Oedegaard Named MVP; Nine Buffs Earn All-RMISA Honors

BOULDER - University of Colorado ski team senior Rune Oedegaard was named the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association's Men's Nordic MVP and he and eight other Buffs were named to various All-RMISA teams, the conference announced Wednesday.

Oedegaard had a spectacular senior campaign that saw him win five races and finish second to teammate Mads Stroem in four of the other five. He started the season by placing second to Stroem in the freestyle race at the Utah Invitational, then rattled off four straight victories, sweeping the races at CU's Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational in Steamboat Springs. In four races in Alaska last week that concluded the regular season and began the postseason with the RMISA Championships, he won one race and took second in the other three, all to Storem.

The duo has finished 1-2 in nine of the 10 races this season, the only time not accomplishing the feat was a strange race at the New Mexico Invitational where it had snowed a foot the night before and there was no grooming available, so many skiers were having issues breaking through the snow with their polls and skis.

Oedegaard is putting the cap on one of the most successful careers in CU history. He has now won 19 races, the most by any men's skier in CU history and second most overall, behind 24 from Maria Grevsgaard, a women's Nordic skier from 2006-09. With nine podium finishes this season, he now has 34 in his career and he's currently tied for the most in CU history with Grevsgaard and Lucie Zikova, who got her 34 top three finishes in women's alpine action from 2005-08.

Already a two-time NCAA Individual Champion and five time RMISA Individual Champion, he is looking to become the first men's Nordic skier to win the classical race three times at the NCAA Championships. He's already the first skier to win the title in back-to-back seasons as a few others won two titles but never in consecutive seasons.

Oedegaard was joined by eight of his teammates on the All-RMISA teams. He and Stroem were both named to the men's Nordic first team while freshman Petra Hyncicova was named first-team on the women's Nordic squad and joined by freshman Ane Johnsen and sophomore Maja Solbakken on the second-team for women's Nordic skiers.

On the alpine side, junior Thea Grosvold was named first-team for women's alpine and joined by Brooke Wales Granstrom and Jessica Honkonen, who both earned second-team status. In men's alpine, sophomore Roger Carry was named to the second team.

The Buffs will next head to Lake Placid, N.Y., for the 2015 NCAA Championships, hosted by St. Lawrence University. The Buffs are one of seven teams nationally to have qualified a full team of 12 skiers to the championship. CU has won the last two NCAA Championships in the east, in 2011 in Stowe., Vt., and in 2013 in Middlebury, Vt., and the Buffs won the 1982 Men's NCAA Championship in Lake Placid the last time the event was held there.

Winners of three of the five western meets this season including the 2015 RMISA Championship, which doubled as the NCAA Western Regional, the Buffs are the top ranked team in the latest SYNC Coaches Poll.