CU Skiers Slip Into Fifth At Midway Point Of NCAA Championships

STOWE, Vt. — The University of Colorado ski team didn't have as a good a day in the giant slalom races here Thursday as it had hoped, slipping from third into fifth place at the midway point of the 66th annual NCAA Skiing Championships.

But the Buffaloes didn't ski their way out of their hopes for a 21st national title in the sport, either.

On the strength of three finishers in the top four in the men's giant slalom, Dartmouth zoomed from fifth into the team lead with 259 points. The Big Green overtook Utah, which remained in second with 252½ points, while host Vermont holds third with 245. Defending champion Denver is fourth (228), while the Buffaloes sit in fifth with 218 points. The battle for the title is likely down to these five, as New Mexico is a distant sixth with 147.

This is the first time an eastern school has led at the midway point since Vermont did so. It's just the second time in 37 years of the coed format that Dartmouth has led through four events; the only other time the Big Green led halfway through was in 2007, when they last won the title.

The women's giant slalom was first up Thursday, as Vermont's Laurence St. German captured the title in a two-run time of 2:00.57; she had the fifth-fastest run the first time down the mountain but sizzled on her second run, half a second faster than the next skier to cruise to thee win. Utah's Roni Remme took second in 2:01.02 with Dartmouth's Patricia Mangan third in 2:01.56.

CU was led by freshman Mikaela Tommy, who placed fourth in 2:01.64 and earned first-team All-America honors in the process. In 10th place after her first run (58.95), she came back with the third-fastest on her second (1:02.69) to jump up seven spots.

Her All-America honor was a milestone in CU ski history – the 500th time a Buff skier earned the accolade.

"These are probably the best conditions we've skied on this year," Tommy said. "The conditions were absolutely perfect for everybody, it's really icy and firm. I had a not-so-good first run and a better second run. Somebody has to come in fourth, I guess that was me today. It's alright, a pretty good day."

Freshman Stef Fleckenstein finished 19th in 2:04.79, while senior Nora Christensen was 23rd in 2:05.85. Both did improve on their starting positions, as Fleckenstein was seeded 25th and Christensen 27th; all three CU women are seeded higher for Saturday's slalom finale.

In the men's giant slalom, Dartmouth's Tanguy Nef repeated as the individual champion, skiing away from the field in a two-run time of 1:56.10. Denver's Simon Fournier was a distant second in 1:57.35.

Senior Max Luukko finished sixth in 1:57.83, missing out on first-team All-America honors by less than a tenth of a second (.08), thus earned second-team status. Sophomore Joey Young just missed out on the latter honor, finishing 11th in 1:58.72.

Freshman Filip Forejtek was seventh after his first run in 57.84, just a quarter-second out of the lead, but skied off the course early in his second attempt.

"The first run was really good, I was happy with that, I was skiing fast and I haven't been that fast all season, so it was good to pull a run like that at NCAA's," Luukko said. "On the second run, I heard at the top right before I went that Filip skied out, Richie messaged up 'You have to go for it, we really need a good score here.' I went all out, but unfortunately I had a mistake here at the top and couldn't get into a rhythm after that. It bumped me back a couple places, so I'm disappointed with that. Joey really pulled his weight today, I'm really happy for him."

"We just have to pull together and deliver," Luukko added. "Today, we had every chance to do really well. Small things make a big difference here. We have to find out what those small things are. But we have all the faith in the world for the Nordic teams. We'll be out there cheering as hard as we can tomorrow and hopefully they get us back in contention."

"There were lots of ambitions, a lot of hard work put in," head coach Richard Rokos said. "Looking back, I can say the guys placed better than they qualified. But ambitions were higher. After the first run of the men's race, we were in a good position to stay with the rest of the field or be on top of it. When you lose a guy from sixth or seventh position, that's about 25-30 points, and that's about what we fell behind with the rest of the pack."

"I think Mikaela overestimated her first run a little bit," Rokos continued. "She was a little more tentative and a little less in speed, but she made up spots in the second run. Stef and Nora skied their standards runs, they didn't make any mistakes, that's what you want."

"We can't talk too much about what happened today," he concluded. "It's no longer a point of discussion, we have to look ahead and get to the next day. Tomorrow will be a good day for the Nordies, I have a good feeling about it, they've had strong classical races. Coming out from elevation, the races being longer, that all helps us. And for (Saturday's) slalom, anything can happen. It's the great equalizer, things can flip flop in a big way."

Colorado has come from behind to win numerous times, including in 2013 at Middlebury, when the Buffs rallied from 54 points down going into the last two events, to date the largest comeback in the NCAA Skiing Championships.

NOTES: It's just the ninth time since skiing went coed in 1983 that at eastern school has been in the lead halfway through the championship, and only the third time in the last 22 events. Of the nine times, Vermont (four) and Dartmouth (once) went on to win, the latter in 2007, the last time an eastern school won in the east … Since, Denver (2009), CU (2011, 2013, 2015) and Utah (2017) have won the titles held on eastern turf … The Nordic classical races are set for Friday, with the women's 15-kilometer event at 8:00 a.m. MST and the men's 20-kilometer race at 10:00 a.m. (both are mass starts) … The slalom races will finish off the NCAA meet on Saturday, March 9: the men are first with their first run at 7 a.m. MST, with the women's first run at 8 a.m.; the men's second run is set for 10 a.m. and the women's second run at 11 a.m.

NCAA Skiing Championship Team Scores (Through 4 of 8 events)— 1. Dartmouth 259; 2. Utah 252½; 3. Vermont 245; 4. Denver 228; 5. Colorado 218; 6. New Mexico 147; 7. Northern Michigan 117; 8. Alaska-Anchorage 102; 9. New Hampshire 82; 10. Middlebury 78; 11. Montana State 60½; 12. Westminster 44; 13. Colby 43; 14. Alaska-Fairbanks 32; 15. St. Lawrence 19; 16. St. Michaels 17; 17 (tie). Bowdoin and Michigan Tech 13; 19. Plymouth State 10; 20. Williams 5; 21. Bates 1; 22 (tie). Harvard, St. Scholastica and Wisconsin-Green Bay 0.

Women's Giant Slalom (30 finishers)— 1. Laurence St. German, UVM, 2:00.57; 2. Roni Remme, Utah, 2:01.02; 3. Patricia Mangan, Dart., 2:01.56; 4. Mikaela Tommy, CU, 2:01.64; 5. Paula Moltzan, UVM, 2:02.01; 6. Tuva Norbye, DU, 2:02.26; 7. Lisa Olsson, UNH, 2:02.50; 8. Erin Engeset, Utah, 2:02.57; 9. Emma Woodhouse, UNH, 2:02.64; 10. Andrea Komsic, DU, 2:02.83. Other CU Finishers: 19. Stef Fleckenstein, 2:04.79; 23. Nora Christensen, 2:05.85.

Men's Giant Slalom (26 finishers)— 1. Tanguy Nef, Dart., 1:56.10; 2. Simon Fournier, DU, 1:57.35; 3. James Ferri, Dart,, 1:57.71; 4. Drew Duffy, Dart., 1:57.71; 5. Tobias Kogler, DU, 1:57.75; 6. Max Luukko, CU, 1:57.83; 7. Martin Arene, WMC, 1:57.84; 8. Patrick McConville, UVM, 1:58.36; 9. Justin Alkier, Midd., 1:58.42; 10. Patrick Kenney, UNH, 1:58.46. Other CU Finisher: 11. Joey Young, 1:58.72. Did Not Finish: Filip Forejtek (second run).

(Assistant AD Curtis Snyder contributed to this report.)

CU Skiers Slip Into Fifth At Midway Point Of NCAA Championships

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Players Mentioned

Nora Christensen

Stef Fleckenstein

Filip Forejtek

Max Luukko

Mikaela Tommy

Joey Young