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NCAA Championships (CL-(15/20K-M)
Stroem Sweeps As Skiers Finish Second At NCAA Championships
March 12, 2016 | Skiing
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Four top 10 finishes in the Nordic freestyle race here Saturday weren't enough for the defending national champion University of Colorado ski team, as the Buffaloes fought hard in moving up two spots into a second place finish in the 63rd NCAA Skiing Championships.
Denver took over the lead with three events remaining and pulled away in winning its 23rd NCAA ski title, racking up 567.5 points. Colorado had to settle for second with 491.5 points, the 10th time the Buffaloes have earned runner-up honors in addition to its 19 NCAA titles (and 20 overall). A great Nordic performance did allow CU to leapfrog Pac-12 rival Utah, which finished third (485); Montana State finished fourth (406), its highest finish in its history, and Dartmouth took fifth (335).
Western schools continued their dominance, now placing at least three in the top four 31 times in the 34 meets since the sport went coed in 1983; this was the fifth time the west swept the top four spots.
“For the whole duration of the championship, there was a string of unfortunate events for us, but in the end there was a surprise,” CU head coach Richard Rokos said. “The women had a fantastic Nordic race. It was a surprise for all of us. Jesse Knori finishing in fifth makes her the star of the day. It was a very honorable race.”
“We were behind the 8-ball from the start with our troubles in the giant slalom,” he added. “It would have made today even more interesting if we'd have had those lost points the way the Nordics performed. Regardless, congratulations to DU, they did what they had to do.”
Colorado junior Mads Stroem pulled away from a lead pack of five skiers with roughly 400 meters remaining and then held off Denver's Moritz Madlener in posting a 49:41.9 time in the men's 20-kilometer freestyle. Stroem lurked in the middle of the lead pack through, hanging in fourth, fourth and then third after each of the first five splits before making his move. Madlener ended up 1.7 seconds back of Stroem.
The race was extremely fast, in part due to CU freshman Petter Reistad who got out in front early and set the pace; he was in the lead at the first 5k split in 12:31.8 as well as the midway point, covering the first 10k around the Howelsen Hill course in a blistering 24:55.8. He eventually fell back but would finish ninth in 51:17.3. Senior Arnaud DuPasquier was in the middle of the group after the first three splits and finished there as well, taking 19th place in 52:46.3.
The No. 1 seed out of the west, Stroem made a lot of history in Steamboat this week. It was his eighth win this winter and his sixth in a row, both records for a male CU skier, alpine or Nordic. He passed Per Kare Jakobsen (1989) and Ove Erik Tronvoll (1999) who each had six Nordic wins in a season with his win on Thursday, and his victory Saturday snapped a tie with two male alpine performers who had seven, John Skajem (1986) and Toni Standteiner (1991). His
He moved into fourth place for the most wins in a CU career in any discipline (14), second in Nordic wins by a male behind former teammate Rune Oedegaard, and he moved into fifth with 26 career podium finishes when adding in nine runner-up efforts and a trio of third place finishes. And in pulling off his fourth sweep of both events in the same meet (tied for third all-time), he became the sixth Buff to sweep titles in the NCAA Championships, joining Skajem (1987, Alpine), Line Selnes (1998, Nordic), current CU Nordic assistant coach Jana Rehemaa Weinberger (2006, Nordic), Maria Grevsgaard (2008, Nordic) and Lucie Zikova (2008, Alpine).
The victory also earned Stroem first-team All-America honors in both disciplines and was the 90th all-time individual win by a Buffalo, the most by any school in NCAA history. Including his freestyle win as a freshman, it was his third NCAA title, and thus became the eighth CU athlete in history to win at least three individual NCAA crowns – the sixth skier to do so, joining Bill Marolt, Mike Porcarelli and Buddy Werner who all won four, and Jakobsen and Zikova who both won three. (The other two were in track, Jenny Barringer won four and Kara Wheeler three.)
“I really had to focus – I'm happy that I had that rest yesterday,” Stroem said. “A lot of things happen when you win a race. A lot of people want to talk to you. I just had to recover a little bit and try to find some good skis again and just have a smart tactic. I just like to stay behind people, let them do the work and finish strong.
“I kind of had to switch it (his strategy) up a bit because Petter chose the double pole,” Stroem continued. “He didn't use any kicks, so he had to go hard from the start and just try to ski away from people. That really helped me out because other teams had to chase him and I could slip in behind and just ski with them until they eventually caught him. I could just stay in a pack and just save as much energy as possible. My skis were really good and on the last lap I saw there were pretty much only three guys left. I knew all of us were pretty good sprinters so I just tried to tire them out a bit all the way to the top.
“Coming into last shaft, I said to myself, 'I can't be second in. I have to be first in.' I learned that last time I was second up here in January. I said, 'Okay, I'm going to sacrifice everything. Either I go down or I'm just going to gap,' and I gapped. I looked back, and I said, 'Okay, just sprint from here. Just go for it.'”
“The cool thing with double poling today was the gap I had on the others,” Reistad said. “There were so many people cheering for me. Skiing on the home turf was really cool. As I have learned it is all about risk and return. Taking a risk was a cool thing to try today. The Nordic team had a great weekend and a great NCAA (season). I like that the alpine team went for it — when they ski out, it is something that happens. We will come back strong next year in the NCAA.”
“Double poling helped Mads because he got the harder race,” Reistad added. “There were only three skiers left in the end and Mads was happy about that. He is not an awesome sprinter in the end, but when everyone else is tired he has a good sprint. I'm glad with his victory. We wouldn't have had a chance to catch up with the winning teams. It was a good day for CU.”
The women's 15-kilometer classical wrapped up the meet, and with temperatures warming as Noontime approached, the course became a little more difficult. With DU holding a sizeable lead over Utah and CU, which had moved into third after the men's race, for the Pioneers to come back to the pack they would have to falter. But after the first of three laps, the top nine spots were held by skiers from the three contending schools, and after the second, all were still among the top 14.
DU's Linn Eriksen pulled away over the last two kilometers and won in a 54:37.6 time, but the Buffaloes didn't give in. Sophomore Ane Johnsen grabbed third in 54:58.8 and junior Jesse Knori, skiing in her first NCAA's, finished fifth in 55:13.8 and was the reason CU over took Utah for second place in the end. Both Buffs earned first-team All-America honors for their efforts, as Johnsen recorded the second-best finish of her career and Knori matched her best, which she also did in the classic two weeks ago in the NCAA West Regional.
“Result-wise, having another win is awesome,” CU Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer said. “If you can't win the whole thing it is nice to have some individual champions. We tried a couple of different things with Petter and Petra double poling. It was worth the risk. We were enough points behind to try it.”
“The guys were solid, Mads' win was great,” he added. “The women, Jesse had the race of her career. We hoped for the top 15 and to get in the top 10 I didn't envision that, but to get in the top five is super good. I knew Ane had that top five capability and she almost got to that second spot.”
“It was one of the hardest races of the season,” Johnsen said. “I felt really good, and I was surprised with Jesse doing really well. I start a little bit slower than most girls, but I have a really good finish. I'm good mentally and I fight hard in the end.”
“In my mind I said, 'You have the chance to be top five top six,''' Knorri said. “So I just fought for it all the way through.
“It was awesome. I think everyone was shocked. We all wanted a top ten for all of us. To have third and a fifth, I couldn't have asked for a better day.”
“I dedicated this season to my dad,” she added. “He passed away two years ago. I raced this year for him, and I'm really glad that I got to finish this way for him.”
Sophomore Petra Hyncicova finished 17th (in 56:24.2) after spending the first half of the race among the top 10.
“Overall we had a good championship,” Rokos said of the overall event at Steamboat. “Us organizers, we feel good about the way that everything went. It was well done on all levels.”
LINER NOTES: Colorado and Utah were attempting to win NCAA title No. 481 by Pac-12 Conference schools, but it wasn't meant to be … The school that has led going into the final day's events have now gone on to win the title in 19 of the last 22 years ... Colorado has ruled the east this decade, winning all three NCAA crowns held in New England; the 2017 event is in Franconia, N.H. … Montana State's previous best finish was seventh … Vermont had dominated the east this winter, but Dartmouth outpointed the Catamounts here … Of the 12 different point categories, Denver won eight, Montana State two and Northern Michigan and Utah one each; CU was second in five of them, including overall Nordic points, which DU held a slight 287-277 edge.
(Student Assistant SID Jessica Malknecht contributed to this report.)
CU SKIING / 2016 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
IN-THE-END: Listed below is how the 2016 championship broke down:
Players Mentioned
