University of Colorado Athletics
Buffs Hand Out Team Awards At Annual Ski Banquet
April 14, 2016 | Skiing
BOULDER – The University of Colorado ski team handed out its annual team awards at its end of season banquet Thursday night at the Touchdown Club inside the Dal Ward Athletic Center. The Buffs rallied to finish second at the NCAA Championships in March, a meet they hosted in Steamboat Springs.
Junior Mads Stroem won the Dick Schoenberger Memorial Award, given to the outstanding skier, for the second straight season. Schoenberger was a close friend and supporter of the ski team for many years until his death in 1963. The awards is CU's longest standing award, given every year since 1963. Past winners include Buddy Werner, Bill Marolt, Spider Sabich, assistant coach Jana Weinberger, Maria Grevsgaard and Rune Oedegaard.
Stroem finished off one of the best seasons in CU history, winning eight races and finishing second twice in 12 races. He swept the NCAA Individual Championships, becoming the sixth skier in program history to accomplish that feat, and the first men's Nordic skier to do it. He also swept the RMISA Championships, winning the final six races of the season, a new CU standard for men's Nordic skiers at CU, surpassing five straight from Matt Gelso in 2010 and Ove Erik Tronvoll in 1999.
He was the RMISA Men's Nordic MVP, the RMISA Men's Nordic Skier of the Year, the FasterSkier.com Men's Collegiate Skier of the Year and is a nominee for the United States Collegiate Ski Coaches Association Men's Nordic Skier of the Year, still to be awarded.
Senior Henrik Gunnarsson was given the Buddy Werner Memorial Scholarship and was a recipient of the Outstanding Career Award. The Buddy Werner Award was named after the man synonymous with competitive skiing in America. He was the United States' first international skiing star who set a fine example and a scholarship commemorating him was established in 1983 for a deserving team member.
Gunnarsson ended his CU career in style as a senior, becoming one of the best skiers in the nation. He was the top seeded skier out of the RMISA for the NCAA Championships and the top ranked skier on the slalom list for NCAA Qualification. He won two races, the first two of his career, both slalom, and finished the year with five podiums overall, four in slalom action. He was second at the NCAA Championships in the slalom race by just one-hundredth of a second.
A three-time All-American, including two first-team nods, Gunnarsson completed 50 of 55 career races and astonishingly finished in the top 20 in 49 of those 50 races. He compiled 22 top 10 results with 12 top five finishes, six podiums and two race wins.
The Laura Sharpe Flood Award was given to two Buffs, senior Jessica Honkonen, who also earned the Outstanding Career Award, and junior Roger Carry. Given out every year since 1991, the Laura Sharpe Flood Award is given to the skier who best exemplifies the spirit, enthusiasm and dedication both on the mountain and in the classroom. She tragically lost her life on April 3, 1989, after losing control on a training run at Eldora.
Both outstanding students, Honkonen and Carry both also overcame obstacles to ski at their top ability in 2016. Honkonen missed a portion of the season traveling back to Finland with a family issue and then on the first day of training for the NCAA Championships, she injured her knee and was unable to compete. Carry also suffered a season-ending knee injury training ahead of the New Mexico Invitational a few weeks earlier.
Headed into NCAA Championships, Honkonen competed in four meets and nine races for the Buffs, finishing in the top 14 in all nine races with seven top 10s, and a pair of top five finishes. In her career, she finished 46 of 51 career races with 45 top 20s, 33 top 10s while finishing in the top 5 a total of 14 times with seven podiums and two race wins, including the RMISA Individual Championship in the slalom as a junior.
Prior to his injury, Carry finished all eight races to that point of the season and was in the top 22 all eight times with a pair of top 10 giant slalom finishes, including a season best sixth in a RMISA Qualifier in Montana early in the season.
The Lucie Hanusova Award has been given every season since 1999 and is given to the team member or members who overcome adversity and challenges with smiles and enthusiasm. This year that award was given to freshman Petter Reidstad. Reistad battled through nagging injuries and illness and was at his peak at the NCAA Championships.
He skied in 11 of the 12 possible races this season and was top 10 in all 11 races, including finishing in second place three times with six total top 5 finishes. He was a double second-team All-American at the NCAA Championships, finishing sixth in the 10K freestyle and ninth in the 20K classic race.
The Outstanding Alpine Woman award was given to freshman Tonje Trulsrud. She took the nation by storm as a freshman, finishing 12 of her 14 races with two wins, both giant slalom races at the Montana State and Colorado invitational's, and five total podium appearances including a third place and first-team All-America performance in the giant slalom at the NCAA Championships.
The Outstanding Nordic Woman award was given to sophomore Petra Hyncicova. She was on a tear after finishing 11th in her first race shortly after returning from Europe, she reeled off five straight top five finishes with a podium at the Utah Invitational, taking third in the second race of the season. She then competed at the Under 23 World Championshps in Romania and missed two meets, before returning for the NCAA Championships, where she took second in the 5K freestyle race, earning first-team All-America honors.
Along with Gunnarsson and Honkonen, six other Buffs were presented with the Outstanding Career Award: Arnaud Du Pasquier, Kasper Hietanen, Thea Grosvold, Cameron Smith, Clare Wise and Adam Zika.
Du Pasquier, one of three fifth-year seniors in the group, returned to the Buffs after a year off of trying out for the Swiss military team. He completed all 44 of his career races with 32 finishes in the top 20 and seven top 10 performances.
Hietanen finished 51 of 54 races in his career and had 41 top 20 performances with 15 appearances in the top 10, two in the top five and one podium appearance. He competed at the NCAA Championships three times and earned All-America honors in the slalom race as a freshman, helping the Buffs claim the 2013 NCAA Championship.
Grosvold, another fifth-year senior, capped an outstanding career in which she finished an amazing 55 of 56 career races and was in the top 20 a total of 48 times, exactly 12 of 14 races each of her four years of eligibility. She had 26 top 10 finishes, four top five one podium and one win, the slalom race at the Utah Invitational her junior season. She competed at the NCAA Championships four times, helping the Buffs to two NCAA Championships and was a three-time All-American, earning one honor in three different seasons.
Smith finished 44 of 48 career races with 26 top 20 finishes and eight performances in the top 10. Wise finished 41 of 47 races in her career with nine top 20 finishes.
Zika, a fifth-year senior, finished 48 of 51 career races and was in the top 20 a total of 43 times with 22 top 10 and 10 top five finishes with five podiums and two races wins, including the individual NCAA Championship in the GS as a freshman in 2012. He skied for the Buffs twice at NCAA Championships despite a near career-ending knee injury after his true sophomore season in 2013. Never fully recovered, he surged on to finish 24 of 26 races, all in the top 20 with 11 top 10 and a podium finish after surgery.
The Spencer Nelson award, given in the spirit of the former CU skier who lost his life just prior to his sophomore season at CU in August 2011, is awarded annually by Spencer's parents, Peter Nelson and Peggy Smith. It is given to those who overcome adversity and demonstrate a strong work ethic. This season sophomore Ane Johnsen and freshman Ola Johansen were both given the award, which is a belt buckle, similar to the awards presented to podium finishers at the CU Invitational, also named in Spencer's memory.
Johnsen missed the first two races of the season and the raced in nine of the remaining 10 races for the Buffaloes, earning eight top 10 finishes. She finished second in the freestyle race at the New Mexico Invitational and then earned two All-America honors at the NCAA Championship, taking second-team honors in the freestyle race and first team honors in the classic race, earning a podium appearance.
Johansen was a rookie on the men's alpine squad and was named the RMISA Men's Alpine MVP. He had a spectacular fall during training prior to the RMISA Championships and missed that meet but just two weeks later he had rebounded to earn second-team All-America honors in the GS race. Prior to his injury, he was the top men's alpine skier in the country, finishing nine of 10 races with all nine finishes in the top six and six podium appearances with two wins. He podiumed the first four races of his career, a new CU standard, and won one GS race at the Utah Invitational and one slalom race at the New Mexico Invitational.
A total of 17 skiers earned letters during the 2016 season, including five first-time letter winners. Letters were awarded to Camlila Brautaset, Nora Christensen, Du Pasquier, Grosvold, Gunnarsson, Jackson Hill, Honkonen, Hyncicova, Johansen, Johnsen, Jesse Knori, Max Luukko, Lucy Newman, Reistad, Stroem, Trulsrud and Zika.
The Buffs stormed back on the final day of the NCAA Championships, moving up from fourth to claim second place. The Buffs have finished in the top four at the NCAA Championships for 11 straight seasons with four championships and four runner-up finishes in eight of those 11 seasons. The Buffs have the longest active streak of trophy (top four) finishes at the NCAA Championships. The Buffs also finished second in the RMISA regular season standings and at the RMISA Championships.
In the last five years with a member of this senior class, the Buffs have finished first or second in 23 of the 30 meets with 11 wins including two RMISA Championships, two RMISA Regular Season Championships and two NCAA Championships.
