. Vegard Kjoelhamar, CU, 26:10.3; 3. Miles Havlick, Utah, 26:11.8; 4. Nils Koons, Dart., 26:15.1; 5. Eric Packer, Dart., 26:19.5; 6. Didrik Smith, Utah, 26:25.8; 7. Scott Patterson, UVM, 26:31.7; 8. Andrew Dougherty, DU, 26:36.6; 9. Andy Liebner, NMU, 26:45.1; 10. Tor-Hakon Hellebostad, UNM, 26:46.3. Other CU Finishers: 14. Jesper Ostensen, 26:54.7; 23. Reid Pletcher, 27:25.4.