Tight Opening Day Was A Good One For the Buffalo Skiers

Wednesday, March 7

Steamboat Springs, Colo.

All Day

Colorado

NCAA Championships (Giant Slalom)

ola johansen ncaa skiing championships 2018

Photo by: Benko Photographics

Tight Opening Day Was A Good One For the Buffalo Skiers

March 07, 2018 | Skiing

2018 NCAA Championships - Day 1 Results

Buffs are just four points out of the lead after the first of four days, 2-of-8 events

By: Jason Clay, Associate SID

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — Led by the men's alpine team accomplishing a feat that had been done just two previous times in the last 30 years, the Colorado Buffaloes opened up the 2018 NCAA Skiing Championships with 130 team points at Steamboat Resort to sit in second place after the running of the giant slalom races Wednesday.

It was one of the tightest opening days to a national championship in quite some time. Vermont took the lead with 134 points, but its four-point day-one lead over CU represents the smallest margin between first and second since 2006 (1½-points), and smallest between first and third since the sport went coed in 1983. Denver sits in third place with 129 points.

"It was a very good race, we had fantastic conditions and I don't think we could ask for more," head coach Richard Rokos said.

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM RACE: Colorado placed three in the top seven, with the final two Buffalo skiers tying for seventh place and its first scorer, Ola Johansen, in third. CU was the only team to place all three racers in the top 10, but it finished second in the race with 82 points. Dartmouth, who had the first- and second-place finishers, won the race with 92 points.

This was the first time since 2001 that all three men's alpine racers finished in the top eight to all earn All-America honors and just the third time under Rokos, CU's coach who has eight national titles in his now 28-year tenure with the Buffs.

"I think that is where we belong and it was good to step it up at the championships because we did do what we were supposed to do the last couple of races," said David Ketterer. "Today is the most important race so it is always good to live it when it counts."

Ketterer tied with teammate Max Luukko for seventh place. Ketterer was the defending national champion in the giant slalom and Luukko repeated his performance from last year to earn second-team All-America honors in the event for a second-straight season.

For Johansen, his third place and podium finish was a sweet revenge for the Buff who is in his last year of eligibility. At last winter's NCAA Championships, he did not finish the giant slalom race and Colorado found itself in fifth place after the first day and in a 57-point hole.

His performance on Wednesday was expected, as he carried over a lot of confidence from the season where he scored the most NCAA qualification points of any men's alpine racer out of the west. He earned the second, first-team All-American honor in his career; he did so in the slalom in 2016 after finishing fifth at NCAA's that year, which CU also hosted at Steamboat Springs.

WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM RACE: The women's team added on 48 points to the team total by tying with Montana State for fifth place on the team scoreboard for the event.

The race was a super tight one on the women's side with just 34 one-hundredths of a second separating first and seventh place and 56 one-hundredths of a second between first and 10th.

Junior Tonje Trulsrud led the women's team, finishing seventh in the race. She put down the second-fastest first run in the field, but on the first flat of run two she lost her speed and was unable to recover or make up for it the rest of the way down the hill.

CU's other two racers combined to score 23 points for the Buffaloes. Nora Christensen finished 18th and Isabella Fidjeland 21st.

NOTEWORTHY: With David Ketterer and Max Luukko tying for seventh place, it marked the first time in the coed era (1983 on) that Colorado had two skiers tie in any position in any discipline.

WHAT IT MEANS: It was a good opening for the Buffaloes by being near the top of the leaderboard in what could be considered the weakest of the four events.

UP NEXT: The championships switch to Nordic racing on Thursday where the 5/10K classic events take place. The women's' 5K is the first race, starting at 9 a.m., and the men's 10K race follows at 11.

QUOTEABLE
Head Coach Richard Rokos

Overall thoughts on the opening day of the championships
"I was actually very pleased with the guys' performance. They did above standard in placing all three in top seven or whatever you call the tie. It was very encouraging. Tonje had a little bad luck and I think it is in her ability to win the race, so on the second run she gave up something. Nora and Bella, they are better slalom skiers, so their time will come."

On the tight women's race being separated by a half second from first to 10th
"It happens. This course is relatively easy. There are very few people who makes mistakes and if they do, they are out. I looked at the men's separation and it was 12 guys within one second or so. It's the nature of the business. It separates guys by inches or feet at the finish line.

On the strong GS finish on the men's side in the event that is not the teams strongest.
"For some reason it goes in waves and you cannot predict it. Some years you have a better GS and some years youhave a better slalom. We now are on kind of a slalom role and I don't want to claim it before we come to real race, but so far in this season and even last year, we had better slalom than GS. It's a great guys performance and hopefully we'll collect more points throughout the week.

Ola Johansen
On his race and hitting the podium
"I was a little nervous before the start, NCAA's a little bit more important than all the other races and this is it. I came off with a good first run where I was third and was able to maintain a good consistency with the second run so I'm really happy maintaining that position in the third spot. I'm super stoked about being on the podium in the championship."

David Ketterer
On the men's team finishing second
"I think we did a good job today it was solid, could have been better but considering our result on the same hill at regionals two weeks ago it was a good step, stepped it up for the championships. Three guys in the top seven, I think we can be happy with what we did today."

On his GS race
"I was the defending champion in the GS and you always want to defend the title, but considering how I did in the GS the last couple of weeks I think I can be happy with the seventh place. I was going for more, especially after sitting fifth after the first run from bib 28 it was alright. I was going for more, but seventh place is alright, we all are on the finish, took some solid points and we can build on that for the slalom."

Max Luukko
On his two runs
"I was also really nervous on the first run, but I was surprisingly fast on it anyway. Considering this season, I'm very happy with this result. The second run I was also able to ski pretty well to get in to where I had to and push where I could. I'm just really happy with this result."

Tonje Trulsrud
On her two runs
"The first run was good, I was in second after the first one and I felt like I could charge all the way. For the second run I was still feeling the same at the start, but then I managed to be a little late after like 10 seconds on the flat and I got really pissed, tried to charge because I knew I lost some speed and time. Then I came charging down a little too rough, probably a little wild and came on the last null and messed up again so that wasn't too good. "

On the result
"I ended up seventh, which I really wish I did better because I knew I could do so much better, but that is what happens in ski racing."

On preparing for Friday's slalom race
"Now it is just back to at least get some rest because it has been a really, really long day having the boys races first, help them and then us girls. Then just training slalom tomorrow and focusing on that. I know we are a really good slalom team, so it will be good."

2018 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
March 7, 2018 | Steamboat Ski Resort (Mt. Werner)

NCAA Skiing Championship Team Scores (2-of-8 events):
1. Vermont 134; 2. Colorado 130; 3. Denver 129; 4. Utah 103; 5. Dartmouth 96½; 6. New Mexico 93; 7. Montana State 77; 8. Middlebury 75; 9. Alaska-Anchorage 40; 10. St. Michael's 36; 11. New Hampshire 27½; 12. Plymouth State 22; 13. Williams 17; 14. St. Lawrence 12; 15. Boston College 2; 16. Colby 2; 17. Bates 1.

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM TEAM SCORES (top 10):
1. Dartmouth 92; 2. Colorado 82; 3. Vermont 63; 4. Utah 57; 5. Denver 46; 6. Montana State 29; 7. St. Michael's 21; 8. Middlebury 20; T-9. Plymouth State 19; T-9. New Mexico 19

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (29 finishers): 1. Brian McLaughlin, Dart., 1:49.22; 2. Tanguy Nef, Dart., 1:49.41; 3. Ola Johansen, CU, 1:49.75; 4. Max Roeisland, UVM, 1:49.93; 5. Morten Bakke, MSU, 1:50.22; 6. Jeff Seymour, DU, 1:50.36; 7. David Ketterer, CU and Max Luukko, CU, 1:50.37; 9. Huston Philip, 1:50.38; 10. Sandy Vietze, UVM, 1:50.41.

WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM SCORES:
DU 90, CU 88, UU 81, MSU 52, UAF 49, UNM 47, UAA 37

WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (30 finishers):
1. Amelia Smart, DU, 1:53.21; 2. Katharine Irwin, UNM, 1:53.25; 3. Paula Moltzan, UVM 1:53.27; 4. Ann-Kathrin Breuning, Utaha and Caroline Bartlett, Midd., 1:53.37; 6. Stephanie Gartner, MSU, 1:53.51; 7. Tonje Trulsrud, CU, 1:53.56; 8. Tuva Norbye, DU, 1:53.62; 9. Francesca English, UVM, 1:53.63; 10. Kari Hole, MSU, 1:53.78. Other CU Finishers: 18. Nora Christiansen, 1:55.45; 21. Isabella Fidjeland, 1:56.04.