Boee Double-Polls His Way To Classic Win To Propel Buffs Into Second At DU Meet

MINTURN, Colo.—Freshman Magnus Boee doubled-polled his way to a win in the men's 10K classic race and five Buffs earned top 10 finishes to propel the Colorado Ski Team from fourth to second place here Saturday at Maloit Park with six of eight races now complete in the Denver Invitational.

The Buffs moved past Westminster College and host Denver to sit in second place, scoring the second-most points on the day with 170. The most points were scored by Utah (197) as the Utes opened up a solid lead entering the final day of the meet. Utah leads with 514 points to the Buffs' 448 and host Denver is third with 410 points.

"We came here today thinking we're doing to do our best and ski smart," Nordic coach Jana Weinberger said. "This is a hard course, it's high altitude. The plan was to take it easier in the beginning and see what happens. We did just that and had some good results."

Boee picked up his first collegiate victory in his third career race. The freshman finished fourth and second in last weekend's races at Steamboat Springs in the Colorado Invitational. He was the only skier to break the 30-minute mark and he also broke the 29-minute mark with a 10K, four-lap time of 28;52.4, beating Utah's Luke Jager (30:04.5) by one minute, 12.1 seconds. Senior Ryan Jackson picked up his second straight top 10 finish, taking seventh place while Sondre Bollum was the Buffs third scorer in 12th place and Wyatt Gebhardt (15th) and Andrew Potyk (18th) gave the Buffs five top 20 finishers.

"The course had a lot of turns and small ups and downs," Boee said. "I chose to double poll, which is skiing classic without kick wax. That worked very well today, I had much better glide than some others and I didn't bonk off the steepest hill so that's good. I got my first win, I'm super happy about that."

On the women's side, senior Anne Siri Lervik continued her solid start to her final season, hitting the podium for the second straight race in third place while junior Hedda Baangman finished in fifth place for the second straight race. Ezra Smith gave the Buffs three skiers in the top 10 in ninth place.

The Buffs will race again here at Maloit Park on Sunday to close out the Denver Invitational. The pursuit races start at 9 a.m. for the men and 10 a.m. for the women. After Sunday, two-thirds of the regular season will be complete. The Nordic teams will take part in RMISA Qualifier races as part of the Owl Creek Chase on Feb. 8-9 and then head to Soldier Hollow for the Utah Invitational.

WHAT IT MEANS: It was a solid day for the Buffs and good for the team to move up two spots into second place. Utah is without its top men's skier that won both races in Steamboat Springs. But with three in the top nine on the women's side and three in the top 12 on the men's side and given the season is young and the Buffs aren't at top physical shape right now, the signs are there that the Buffs can compete with the Utes more as the season wears on. Boee and Jackson proved to be two solid additions for the men's team while the women's team is anchored by senior Lervik and junior Baangman.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs finished second in both races behind Utah, scoring 86 in the women's race and 84 in the men's race for 170 on the day. Utah scored 104 points in the women's race and 93 in the men's race.
With 448 points, the Buffs are 66 points behind Utah (514) and 38 up on third-place Denver (410). Montana State (399) and Alaska Anchorage (327) round out the top five.
Westminster (sixth, 288), Colorado Mountain (152) and Alaska Fairbanks (100) constitute the entire team scoring.

NORDIC WOMEN'S NOTES:

Lervik earned her third top-five in three races this season and her second straight podium. It's her 10th career podium and 20th career top-five finish in 38 career finishes, 26 of which have come in the top 10.
Baangman finished fifth for her 15th career top-five finish and 20th career top 10.
Smith was ninth, her second top 10 of the season and fifth of her career. She now has one top 10 in both disciplines this season.
Quinn Lehmkuhl was 20th, Anna-Maria Dietze 22nd and Bridget Donovan 25th in the women's race.

NORDIC MEN'S NOTES:

Boee's win is the first of his career and first in a men's classic race since Alvar Alev won the men's classic race at the New Mexico Invitational last season.
Jackson earned his second top 10 finish in three races this season, taking seventh place. He was fifth in the classic race in Steamboat Springs last weekend. Sunday he'll look to improve upon his 15th place freestyle finish at Steamboat.
Bollum finished 12 and has now finished in the top 20 in 21 of 24 career races.
Gebhardt's 15th place finish was his 11th career top 10 and just his fifth in classic action, including both this season.
Potyk finished 18th and gave him his 19th career top 20, including all three races this season.
Tyler Terranova rounded out the men's team in 26th place.

QUOTEWORTHY:

Jana Weinberger: "We came here today thinking we're doing to do our best and ski smart. This is a hard course, it's high altitude. The plan was to take it easier in the beginning and see what happens. We did just that and had some good results."

"Tomorrow is a skate race, it's a little different from our normal protocla., it's a pursuit race. Athletes will start in the order they finished today, it should be a lot of fun."

Magnus Boee: "The conditions were quite good, it's been snowing the last few days which makes the snow a little slower. The course had a lot of turns and small ups and downs. I chose to double poll, which is skiing classic without kick wax. That worked very well today, I had much better glide than some others and I didn't bonk off the steepest hill so that's good. I got my first win, I'm super happy about that. We did well as a team today, too."

"Tomorrow's race is a pursuit race, so based on today's results I'll start first and others will start based on the gap. The actual point system will be based on individual times, so in the end it doesn't really matter, we just have to go out and ski hard. For me, I'll be trying to keep up the pace and get in the finish line with a bigger gap than when I started."

"We're definitely going to check the result from today to visualize what a race tomorrow will look like. Who's in the pack, who's in front, who's in back, save energy and get the most out f the race. When you ski in a pack you save energy and ski faster, so we'll have to research and come up with a plan of attack."

Anne Siri Lervik: "Magnus double-polled the whole race today, which is crazy and he was so fast and won by a minute. The entire team did well. It was fun the girls started in pairs, which doesn't always happen so that was fun. I think it's really hard to feel good on this course, it's so high altitude and there's no break, you have to push through and maintain your technique. Tomorrow's there's a 7.5K sake pursuit, we'll start based on the times today, so I'll start in third and that's exciting."

UP NEXT: The Nordic teams close out the Denver Invitational with the 7.5K women's and 10K men's freestyle races on Sunday here at Maloit Park starting at 9 a.m. After Sunday, the teams will be done with two of three regular-season meets. After an RMISA Nordic Qualifier in Aspen Feb. 8-9, the Utah Invitational will close out the regular season over two weekends from Feb. 14-24.

TEAM—1. Utah 514; 2. Colorado 448; 3. Denver 410; 4. Montana State 399; 5. Alaska Anchorage 327; 6. Westminster 288; 7. Colorado Mountain 152; 8. Alaska Fairbanks 100.

WOMEN'S CLASSIC (31 collegiate finishers)—1. Guro Jordheim, UU, 16:44.4; 2. Karianne Moe, UU, 17:04.7; 3. Anne Siri Lervik, CU, 17:15.5; 4. Hannah Rudd, UAA, 17:17.8; 5. Hedda Baangman, CU, 17:18.9; 6. Leah Lange, UU, 17:21.5; 7. Mariah Bredal, UU, 17:26.2; 8. Emma Tarbath, MSU, 17:30.5; 9. Ezra Smith, CU, 17:33.5; 10. Vera Norli, DU, 17:45.1. Other CU Finishers: 20. Quinn Lehmkuhl, 18:29.4; 22. Anna-Maria Dietze, 18:32.9; 25. Bridget Donovan, 19:11.2.

MEN'S CLASSIC (31 collegiate finishers)—1. Magnus Boee, CU, 28:52.4; 2. Luke Jager, UU, 30:04.5; 3. Sigurd Roenning, UAA, 30:09.1; 4. Zanden McMullen, MSU, 30:44.3; 5. Logan Diekmann, UU, 30:50.3; 6. Ola Jordheim, UU, 30:57.5; 7. Ryan Jackson, CU, 31:06.5; 8. J.C. Schoonmaker, UAA, 31:09.2; 9. Bernhard Flaschberger, DU, 31:20.4; 10. Espen Persen, UAA, 31:20.5. Other CU Finishers: 12. Sondre Bollum, 31:26.8; 15. Wyatt Gebhardt, 31:52.5; 18. Andrew Potyk, 32:12.9; 26. Tyler Terranova, 33:18.5.

Boee Double-Polls His Way To Classic Win To Propel Buffs Into Second At DU Meet

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Players Mentioned

Alvar Alev

Hedda Baangman

Magnus Boee

Sondre Bollum

Anna-Maria Dietze

Bridget Donovan

Wyatt Gebhardt

Ryan Jackson

Quinn Lehmkuhl

Anne Siri Lervik

Andrew Potyk

Ezra Smith

Tyler Terranova

Boee Double-Polls His Way To Classic Win To Propel Buffs Into Second At DU Meet

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Alvar Alev

Hedda Baangman

Magnus Boee

Sondre Bollum

Anna-Maria Dietze

Bridget Donovan

Wyatt Gebhardt

Ryan Jackson

Quinn Lehmkuhl

Anne Siri Lervik

Andrew Potyk

Ezra Smith

Tyler Terranova

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