Buffs Head To Bozeman To Begin Postseason

BOZEMAN, Mont.--On to the postseason.

Just like that, the regular season is over. From the final race in Park City on Monday to the first race in Bozeman on Thursday, the transformation has happened. Things are kicked up a notch.

And while every RMISA team headed to Bozeman wants to win a league championship, there's always an element with regionals that are still building toward the other race in Bozeman - the NCAA Championships.

One unique aspect of the NCAA Championships is the quota system by which the participants are selected. The maximum number of participants one school can send is the same number as can score for the team, unlike any other event of the season including conference championships.

Because of that, even teams that qualify a full allotment of 12 skiers (three men and three women for both alpine and Nordic) are sending less than half their team to compete for the ultimate prize.

The domino effect on the RMISA Championships, which double as the NCAA West Regional, means that teams are more focused on getting the best possible qualification numbers for the NCAA Championships than they are about actually winning that championship.

Specifically for the Buffs, there are still questions on each team about who will represent the Buffs at the NCAA Championships.

On the men's alpine team, both Joey Young and Filip Forejtek have solidified qualification spots as Young currently sits second on the slalom list and eighth on the GS list and Forejtek is fourth on the slalom list and second GS and sixth on the GS list. The Buffs need a third member of the men's alpine team to separate from the others to complete the team for NCAAs.

The women's alpine team similarily has two skiers who have separated from the field. Mikaela Tommy has locked up the top GS seed in the west and is fifth in slalom while Stef Fleckenstein is second on both lists. On the men's Nordic side, Magnus Boee is currently second on the qualification list with four of the other five sitting between No. 12 and 21 on the list.

On the women's Nordic side, four Buffs are seeded in the top 13 with Anne Siri Lervik No. 5, Hedda Baangman No. 7, Anna-Maria Dietze No. 8 and Ezra Smith No. 13.

The Buffs have won 28 RMISA Championships in their history, 10 more than the next team on the list, both Utah and Denver with 18. The Buffs last won a championship in 2017 and have won five in the last 10 years. The Buffs also have 123 individual RMISA Champions with at least one in 13 of the last 14 years including a combined 33 in those 13 years. Erik Dengerud won last year's men's freestyle championship.

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Players Mentioned

Hedda Baangman

Magnus Boee

Erik Dengerud

Anna-Maria Dietze

Stef Fleckenstein

Filip Forejtek

Anne Siri Lervik

Ezra Smith

Mikaela Tommy

Joey Young