Buffs Head North To Alaska For Pair Of Meets

BOULDER—The Colorado ski team is 75 percent of the way through it's regular season. After an eight-day, two-meet trip to Alaska, not only with the regular season be complete, but two-thirds of the postseason will be, as well.

The University of Alaska Anchorage will host the final regular season meet of the season and then the RMISA Championships, which double as the NCAA Western Regional. When the Buffs return from Alaska after races are done on February 24, more than half the team will be done with the season as just those Buffs that qualify are are selected to represent CU at the NCAA Championships will have any collegiate races remaining. The Buffs NCAA team will consist of no more than 12 skiers.

"This trip to Alaska is critical," CU coach Richard Rokos said. "We still need some solid results, and the results from Alaska will have a great impact on who we bring to Vermont for NCAA Championships. Hopefully the snow holds up and we can get some good racing completed."

The schedule between the two meets will go back and forth throughout the week.

UAA/UAF INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE: Nordic teams will get the action underway on Sunday, Feb. 17, with 10K freestyle races at Kincaid Park. Nordic teams will conclude their participation in this meet the next day with Classic Sprint races, also at Kincaid Park. The alpine schedule is more condensed and will begin on Thursday, Feb. 21, with GS races. Slalom races will conclude the meet on Saturday, Feb. 23.

RMISA CHAMPIONSHIPS/NCAA WESTERN REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Nordic teams will get the championships underway with 5/10K freestyle races at Governors Park Recreation Area on Wednesday, Feb. 20. Friday, Feb. 22 will be the only day of combined alpine and Nordic action on the same day in the same meet, as Nordic teams will conclude competition for the week with 15/20K Classic Races at Kincaid Park and GS races will take place on the alpine side. All action concludes with the slalom races on Sunday, Feb. 24.

UAA INVITATIONAL HISTORY: Utah has dominated the action in recent years in Alaska, winning each of the last four meets dating back to 2009. Utah has won seven of the 14 meets all time labeled as either the UAA or Seawolf Invitational. Colorado is next with three wins, last in 2009 and the Buffs also won in 1991 and 2002.

RMISA CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY: Colorado has dominated the RMISA Championships, winning 10 more championships than any other team, 28 in all, including 15 coed, 11 men and two women. Next on the list is Denver with 18 championships. Utah has 12 coed titles, second on the list as the two schools have combined for 27 of 35 coed championships dating back to 1983. Denver is third with five, including 2018. The Buffs last won in 2017.

The Buffs also have more individual RMISA Champions than any other school with 69, which include 44 on the Nordic side and 25 on the alpine side. Utah is second on the overall list with 59 while Denver has 56 individual champions. The Buffs did not win any individual titles in 2018. David Ketterer was the last winner for the Buffs, winning the men's GS race in 2017. Senior Max Luukko won the 2016 men's slalom race. On the alpine side, Jessica Honkonen won the women's slalom race in 2015 and the longest drought on the alpine side is in women's GS, last won by Carolina Nordh in 2009. In Nordic action, the last win on the men's side was in 2016 when Mads Stroem won both the freestyle and Nordic races while the women haven't seen a champion since 2013 when Joanne Reid won the classic race and Eliska Hajkova won the freestyle race.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR: The Buffs will be as healthy as they have been all season and it's a good thing because they need a good end to the regular season and solid showing at the RMISA Championships to shore up solid qualification and seeing spots for the NCAA Championships, especially on the alpine side, where the Buffs have just one skier in the top 10 on each of the four qualification lists (men, women for slalom and GS).

Mikaela Tommy is tied for first on the women's GS list, having won both races she's competed in. She could lock up the No. 1 seed with another win. Max Luukko is tied for sixth on the men's GS list. Joey Young is fifth in the men's slalom list and if he can get a second win in Alaska, he could content for the No. 1 seed. Nora Christensen sits fourth on the women's slalom list and if she can get a win, she'd be on the inside track for the No. 1 seed, as well. Freshman Filip Forejtek, who injured himself in the season's first race, has the most room to move up the list and the men's team in slalom especially needs to improve as behind Young, Luuko is next in 28th.

On the Nordic side, CU's women are in good shape with Hedda Baangman and Anne Siri Lervik sitting second and third on the list. Lervik hit the podium twice in New Mexico and if she can maintain that she will strengthen her hold while Baangman would improve her hold on the second spot with another top five finish on the freestyle side. Christina Rolandsen sits in seventh and has finished between fifth and ninth in every race. She can also move up if she can compete for the podium. On the men's side, Erik Dengerud is in the best position in sixth, followed closely by Wyatt Gebhardt in seventh, Alvar Alev in ninth and Sondre Bollum in 11th. Alev has one win and it's his only top five, so if he can get on the podium a couple of times, he could shoot up the list.

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Players Mentioned

Alvar Alev

Hedda Baangman

Sondre Bollum

Nora Christensen

Erik Dengerud

Filip Forejtek

Wyatt Gebhardt

David Ketterer

Anne Siri Lervik

Max Luukko

Christina Rolandsen

Mads Stroem

Mikaela Tommy

Joey Young