Buffs Finish Second At RMISA Championships

GIRDWOOD, Alaska—The University of Colorado ski team made a brief run at Utah, but in the end the Buffs didn't have quite enough juice to overcome the Utes and finished second at the 70th Annual RMISA Championships here Sunday at Aleyska Ski Resort.

The women's alpine team had four skiers in the top 10 and five in the top 14 and won the race with 79 points to cut into the Utes lead by 11 points. However, the Buffs didn't place anybody on the podium, which is really where the weighted scoring could've been an advantage for the Buffs. Still, freshman Mikaela Tommy had her first top five slalom finish and freshman Stef Fleckenstein was just behind her in sixth place, matching her season best, while senior Nora Christensen took eighth and Andrea Arnold 10th.

On the men's side, the Buffs top finisher was sophomore Joey Young in 12th place while freshman Teddy Takki took 17th.

"We are meditating over it, trying to figure out what happened," CU coach Richard Rokos said of the men's team. "There are no good answers right now. It's not a lack of commitment, the guys are doing their best, it's just not working. We'll spend a few more days training and working on it. The women's team skied solid and they knew the pressure to finish and did well. We can all be pleased with their performance."

The season for more than half the team is now over, but exactly which 12 Buffs will represent CU at the 2019 NCAA Championships won't be announced until Tuesday. Those 12 will have a short week before heading to Vermont ahead of the Championships, which take place March 6-9, at Stowe, Vt.

TEAM: The Buffs entered the day 34 points behind Utah but about 100 points up on the rest of the field, and after beating the Utes by 11 points in the women's slalom race, the Utes placed two in the top five and three in the top 10 in the men's race to secure the championship. Utah scored 671 points, a season best in any meet this season, and the Buffs finished with 609 points, their best performance of the season and a total that would've won two regular season meets itself. New Mexico surged into third with 523 points while host Alaska Anchorage finished fourth with 511 points. Denver rounded out the top five with 436 points.

ALPINE WOMEN: CU's women's team had another solid day, especially given their starting positions, and both Mikaela Tommy and Stef Fleckenstein improved upon their respective NCAA Qualification number and both moved into the top 10 on the list. Tommy came into Alaska with just one finish in slalom, and after yesterday's slalom she moved up to No. 20 on the list and after her top five finish, she moved up 10 more spots into No. 10. She and Fleckenstein are actually tied on that list in 10th place. Tommy started in 16th place again and she moved up 10 spots after the first run, securing the sixth-fastest time, and then moved up one additional spot in the second run, which was the third fastest in the field.. Her time of 1:51.64 was just one-hundredth of a second behind fourth place and about two-tenths off the podium. Fleckenstein's sixth-place time wsa 1:52.21. She started 15th and had the 10th fastest first run and then moved up four more spots in the second run on the strength of the second-fastest time in the field. Nora Christensen finished eighth in 1:52.71 and junior Andrea Arnold gave the Buffs four in the top 10 with a time of 1:55.33. Freshman Olivia Gerrard had her second-best finish of the season in slalom in 14th in 1:56.33. Freshman Kaitlyn Harsch didn't finish her first run.

ALPINE MEN: Sophomore Joey Young led the Buffs yet again, which he has done in every slalom race this season, taking 12th in a time of 1:45.80. Teddy Takki had one of the fastest second runs in the field to finish 17th in 1:46.63. Freshman Max Bervy finished 24th in a time of 1:48.38 and senior Max Luukko finished 26th in 1:52.81. Freshman Filip Forejtek was disqualified on his second run and junior Bobby Moyer didn't start due to injury.

WHAT IT MEANS: More than half the team's season is now over. Over the last eight days, 25 percent of the regular season, the conference and regional championships have all been contested. Now all that remain are the NCAA Championships. Which 12 skiers the Buffs will send to Vermont will be announced early next week. After returning from Alaska Monday, the Buffs will have Tuesday off, train Wednesday through Friday and then head to Stowe, Vt., on Saturday.

NOTEWORTHY: Mikaela Tommy had her career best slalom performance for the second straight day, and her first top five. She has three wins in three GS finishes and this is her fourth top five of the season and sixth top 10. Fleckenstein's sixth place finish matches her season best and she now has seven top 10 finishes this season. Nora Christensen had another top 10 finish, the 23rd of her career with 19 of those coming in slalom races. Andrea Arnold recorded her career top 10 finish in slalom and it's her third top 10 of the season. Tommy and Fleckenstein both moved into the top 10 on the slalom list for NCAA Qualification.

QUOTEWORTHY:
Richard Rokos: "We are meditating over it, trying to figure out what happened. There are no good answers right now. It's not a lack of commitment, the guys are doing their best, it's just not working. We'll spend a few more days training and working on it. In the end, we are being out-skied by Utah because of their numbers. They have 10 men's alpine skiers, and they're all really good skiers, but they're sending it and without Bobby, we are short-handed. For me Bobby is the hero and he pushed himself to the limit."

"The women's team skied solid and they knew the pressure to finish and did well. We can all be pleased with their performance. The GS on Friday wasn't typical for them. We have depth on the women's side, all six healthy skiers had great seasons. With Kaitlyn, you can see the impact of being around better skiers. Coming in she was still a junior skier and she's putting her foot in with senior rankings, it's great to see."

"We'll train Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and then head east Saturday and train there. We'll have the opportunity to fix something if it's' fixable. I think it's more mental than physical, sometimes it's hard to know where this comes comes from but we'll find out this week."

UP NEXT: That's it for the regular season and RMISA Championships. Next up are the NCAA Championship, which will be held March 6-9, in Stowe, Vt.
RMISA CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM RESULTS (FINAL)—1. Utah 671; 2. Colorado 609; 3. New Mexico 523; 4. Alaska Anchorage 511; 5. Denver 436; 6. Montana State 423; 7. Alaska Fairbanks 182; 8. Westminster 135; 9. Colorado Mountain 49.

WOMEN'S SLALOM (24 collegiate finishers)—1. Jocelyn McCarthy, MSU, 1:51.06; 2. Rebecca Fiegl, UNM, 1:51.14; 3. Andrea Komsic, DU, 1:51.41; 4. Tuva Norbye, DU, 1:51.63; 5. Mikaela Tommy, CU, 1:51.64; 6. Stef Fleckenstein, CU, 1:52.21; 7. Eirin Engeset, UU, 1:52.43; 8. Nora Christensen, 1:52.72; 9. Kristine Aasberg, UU, 1:54.15; 10. Andrea Arnold, CU, 1:55.33. Other CU Finishers: 14. Olivia Gerrard, 1:56.33. DId Not Finish First Run: Kaitlyn Harsch.

MEN'S SLALOM (30 collegiate finishers)—1. Simon Fournier, DU, 1:44.12; 2. Liam Wallace, UAA, 1:44.50; 3. Mark Engel, UU, 1:44.82; 4. Joachim Lein, UU, 1:44.84; 5. Vegard Busengdal, UNM, 1:44.94; 6. Olav Sandberg, UNM, 1:45.10; 7. Aage Solheim, MSU, 1:45.40; 8. Martin Arene, WMC, 1:45.46; 9. Alex Barounos, UNM, 1:45.54; 10. Addison Dvoracek, UU, 1:45.63. CU Finishers: 12. Joey Young, 1:45.80; 17. Teddy Takki, 1:46.63; 24. Max Bervy, 1:48.38; 26. Max Luukko, 1:52.81. Did Not Start First Run: Bobby Moyer. Disqualified Second Run: Filip Forejtek.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Andrea Arnold

Max Bervy

Nora Christensen

Stef Fleckenstein

Filip Forejtek

Olivia Gerrard

Kaitlyn Harsch

Max Luukko

Bobby Moyer

Teddy Takki

Mikaela Tommy

Joey Young