Buffs Move Into Third Place At Own Invitational

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo.—Sophomore Hedda Baangman hit the podium and six Buffs finished in the top 10, propelling the University of Colorado ski team to third place through five of eight events at the CU Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational Saturday after the 5K women's and 10k men's freestyle races here at Howelsen Hill.

While the women were led by veteran skiers Baangman, junior Anne Siri Lervik and senior Christina Rolandsen, all with proven results, the men were led by newcomers Erik Dengerud and Wyatt Gebhardt, who is a native of Steamboat Springs, along with sophomore Sondre Bollum. Those six constituted the top 10 finishes for the Buffs.

While the Buffs usually have an altitude advantage, the circumstances of this season negated that for Saturday's races as a good portion of the team hasn't been at altitude much the past month. The Buffs congregated as a team back in the United States about 10 days ago and headed straight to sea level and Craftsbury, Vt., for the 2019 United States Cross Country Championships, returning to Boulder on Wednesday before driving to Steamboat Springs on Thursday.

TEAM: The Buffs scored the second most points of the day to move past Montana State into third place. Utah scored the most and turned a 30 point deficit to Denver into a 10 point lead, 410-400. The Buffs have 330.5 with Alaska Anchorage (305) also passing the Bobcats (285) for fourth place. New Mexico sits in sixth place with 270.5 to round out the schools that have both alpine and Nordic teams.

NORDIC WOMEN: Baangman finished third in a time of 15:15.8 on the 5K course. She was about 13 seconds behind second place but just 10 seconds ahead of ninth place. In that bunched group of skiers was senior Christina Rolandsen, tho finished eighth in 15:23.5, just 7.7 seconds behind Baangman and the podium. Junior Anne Siri Lervik finished 10th in a time of 15:29.2 to give the Buffs three in the top 10.

Freshman Ezra Smith had a solid first-race of her career, coming in 17th in a time of 15:51.2 and Quinn Lemhkuhl rounded out the Buffs finishers in 26th place in a time of 16:42.3.

NORDIC MEN: Dengerud took sixth in a time of 27.19.1 in two loops around the Howelsen Hill course. He edged fellow freshman Gebhardt (seventh in 27:21.6) by just 2.5 seconds. Bollum was then just 1.6 seconds behind Gebhardt to finished tied for 8th in a time of 27:23.2.

Senior Alvar Alev was leading the race for much of the first lap and had the fifth-fastest 5K split but struggled the second time around and finished 18th in a time of 28:10.1. Junior Andrew Potyk was 10 seconds behind Alev in 20th place in a time of 28:20.1 and sophomore Tyler Terranova rounded out the Buffs performance in 36th in a time of 30:17.9.

WHAT IT MEANS: Having three skiers in the top 10 is the goal of any Nordic team in terms of scoring team points and the Buffs were the only team to accomplish that feat in both races, but if you ask the skiers they believe they can and will get even better. The Buffs could be stronger in classic this season so look for the Buffs to move up even higher in the standings both for Sunday's races and then the rest of the season as the squad reacclimates to altitude.

NOTEWORTHY: Baangman matched her career best freestyle performance of her career, which she got at the Utah Invitational last season in her only other podium appearance in the discipline. Overall it's her fifth podium appearance and her eighth top 10 finish in 10 career races. Rolandsen has been a staple in the top 10 the last three seasons and this is her 14th straight top 10 freestyle finish dating back to the start of the 2017 season. Overall she has 26 career top 10 finishes in 33 career races. Lervik's top 10 performance was her 17th in 24 career races, including her seventh in freestyle action, all in her last 10 races. Bollum's also been a staple in the top 10 and has now finished in the top 10 in all six of his career freestyle races and in 10th in 11 career races. Saturday was the first race that Jana Weinberger served as head Nordic coach after spending 15 years as the assistant Nordic coach.

QUOTEWORTHY:
Nordic Coach Jana Weinberger: "It wasn't that much different (as a head coach). The women did really well I think, the guys I think they wanted to do better. I think Christina and Anne SIri were struggling a little bit coming from sea level, they went out a little slow. I think if they had gone out strong they could've contended for a top five."

"Wyatt is doing pretty well at altitude, I think he struggled a little bit at sea level, but he's from Steamboat, home course, he was in his element. Eric had a tough fall, he got sick a couple of times. He went home, then didn't go to US Nationals. Now it looks like he's coming back pretty well. Alvar needs to get back to his normal shape, but we're looking pretty deep on the men's side."

Christina Rolandsen: "It's been super busy. We all came back from winter breaks on New Year's basically and then we went straight to Vermont and did four races at Craftsbury. We got back to Boulder Wednesday and then we drove out here Thursday. We got home, cleaned our clothes, packed again and came here to do more races."

"We have different strengths all of us, and we should be strong in skate, too. It's difficult coming from Craftsbury and we've all been at sea leavl for a while and coming up here. It's a little different racing, to feel each other out and feel how we can ski at this level. A lot of us want to be better, but right now we shouldn't expect anything else, we've been traveling a lot and there are a lot of really good skiers, but I think we did a good job."

UP NEXT: The Buffs will conclude Nordic action at the CU Invitational with the classic races Sunday. Both men and women will have mass start races at 10K in length. The teams will then head to Montana State next weekend for the MSU Invitational.

SPENCER JAMES NELSON MEMORIAL INVITATIONAL TEAM RESULTS (through 5 of 8 events)—1. Utah 410; 2. Denver 400; 3. Colorado 330.5; 4. Alaska Anchorage 305; 5. Montana State 285; 6. New Mexico 270.5; 7. Westminster 138; 8. Alaska Fairbanks 100; 9. Wyoming 51; 10. Colorado Mountain 38.

WOMEN'S 5K FREESTYLE (39 collegiate finishers)—1. Guro Jordheim, UU, 14:27.9; 2. Taeler Mccrerey, DU, 15:02.5; 3. Hedda Baangman, CU, 15:15.8; 4. Emma Tarbath MSU, 15:16.7; 5. Kati Roivas UAF, 15:19.4; 6. Anna Darnell UAA, 15:19.6; 7. Karianne Moe UU, 15:22.1; 8. Christina Rolandsen, CU, 15:23.5; 9. Mariah Bredal, UU, 15:24.7; 10. Anne Lervik, CU, 15:29.2; 11. Natalia Mueller, DU, 15:32.6; 12. Michaela Keller-Miller, UAA, 15:39.1; 13. Linn Eriksen, DU, 15:43.7; 14. Jenna Difolco, UAA, 15:44.7; 15. Leah Lange, UU, 15:48.2; 16. Natalie Hynes, UAA, 15:49.5; 17. Ezra Smith, CU, 15:51.2; 18. Anja Maijala, UAF, 15:56.4; 19. Julia Richter, UU, 15:57.4; 20. Marte Haakenstad-Braaten, UAA, 16:01.0; 21. Savanna Fassio, UNM, 16:06.0; 22. Dariya Kuznetsova, UNM, 16:07.9; 23. Kathleen O'Connell, MSU, 16:08.7; 24. Hannah Rudd, UAA, 16:25.8; 25. Casey Wright, UAA, 16:41.0; 26. Quinn Lehmkuhl, CU, 16:42.3; 27. Jordi Floyd MSU, 16:57.2; 28. Kelly Koch, MSU, 17:02.6; 29. Kristine Karsrud, DU, 17:14.6; 30. Gracelynn Shanley, DU, 17:39.7; 31. Kirsys Campbell, UAF, 17:46.2; 32. Hannah Deuling, UAF, 17:58.5; 33. Sadie Cotton, DU, 17:59.3; 34. Maggie Meeds, UAF, 18:05.2; 35. Sage Robine, UAF, 18:37.9; 36. Ella Dewolf, WYO, 18:39.1; 37. Madison Tinker, WYO, 19:25.8; 38. Sydney Wiswell, WYO, 19:56.1; 39. Morgan Robins, WYO, 21:41.0.

MEN'S 10K Freestyle (43 collegiate finishers)—1. Kornelius Groev, UNM, 26:35.6; 2. Sigurd Roenning, UAA, 26:41.4; 3. Logan Diekmann, UU, 26:56.7; 4. Toomas Kollo, UAA, 27:07.4; 5. Ola Jordheim, UU, 27:13.9; 6. Erik Dengerud, CU, 27:19.1; 7. Wyatt Gebhardt, CU, 27:21.6; 8. Ric Izquierdo-Bernier, UNM, 27:23.2; 8. Sondre Bollum, CU, 27:23.2; 10. Borgar Norrud, DU, 27:35.5; 11. Eivind Kvaale, DU, 27:36.5; 12. Maximilian Bie, UU, 27:54.3; 13. Karsten Hokanson, MSU, 27:58.0; 14. Arnaud Guyon, UAF, 28:02.5; 15. JC Schoonmaker, UAA, 28:05.3; 16. Seiji Takagi, UAF, 28:06.4; 17. Eli Jensen, MSU, 28:07.4; 18. Alvar Alev, CU, 28:10.1; 19. Ole Kirkeng, DU, 28:20.0; 20. Andrew Potyk, CU, 28:20.1; 21. Max Donaldson, UAF, 28:24.4; 22. Lukash Platil, UAF, 28:29.4; 23. Ti Donaldson, MSU, 28:33.7; 24. Ty Godfrey, MSU, 28:34.9; 25. Jacob Engstroem, UU, 28:35.5; 26. Marcus Deuling, UAA, 28:43.7; 27. Simon Zink, DU, 28:46.4; 28. Johan Meland, UNM, 28:49.2; 29. Austin Huneck, UAA, 28:53.7; 30. Ben Berend, UNM, 28:58.8; 31. Noel Keeffe, UU, 29:00.6; 32. James Colfer, DU, 29:03.1; 33. Nicholas Sweeney, DU, 29:07.0; 34. Tristan Sayre, UAF, 29:42.0; 35. Brandon Herhusky, UAA, 30:00.4; 36. Tyler Terranova, CU, 30:17.9; 37. Tracen Knopp, UAA, 30:53.1; 38. Evan Barbier, DU, 31:18.5; 39. Logan Mowry, UAF, 32:22.6; 40. Silas Goetz, WYO, 32:40.8; 41. Trevor Willoughby, WYO, 34:02.6; 42. Matt Williams, WYO, 34:23.4; 43. Ben Romanjenko, WYO, 37:23.9.

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Players Mentioned

Alvar Alev

Hedda Baangman

Sondre Bollum

Erik Dengerud

Wyatt Gebhardt

Quinn Lehmkuhl

Anne Siri Lervik

Andrew Potyk

Christina Rolandsen

Ezra Smith

Tyler Terranova