Buffs Third At Alaska Anchorage Invitational

ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Sophomore Hedda Baangman took second in the women's classic sprint races and the University of Colorado ski team slipped from first to third in tight team standings here Monday at the Alaska Anchorage Invitational with races taking place at Kincaid Park.

Aside from Baangman's runner-up finish, the Buffs had two top 10 finishes, both in the men's race with freshman Erik Dengerud taking sixth and senior Alvar Alev finishing seventh. Monday's races are the only sprint races of the season on the college circuit.

"Our team is not really built to be a sprinting team," CU Nordic coach Jana Weinberger said. "We definitely have skiers that are better at distance. I'm bummed out that we fell to third place, I always want to see us in the lead, but it is what it is, we'll put this behind us and gear up for the postseason starting Wednesday."

The Buffs score 143 points on the second day of action and moved from first to third with both Utah and Denver moving up one spot. The Buffs had an eight point lead over Utah after Sunday's freestyle races and an 11 point lead over Denver. Utah won both races Monday to take a 19 point lead over the Buffs while Denver sits three points ahead at the midpoint of the meet.

The alpine races for the UAA Invitational will take place on Thursday and Saturday.

TEAM: Utah's two race wins vaulted it into the lead after the conclusion of the Nordic action with 331 points and the Utes hold a 16 point lead over Denver (315) and 19 over the Buffs (312). New Mexico reamined in fourth with 246 points while host Alaska Anchorage moved from sixth to fifth with a solid day on the men's side and has 241 points to round out the top five. Alaska Fairbanks (195) and Montana State (176) round out the team scoring.

SPRINTS FORMAT: In the sprint format, of which this is the only such college race this season, all skiers run a preliminary timed race. Those times are used for seeding and placement once the heats are finished. The top 30 skiers from the preliminaries are placed into five heats of six skiers. The top two skiers from each heat plus the next two best skiers move onto the quarterfinals, two heats of six skiers. The top three from each heat move onto the final heat. The top six are determined by the final heat finishes. Racers seven to 12 are then placed by the six skiers who raced but didn't advance in the quarterfinal heat based on preliminary time.

NORDIC WOMEN: Baangman had the fifth-fastest preliminary run in a time fo 3:36.66, meaning she had the top seed in her first heat. She advanced through both heats and ended up finishing third in the final heat, but second amongst college skiers for the official placement of second. Junior Anne Siri Lervik was 13th before non collegians were taken out of the results, meaning she had the top preliminary time of those skiers who didn't advance to quarterfinals. Her preliminary time was 14th-best in 3:47.42. Senior Christina Rolandsen's preliminary time was 18th in 3:49.30 and her final placement of 17th (16th in college) means she had the fifth best time of the 18 skiers who didn't advance to the quarterfinals. Freshman Ezra Smith finished 25th in the preliminary race and ended up in 21st place amongst college skiers.

NORDIC MEN: Dengerud and Alev finished sixth and seventh amongst collegians and seventh and eighth among all skiers, meaning they had the top two times of the skiers that advanced to quarterfinals but didn't advance to the finals. Dengerud had the fourth-fastest preliminary time of 3:04.65 and Alev was sixth in 3:05.36. Sophomore Sondre Bollum (3:09.76) and junior Andrew Potyk (3:17.21) both advanced out of the preliminary round with Bollum taking 14th overall and Potyk 25th. Freshman Wyatt Gebhardt's time of 3:19.32 in the preliminary round gave him an official placement of 32nd.

WHAT IT MEANS: While slipping two spots into third is never in the plan for the Buffs, the sprint races always shake up the standings a bit, and alongside Utah and Denver, the Buffs are right in the mix headed into the alpine competition for the UAA meet. Baangman potentially put the wraps on an MVP award and those that finished well will have another solid placement for NCAA Championships while those that finished lower than they're used to can chalk it up to the only sprint races of the season and quickly move on. The Nordic teams now have a day off before embarking upon the RMISA Championships Wednesday in races that more closely resemble what they'll see at the NCAA Championships.

NOTEWORTHY: Baangman's second place finish gives her four top two finishes in all four classic races this season and puts her into the drivers seat for the top seed in the classic race at NCAA Championships. It could put her in the driver's seat for the Women's Nordic MVP award for the RMISA, which would be the first win for the Buffs in women's Nordic action since Joanne Reid won in 2013. Lervik and Rolandsen both finished outside the top 10 for the first time this season, which doesn't mean much since sprints won't be competed in either postseason meet this season. On the men's side, Dengerud's sixth place finish is his fourth finish this season of sixth or better and could move up him up a few spots on the NCAA Qualification list. For Alev, it's his second best finish on the classic side, so he'll score a few more points on that same list. Both skiers should pass Utah's Maximillian Bie with Dengerud moving from eighth to sixth and Alev holding at seventh place.

QUOTEWORTHY:
Jana Weinberger: "Our team is not really a sprinting team. Christina and Anne Siri are definitely better distance skiers and are never that far down. Hedda is a very good classic skier and she was able to push through it and get a second place finish. She worked on her double pole all summer and it definitely showed today."

"On the men's side, Alvar potentially could've done better, he wasn't very lucky with his placement and every time he tried to make a move and get ahead, something happened or somebody jumped out in front of him."

"Wednesday's race will be at a different venue, up at Governors Park. Tomorrow we'll go check out those trails and do a little training to get used to the terrain."

UP NEXT: The Buffs have Tuesday off, the only off day on the eight day trip between alpine and Nordic action. Wednesday the Nordic teams will open the RMISA Championships with 5/10K freestyle races at Governors Park, about an hour outside of Anchorage. They will then come back to Kincaid Park in Anchorage for the 15/20K classic races Friday. Alpine action will begin Thursday and run through Sunday. The teams will race consecutive giant slalom races on Thursday and Friday followed by slalom races on Saturday and Sunday, with the first race in each discipline counting toward the UAA Invitational and the second the RMISA Championships.

ALPINE UPDATE: The Buffs alpine team is headed to Alaska today in preparation of four straight days of racing that commences Thursday. As a tune up, some of the team competed in a slalom race at Winter Park over the weekend and the Buffs had some solid results, hopefully gaining some confidence headed into an important stretch of the season.

On the women's side, freshman Stef Fleckenstein won the race and the Buffs newcomers swept the podium with freshman Kaitlyn Harsch taking second and freshman Olivia Gerrard took third. Junior Andrea Arnold finished sixth to give the Buffs four of the top six. On the men's side, sophomore Joey Young took second and was just 11-hundredths behind the race winner while senior Max Luukko took fourth.

UAA INVITATIONAL TEAM RESULTS (through 4 of 8 events)—1. Utah 331; 2. Denver 315; 3. Colorado 312; 4. New Mexico 246; 5. Alaska Anchorage 241; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 195; 7. Montana State 176.

MEN'S CLASSIC SPRINTS (40 collegiate finishers)—1. Sigurd Roenning, UAA; 2. Eivind Kvaale, DU; 3. J.C. Schoonmaker, UAA; 4. Logan Diekmann, UU; 5. Kornelius Grov, UNM; 6. Erik Dengerud, CU; 7. Alvar Alev, CU; 8. Noel Keeffe, UU; 9. Bjorn Riksaasen, UU; 10. Ty Godfrey, MSU. Other CU Finishers: 14. Sondre Bollum; 25. Andrew Potyk; 32. Wyatt Gebhardt.

WOMEN'S CLASSIC SPRINTS (34 collegiate finishers)—1. Julia Richter, UU; 2. Hedda Baangman, CU; 3. Jasmi Joensuu, DU; 4. Kati Roivas, UAF; 5. Karianne Moe, UU; 6. Taeler McCrerey, DU; 7. Leah Lange, UU; 8. Anna Fake, MSU; 9. Kristine Karsrud, DU; 10. Julie Spets, UNM. Other CU Finishers: 12. Anne Siri Lervik; 16. Christina Rolandsen; 21. Ezra Smith.

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Players Mentioned

Alvar Alev

Andrea Arnold

Hedda Baangman

Sondre Bollum

Erik Dengerud

Stef Fleckenstein

Wyatt Gebhardt

Olivia Gerrard

Kaitlyn Harsch

Anne Siri Lervik

Max Luukko

Andrew Potyk

Christina Rolandsen

Ezra Smith

Joey Young