Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Have A Shot At The Title
January 23, 2017 | Skiing
Buffs Have Won Both College Meets With Key Skiers Injured
BOULDER - The 2017 collegiate ski regular season is halfway complete. At least that is the case for the skiers in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, who have completed two of four regular season meets just a few short weeks into competition.
With the end of the regular season now just one short trip to Alaska away, where do the Buffs sit in their annual quest to win a national championship?
That's never an easy question to answer and the fun thing about college skiing is that anything can happen. But what's become evident after the first two meets is that this team has the talent to claim the school's 21st National Championship in New Hampshire the second week of March. What's not as evident is whether the Buffs will just have a shot or if they will go in as one of the favorites. For that to happen, a few things need to align (which isn't much different than any other season).
To date, the Buffs have won both meets on the college schedule, squeaking out a nine-point win over Denver (610-601) in the Utah Invitational and then running away with a 67-point win in the Montana State Invitational over both Denver and Utah. The most impressive fact about those two wins is the Buffs accomplished both without their best skier on the Nordic side, and then won by a bigger margin without two other key skiers on the alpine side.
Junior Mads Stroem and freshman Isabella Fidjeland have yet to ski this season. Stroem had his appendix removed and Fidjeland was injured during dryland training. Then sophomore Ola Johansen injured his shoulder in a non-ski-related accident after opening the season on a strong note. All three could be the difference in what it will take to win not only the program's 21st overall tile, but a fourth straight title while competing in the East.
At NCAA Championships, teams can only bring a maximum of three skiers in each discipline (men's and women's alpine and Nordic) to form a team of 12 skiers. The Buffs, as well as the rest of the full teams in the RMISA, are guaranteed to be at full strength for NCAAs, but the key will be how those 12 skiers perform. During the regular season, teams can ski up to six skiers to count for three scoring spots and if a skier is sick or falls and doesn't finish, it's not that big of a deal.
At the NCAA Championships, every score counts, even if it's a zero.
Men's Nordic
Stroem is the reigning National Skier of the Year, last year having won eight races, including the final six of the season, taking a pair of individual championships at the RMISA and NCAA Championships. In his stead, sophomore Petter Reistad has taken a step forward. Last year, Reistad had three podiums in 11 races and this year in four races, he already has that many podium appearance plus his first collegiate victory. Should Stroem return to full strength, those two will make a formidable 1-2 punch for the Buffs. A quartet of other Buffs will look to be the third skier at the championships for the Buffs, likely lead by senior Jackson Hill, who was an eyelash away from being an All-American in 2015 when the Buffs won the title at Lake Placid.
Men's Alpine
Johansen is an integral skier for the Buffs in men's alpine, and indications are he could return to action before the Buffs head to Alaska and should be closer to full strength when the postseason comes around. The RMISA Men's Alpine MVP a season ago, he was injured prior to the RMISA Championships, didn't ski there and struggled a bit at NCAA Championships. If Johansen is healthy and sophomore Max Luukko and freshman David Ketterer stay healthy, the Buffs should be set here. Luukko was second in the RMISA MVP standings last year and Ketterer has been nothing short of amazing to start his college career this season.
The trio already has four race victories and eight podium appearances in six races this season, including all three slalom wins for Ketterer, who's also skiing in his first World Cup race this week. Ketterer could miss some college racing while skiing with the best in the world and Johansen may need a little time to get to top form, but the potential is there for this trio to be the best that show up to New Hampshire in March.
Women's Alpine
Perhaps the biggest wildcard is Fidjeland and the impact she will have on the team. The women's alpine sophomore duo of Tonje Trulsrud and Nora Christiansen have both picked up where they left off last season and have combined for seven top-five finishes, including four podium appearances for Trulsrud, to open the season. The question is who will be the Buffs third women's alpine skier for the NCAA Championships. Fidjeland will be in the mix alongside senior Katie Hostetler and fellow freshmen Megan McGrew and Andrea Arnold. Arnold and Hostetler have put up better results in GS races early this season and McGrew has threatened top 10s in slalom action for the Buffs.
Women's Nordic
Saving the best and deepest team for last, CU's women's Nordic team should be one of the best sent to NCAA, no matter how it's comprised. Junior Petra Hyncivoa, who compiled a dozen top-five finishes her first two seasons but no wins, broke through that glass ceiling in style and has won three of the four races this season. Junior Ane Johnsen has hit the podium twice, once in each discipline, and sophomore Christina Rolandsen, who steadily improved throughout her freshman season, has continued that trend this season with three top-six finishes and her first collegiate podium appearance.
Add in junior Jesse Knori, who has a top 10 in both disciplines and freshman Anna-Siri Lervik, who has a pair of seventh-place finishes in the two classic races, this squad is deep and talented. Two others, Lucy Newman and Camilla Brautaset, have both been battling injures and some bad luck illness, but both have also competed at the NCAA Championships for the Buffs, as well.
Other Contenders
Since 2005, Denver (six) and Colorado (four) have combined for 10 of the last 12 national championships with Vermont and Dartmouth winning the other two. In the West, besides the two Centennial State teams, Utah will field a team worthy of a national championship while the Catamounts and Big Green will be the two favorites out of the East. You also can't sleep on West teams like Montana State, who held the lead for two days in last year's NCAA Championships, and New Mexico, who won it all in 2004, or East teams like 2017 host New Hampshire or Middlebury.
The central region doesn't compete in alpine so rarely has a chance at the overall national championship, but Northern Michigan usually fields one of the top Nordic teams in the country and don't count out Michigan Tech. Alaska Fairbanks moved from the central region to the west, but still only fields a Nordic team, although they should field a full six-skier squad and compete well in the Nordic events this season.
Each time the Buffs have won a national championship, a lot of the little things happened to go their way and that luck or karma or whatever you want to call it was the difference between winning the first place trophy or bringing home the second- or third-place hardware. That will be no different this season. Will things fall into place for the Buffs? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure, the Buffs have a solid shot at bringing home title No. 21 for the program.
