Colorado
Slalom
Fleckenstein Wins Slalom, Buffs Slip To Fourth At DU Invitational
January 12, 2020 | Skiing
ASPEN—Sophomore Stef Fleckenstein won her first collegiate race and the women's team put up another solid performance but it wasn't enough for the Colorado Ski Team not to slip from second to fourth place as alpine action is now concluded for the Denver Invitational here Sunday at the Aspen Highlands Ski Resort.
The Buffs took the lead after the conclusion of the women's race on the strength of three top 10 finishers, but then fell to fourth after the atypical men's race in which the Buffs top finisher was Filip Forejtek in 14th place. When all the dust settled, CU was fourth with 278 points behind Utah (317), Denver (306) and Westminster (288) and just ahead of fifth place Montana State (274). The good news for the Buffs is they are just 39 points behind Utah as all five teams are bunched together at the top of the standings.
Fleckenstein's wins continues her brilliant start to the 2020 season as in three races, she comes home from Aspen Highlands Ski Resort with a first, second and fifth place finish, the best three finishes of her career. She won the race by an impressive margin after senior Mikaela Tommy, who won the first run by three-quarters of a second, skied out in her second run and didn't finish. Senior Andrea Arnold took ninth and sophomore Kaitlyn Harsch had her first career top 10 as the Buffs took the lead in the meet standings at the conclusion of the women's race.
"It's great to see both Mikaela and Stef skiing so well at the start of the season," CU coach Richard Rokos said. "Mikaela had a little misfortune or they had a great shot of being 1-2 again today. It was a great day for Stef and Andrea put together a great race. Kaitlyn has had some great results early this winter, getting her a top 10 is awesome and we'll build on it. Emma is moving out of the woods with the college seeding system. It will take another race before she gets seeded closer to where she deserves and then she will be in position to attack."
Foejtek and sophomore Max Bervy were the only two Buffs that didn't either ski out or have to hike on the men's side. Bervy finished 20th while junior Joey Young (22nd) and sophomore Bobby Ryan (23rd) both had to hike twice to stay in the race.
"This race wasn't a typical race given what we've done the past few weeks training and racing," Rokos said. "We have a little misfortune of our younger skiers being seeded back further in the field, it's just a matter of time and we'll earn our spots. We'll put this behind us and plan for a better future."
That future will come quickly. With classes starting for the spring semester on Monday for the University of Colorado, the skiers will have an off day before heading to Eldora Tuesday to start getting ready for the Buffs' Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational that starts Wednesday. Alpine action takes place at Eldora Wednesday to Friday with Nordic teams finally starting their collegiate season in Steamboat Springs on Saturday and Sunday.
TEAM: The Buffs earned 83 points to finish second in the women's race and then just 42 points in the men's race to finish sixth of seven teams. Utah leads with 317 points followed by host Denver with 305. Westminster (288) is just 10 points ahead of the Buffs total of 278 while Montana State is just four points back in fifth place with 274. Alaska Anchorage (181) and Colorado Mountain (152) round out the team scoring.
ALPINE WOMEN: Fleckenstein had the fastest second run in the field to earn her first college victory and she won the race by over three-quarters of a second (.78). Arnold took ninth place, moving up eight spots with a solid second run and Harsch had a solid first run and finished 10th just two-hundredths behind Arnold. Hammergaard began the race seeded 29th and moved up to 19th after the first run and had the 12th fastest second run to move up another six spots to finish 13th. Olivia Gerrard didn't finish the first run and Tommy had some back luck and didn't finish her second run, even though she won the first run by three-quarters of a second.
ALPINE MEN: Forejtek was consistent in both runs, with a time of 48.03 in the first and 48.05 in the second, having the 14th fastest first run and 13th fastest second to finish 14th. Bervy had similar consistent times having the 23rd fastest first run and 21st fastest second to finish 20th, his career best finish and first top 20 finish in college. Both Young and Ryan had to hike twice. Young started fourth in the top seed and Ryan had to fight from a starting point of 36th. Teddy Takki started 16th and Alex Birkner started 24th and neither finished their first runs.
WHAT IT MEANS: It was a solid day for the women's team that had the potential to be great if Tommy had finished and a disappointing day for the men's team. The Buffs are fourth but within striking distance and should move up when the Nordic teams compete in two weeks in this meet. The good news for the alpine teams is there's only two days before CU's meet begins on Wednesday at Eldora. The women will look to continue their hot start to the season and the men won't have to sit on bad results for very long.
NOTEWORTHY:
- Fleckenstein won her first collegiate race and her three results this season, first, second and fifth, are the three best collegiate results of her career. She now has 11 career top 10 finishes in 14 finished races and 17 races overall.
- Harsch had her best career finish in 10th place, her first top 10, bettering a 12th place finish in a slalom race at New Mexico last season.
- Arnold had her 15th career top 10 finish in ninth place.
- Bervy had his first top 20 collegiate finish and his previous best slalom result was 24th at the RMISA Championships last season.
- The women's team has won all three college races this season. It's the first time since the National Championship season of 2006 that the women's alpine team has won the first three races of the season, doing so for the first four that season.
QUOTEWORTHY:
Richard Rokos: "It was sweet and sour today. On the ladies side it was sweet and could've been sweeter if Mikaela had finished her second run after we were first and second in the first run. Overall, the ladies did very well. Olivia (Gerrard) had a little misfortune. On the men's side, sour, unfortunately. It was a tough day for the guys, one after another. Joey (Young) ended up hiking in the first run, he's our strongest slalom skier and it snowballed from there. Filip (Forejtek) was a standout on that side. We had a few good races before we came here, they were confidence builders and I hope the confidence is still here. On the ladies side, we'll try to emphasize this as a good race and the men's side we will forget it quickly, this isn't how it should be."
"I can't put my finger on it. This race wasn't not typical to have a performance like that given the last few weeks. It wasn't technical skiing, it was a little misfortune and for the newer skiers being seeded further back in the field, it's just a matter of time where we'll earn our spot. Bobby hiked twice, Joey same thing. Something that isn't typical, they're both solid skiers. We'll put this behind us and plan for a better future.
"It's great to see both Mikaela(Tommy) and Stef (Fleckenstein) coming so strong. They had a great shot of being 1-2 today. Mikaela had a little misfortune on the second run. A great day for Stef and Andrea and they all put together a great race. Emma (Hammergaard) is moving out of the wood with our skiing and seeding system. It will take another race before she gets where she deserves and will be in a position to attack. Kaitlyn has had some revival this year, in Winter Park she was winning races against reasonable competition, these races are even higher competition. Her getting a top 10 is awesome and we'll build on it."
"We have to get to school first tomorrow, that's a reality check. Then on Tuesday we have training, everybody at Eldora, all teams in the Invitational, and then on Wednesday we'll get into it. We'll come up for a couple runs on Tuesday. We had some races right before the college season, we've been in the car a lot. Everybody's holding up well in terms of physical appearance and health, so it looks like we're fairly well set for the rest of the season.
Stef Fleckenstein: "I was second after the first run behind Mikeala, but unfortunately she didn't finish her second run and I ended up winning. We had three in the top 10 of the women's race which is awesome. We need to work on the whole team getting down the course, we had a few people who didn't finish which affects our ranking. Overall I think the women have a good energy coming into the CU race and the guys know they have to step it up. We know the team has a lot of potential, we just have to get everybody down the course on the same day. Everybody is excited to race at home, hopefully the school comes out to support us. We know the hill really well and the conditions should be good, so we're excited to race. The next races are Wednesday to Friday at Eldora.
UP NEXT: The alpine teams will have two days off before commencing the next set of races at CU's own Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational, slated to start Wednesday at Eldora Mountain Resort. There will be three days of racing, one giant slalom and two slalom races. The Nordic season then begins in Steamboat Springs on Saturday and Sunday.
TEAM—1. Utah 317; 2. Denver 306; 3. Westminster 288; 4. Colorado 278; 5. Montana State 274; 6. Alaska Anchorage 181; 7. Colorado Mountain 152.
WOMEN'S SLALOM (25 collegiate finishers)—1. Stef Fleckenstein, CU, 1:41.03; 2. Andrea Komsic, 1:41.81; 3. Eleri Smart, 1:43.06; 4. Julia Toiviainen, 1:43.11; 5. Kaitlyn Vesterstein, UU, 1:43.58; 6. Sona Moravcikova, 1:43.60; 7. Reece Bell, DU, 1:43.77; 8. Tegan Wold, MSU, 1:44.01; 9. Andrea Arnold, CU, 1:44.12; 10. Kaitlyn Harsch, CU, 1:44.14. Other CU Finishers: 13. Emma Hammergaard, 1:44.51. Did Not Finish First Run: Olivia Gerrard. Did Not Finish Second Run: Mikaela Tommy.
MEN'S SLALOM (23 collegiate finishers)—1. Joachim Lien, UU, 1:34.35; 2. Aage Solheim, MSU, 1:34.50; 3. Mikkel Wahl, WMC, 1:34.82; 4. Tobias Kogler, DU, 1:34.93; 5. Mikkel Solbakken, WMC, 1:35.02; 6. Colby Lane, DU, 1:35.12; 7. Tomas Birker de Miguel, UU, 1:35.39; 8. Cole Puckett, DU, 1:35.41; 9. Joachim Mjelde, WMC, 1:35.44; 10. Patrick Carry, MSU, 1:35.73. CU Finishers: 14. Filip Forejtek, 1:36.08; 20. Max Bervy, 1:37.87; 22. Joey Young, 2:04.71; 23. Bobby Ryan, 2:17.16. Did Not Finish First Run: Alex Birkner, Teddy Takki.
Players Mentioned
