Buffs Take Lead In Alaska After Freestyle Races

Sunday, February 17

Anchorage, AK

All Day

Colorado

Freestyle (10/10K-M)

Photo by: Skip Hickey

February 17, 2019 | Skiing

Results (PDF)

By: Curtis Snyder, Assistant AD/Sports Information

ANCHORAGE, Alaska—A podium finish for senior Christina Rolandsen and six finishes in the top eight have vaulted the University of Colorado ski team into first place after the first day of the UAA Invitational, kicking off a busy eight days of skiing here Sunday at Kincaid Park.

Despite the appearance of a moose on the course for the women's race, Rolandsen hit the podium for the first time in 2019 while three Buffs finished in the top six in the women's race with junior Anne Siri Lervik taking fifth and sophomore Hedda Baangman finishing sixth. Freshman Erik Dengerud led the men with a fourth place finish, just seven seconds behind the race winner, while senior Alvar Alev took seventh and sophomore Sondre Bollum finished eighth.

The moose did interrupt the race, as Rolandsen and an independent skier had a significant lead and had to stop while the two skiers that ended up finishing ahead of Rolandsen were able to catch up to the lead pack.

"It did interrupt the race a little bit, but I don't know if it changed the results," CU Nordic coach Jana Weinberger said. "Christina did have to stop and some skiers caught up to her. I don't know if it would've changed anything, though. Despite that it was a good start, any time you can take the lead over this level of competition, it's a good day."

The six top eight finishes enabled the Buffs to score 169 points, eight more than Utah (161) and 11 more than Denver (158) early in the meet.

TEAM: Colorado leads the meet with 169 points with Utah sitting in second with 161 and Denver third with 158. Those three then have a bit of a lead, as New Mexico sits fourth with 137 points and Alaska Fairbanks rounds out the top five with 109 points. Host Alaska Anchorage scored 100 points and Montana State rounds out the team scoring with 74 points. The Buffs won the women's race with 90 points, five ahead of Denver and seven up on Utah. New Mexico won the men's race with 94 points with the Buffs taking second with 79, one ahead of Utah (78) and six more than Denver (73).

NORDIC WOMEN: Christina Rolandsen hit the podium for the first time this season, taking third in a time of 31:37.0 as she was 27.6 behind race winner Jasmi Joensuu from Denver (31:09.4). She earned her first podium of the season after having finished between fifth and ninth in the first six races of the season. Anne Siri Lervik took fifth in 31:58.5 despite a bad start and Hedda Baangman's sixth-place time was 32:16.4. Freshman Ezra Smith finished 21st in 34:04.7. Lervik had a high bib which is usually an advantage in a mass start, but after the first kilometer, she was near the back of the field. She then turned it on and moved all the way back into the top five.

NORDIC MEN: Erik Dengerud had the best finish of his young career, taking fourth in a time of 27:23.3, just 7.0 seconds behind UNM's Kornelius Grov (27:16.3), the closest he's been to winning a race this season. He was also just 6.1 seconds off the podium. Alvar Alev took seventh in 27:42.7, followed by teammate Sondre Bollum in eighth in 27:50.8. Freshman Wyatt Gebhardt continued his solid season in 15th in a time of 28:23.5 and Andrew Potyk rounded out the Buffs skiers in 26th in 29:24.7.

WHAT IT MEANS: It's always good to get off to a good start, and the Buffs did just that. Most of the six skiers who finished in the top eight did something to improve their placement for NCAA Qualification, some significantly, which is a close secondary goal this week to winning the two meets. The Buffs have seven more days and 14 races left before the UAA Invitational and RMISA Championships are complete leaving just the NCAA Championships left, so Sunday was a good start to what will hopefully be a fruitful week in the Last Frontier.

NOTEWORTHY: Rolandsen hit the podium for the first time in 2019 and the seventh time in her career, with five of those seven coming in freestyle action. It marks her second top five of the season, first in freestyle, and 13th career top five finish with seven coming in freestyle races. She now has 30 career top 10 finishes in 39 career finishes. Lervik's fifth place finish is the fourth of her season, second in freestyle action, and 16th in her career with seven coming in freestyle races. In her career, she has 23 top 10 finishes in 31 career races. Baangman's sixth place finish gives her five top 10 finishes in six races this season and 13 in her career, with six coming in freestyle action.

Dengerud had a season/career best finish in fourth place, his first top five and fifth top 10 finish in seven races. Alev had his best freestyle finish of the season in seventh place and his fourth top 10 of the season in seven races, all in the last four races. Bollum had his third top 10 of the season, all coming in freestyle races. He had 13 career top 10s in 16 career races.

QUOTEWORTHY:
Jana Weinberger: "Overall, it was a good day. The guys went first and Alvar had a good skate result finally, Sondre is looking better and Erik's fourth place I'm really happy with. Christina looked very strong and very good, I was happy with her performance. Anne Siri worked herself all the way back up after a bad start and Hedda said she feels good."

"The sprint races tomorrow will probably have some surprises. We may have somebody who's usually not in the top five get there. Most of our guys are good sprinters."

UP NEXT: The Buffs are just getting started in Alaska. Monday the Nordic teams will continue action in the UAA Invitational with Classic Sprint races, the only deviation from distance skiing the entire season. Tuesday will be an off day before the Nordic teams open the RMISA Championships Tuesday with freestyle races. Alpine teams have a more condensed schedule, planning to get all eight races in two meets done in four days from Thursday through Sunday.

UAA INVITATIONAL TEAM RESULTS (through 2 of 8 events)—1. Colorado 169; 2. Utah 161; 3. Denver 158; 4. New Mexico 137; 5. Alaska Fairbanks 109; 6. Alaska Anchorage 100; 7. Montana State 74.

MEN'S 10K FREESTYLE (40 collegiate finishers)—1. Kornelius Grov, UNM, 27:16.3; 2. Kvaale Eivind, DU, 27:16.8; 3. Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier, UNM, 27:17.2; 4. Erik Dengerud, CU, 27:23.3; 5. Maximilian Bie, UU, 27:23.8; 6. Ola Jordheim, UU, 27:39.8; 7. Alvar Alev, CU, 27:42.7; 8. Sondre Bollum, CU, 27:50.8; 9. Logan Diekmann, UU, 28:02.3; 10. Sigurd Roenning, UAA, 28:08.4. Other CU Finishers: 15. Wyatt Gebhardt, 28:23.5; 26. Andrew Potyk, 29:24.7.

WOMEN'S 10K FREESTYLE (31 collegiate finishers)—1. Jasmi Joensuu, DU, 31:09.4; 2. Julia Richter, UU, 31:24.3; 3. Christina Rolandsen, CU, 31:37.0; 4. Kati Roivas, UAA, 31:55.4; 5. Anne Siri Lervik, 31:58.5; 6. Hedda Baangman, CU, 32:16.4; 7. Mariah Bredal, UU, 32:21.9; 8. Kristine Karsrud, DU, 32:26.4; 9. Taeler McCrerey, DU, 32:26.7; 10. Natalia Mueller, DU, 32:37.4. Other CU Finishers: 21. Ezra Smith, 34:04.7.