Buffs Kick Season Off With RMISA Qualifiers

NEDERLAND, Colo.—Seniors Max Luukko and Nora Christensen led the way for the University of Colorado ski team, as the 2019 season officially got underway with a pair of RMISA Alpine Qualifier races with both the men's and women's teams participating in giant slalom competition here at Eldora Wednesday.

Just two skiers finished for each team, as four men and three women didn't finish their respective races. The silver lining is that today's races are not calculated for team results, although results will count toward NCAA Qualification for the individual skiers.

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM: Luukko led the Buffs on the day with a seventh place finish in a time of 1:54.88. He had the sixth-best time in the first run (54.86) but had a misstep on the second run, fortunately just costing him one place in the standings. Otherwise he likely would've pushed for a podium appearance. Sophomore Joey Young matched his career best GS finish of 10th place in a time of 1:55.05, which he accomplished twice as a freshman. He was in 18th place after the first run and had a much better second run, using the eighth-fastest run in the field to move up eight spots into 10th place.

Those were the Buffs only two finishers. Freshman Filip Forejtek had the 15th-best first run despite starting in the 30th spot, but injured himself on the second run and did not finish. Junior Teddy Takki also finished the first run but not the second. He was right in front of Young in the first run in 17th place. Junior Bobby Moyer and freshman Max Bervy didn't finish their first runs.

WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM: Christensen finished 12th in a time of 1:59.02, less than a half-second out of sixth place. Junior Andrea Arnold took 15th place in a time of 1:59.68, her career-best GS finish, besting three 16th place finishes the last two years. She hasn't seen action on the snow in almost a year, as she injured her back after three races last year and was lost for the season.

Freshman Stef Fleckenstein had the 15th-best first run but didn't finish her second run in her first collegiate race, arriving in Boulder less than a week ago. Freshman Kaitlyn Harsch also did not finish her second run after having the 34th-fastest first run. Freshman Olivia Gerrard did not finish her first run. Freshman Mikaela Tommy missed today's race and will miss tomorrow's race before starting her collegiate career in Friday's slalom race. Junior Isabella Fidjeland injured herself in training and did not compete and junior Megan McGrew is still recovering from a knee injury she suffered last season.

WHAT IT MEANS: Only finishing two skiers is never ideal, especially on your home course, but if there's a day to do that, it's on a qualification race that won't count toward team standings. Forejtek's injury will hurt the Buffs if he can't return quickly with two women already out with injuries, making depth on the women's side an issue, although Tommy will officially start her collegiate career on Friday.

NOTEWORTHY: Luukko and Christensen both competed in their 43rd career race, respectively, every possible race from the last three seasons … Luukko has finished 42 of those races now and Christensen 39 ... Young matched his career-best GS finish in 10th place, his third top 10 in GS action and sixth overall top 10 finish in his career ... Arnold set a new career high with her 15th place finish, bettering three 16th place GS finishes ... She returned to action after almost exactly one year, injuring her back in the third race last season.

QUOTEWORTHY: Max Luukko: "Today didn't represent our true speed up there, but we got the bad runs out of the way and we'll be a lot better tomorrow. The conditions were a little tricky, it was soft up top so it broke down a little bit. But overall, it was still a fair race and we found the fastest guy."

Nora Christensen: "It's fun to be back on our home hill, this is actually my first race at Eldora, so that's really cool. It's fun to be on our home hill, we train here so much and we know this hill so well. My performance today wasn't what I wanted, top 15 is better than nothing, but I should be higher up, hopefully I can get some rest tonight and finish better tomorrow. It's better to do this today than tomorrow, but it still shouldn't be like this, this is our home hill, we should be able to attack this hill with more confidence than we did today. Everybody needs to think about it tonight and we all have to be better tomorrow."

NEXT UP: The Buffs will return to action Thursday with another set of Giant Slalom races, but this time they will count for more as the Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational will officially kick off. Slalom action will continue on Friday and the Nordic teams are competing in Steamboat Springs on Saturday and Sunday. Friday night will also be the first collegiate dual slalom at Eldora. A festive atmosphere is expected with a live band, CU mascot Chip and a team autograph session.

RESULTS

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (34 collegiate finishers)—1. Addison Dvoracek, UU, 1:52.92; 2. Tobias Kogler, DU, 1:52.97; 3. Mark Engel, UU, 1:53.52; 4. Aage Solheim, MSU, 1:53.82; 5. Tyler Theis, UNM, 1:54.21; 6. Jett Seymour, DU, 1:54.74; 7. Max Luukko, CU, 1:54.88; 8. Vegard Busengdal, UNM, 1:54.95; 9. Huston Philp, UU, 1:54.99; 10. Joachim Lein, UU and Joey Young, CU, 1:55.05; 12. Oskar Voello, WMC, 1:55.11; 13. Morten Bakke, MSU, 1:55.34; 14. Olav Sanderberg, UNM, 1:55.54; 15. Florian Szwebel, MSU, 1:55.66; 16. Anthony Naciuk, UAA, 1:55.77; 17. Ty Sprock, UU, 1:56.15; 18. Mikkel Wahl, WMC, 1:56.44; 19. Louis Muhlen-Schulte, MSU, 1:56.83; 20. Patrick Carry, MSU, 1:56.89; 21. Rafael Breu, WMC, 1:57.21; 22. Alex Barounos, UNM, 1:57.54; 23. Dominic Unterberger, UAA, 1:57.55; 24. Nicolas Veth, UNM, 1:57.82; 25. Tommy Anderson, UNM, 1:57.87; 26. Sky Kelsey, UAA, 1:57.93; 27. Zak Vinter, MSU, 1:58.19; 28. Harrison Goss, CMC, 1:58.58; 29. Tai Juneau, CMC, 1:59.97; 30. Kristinn Audunsson, CMC, 2:00.18; 31. Garrett Black, CMC, 2:01.20; 32. Martins Onskulis, UAA, 2:01.38; 33. Jeppe Baardseth, WMC, 2:01.67; 34. Devin Hope, CMC, 2:09.28. Did Not Finish (First Run): Bobby Moyer, CU; Max Bervy, CU; Michael Soetaert, UAA; Tomas Birkner De Miguel, UU; Fredrik Maurstad, UU. Did Not Finish (Second Run): Linus Walch, UU; Liam Wallace, UAA; Nick Santaniello, DU; Filip Forejtek, CU; Teddy Takki, CU; Martin Arene, WMC; Didrik Nilsen, UAA; Martin Grasic, UU; Dominic Demschar, UU; Sigurdue Hauksson, CMC.

WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (21 collegiate finishers)—1. Tuva Norbye, DU, 1:56.67; 2. Eirin Engeset, UU, 1:57.60; 3. Stephanie Gartner, MSU, 1:57.95; 4. Rebecca Fiegl, UNM, 1:58.22; 5. Antonia Wearmouth, UNM, 1:58.42; 6. Sona Moravcikova, UNM and Li Djurestaal, UAA, 1:58.61; 8. Jocelyn McCarthy, MSU, 1:58.62; 9. Amelia Smart, DU and Haley Cutler, UNM, 1:58.63; 11. Georgia Burgess, UAA, 1:58.81; 12. Nora Christensen, CU, 1:59.02; 13. Mia Henry, MSU, 1:59.29; 14. Alix Wells, UAA, 1:59.65; 15. Andrea Arnold, CU, 1:59.68; 16. Chloe Margue, UNM, 1:59.70; 17. Petra Smaldore, WMC, 1:59.72; 18. Kaitlyn Vesterstein, UU, 1:59.96; 19. Kristina Natalenko, UAA, 2:00.10; 20. Giulia Lorini, WMC, 2:00.93; 21. Juliette Gauthier, WMC, 2:00.95. Did Not Finish (First Run): Storm Klomhaus, DU; Katie Hensien, DU; Olivia Gerrard, CU; Beatrix Lever, MSU; Kathryn Parker, UU. Did Not Finish (Second Run): Katharine Irwin, UNM; Madison Ostergren, WMC; Stef Fleckenstein, CU; Anika Angriman, WMC; Kaitlyn Harsch, CU; Soleil Patterson, UAA; Madison Muxworthy, CMC. Disqualified (Second Run): Julie Mohagen, UU.

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Players Mentioned

Andrea Arnold

Max Bervy

Nora Christensen

Isabelle Fidjeland

Stef Fleckenstein

Filip Forejtek

Olivia Gerrard

Kaitlyn Harsch

Max Luukko

Megan McGrew

Bobby Moyer

Teddy Takki

Mikaela Tommy

Joey Young