Buffs Head To Montana In Search Of School's 21st Title

BOZEMAN, Mont.--The Colorado Ski Team will look to return to the top of the collegiate skiing world for the first time in five years as teams from across the country gather here this week to take part in the 67th Annual NCAA Ski Championships, hosted by Montana State at Bridger Bowl (alpine) and Crosscut Mountain (Nordic).

The Buffs are one of just three teams to field a full 12-skier squad this week, along with RMISA rivals Denver and Utah, but the emergence of Middlebury as a legitimate threat out of the east means as many as six to eight teams have a legitimate shot of leaving Bozeman with a championship by the end of the weekend. Middlebury, Dartmouth and Vermont will all be represented by 11 skier teams in Bozeman.

Action will get underway Wednesday with giant slalom races on the alpine side. The women's race will start at 9 a.m. followed by the men's first run at 10:15 a.m. Second runs are tentatively set for 12:45 p.m. for the women and 2 p.m. for the men. Nordic participants will take center stage on Thursday with the 5K women's and 10K men's freestyle races at Crosscut Mountain. The women's interval-start race will begin at 10 a.m., followed by the men at Noon. Friday's slalom races will close out the alpine action at Bridger Bowl. The women will again get things started at 9 a.m. followed by the men at 10:15 a.m. Saturday's 15K women's and 20K men's classic mass start races will close out the championship. The men's race will start at 10 a.m. and the women's race will close out the championship at Noon.

The Buffs will be represented by alpine skiers Stef Fleckenstein, Filip Forejtek, Emma Hammergaard, Teddy Takki, Mikaela Tommy and Joey Young, and Nordic skiers Hedda Baangman, Magnus Boee, Sondre Bollum, Anna-Maria Dietze, Ryan Jackson and Anne Siri Lervik. Seven of the 12 Buffs have skied at NCAAs before, earning seven All-America honors and 10 of the 12 have hit the podium a combined 31 times, including 10 wins from four of the squad. (SEE: Buffs NCAA Championship Team Selected)

The Buffs have won 20 National Championships, including 19 NCAA and one AIAW (women's only). Coach Richard Rokos has been at the helm for eight of the Buffs NCAA Championships, third-most in the sport's history behind Willie Schaffer (Denver, 13) and Pat MIller (Utah, 9). The 25-year span between first and most recent championship for Rokos is by far the tops in NCAA skiing history. Schaffer won his 13 titles in a span of 16 years and Miller's nine also came in a 16-year span.

The Championships will consist of 148 student-athletes from 23 teams competing for the ultimate prize. Of those 23 teams competing, just nine have 10 or more skiers competing with a realistic shot of winning a championship. In 2006, Colorado won the title without a full 12-skier squad and Denver followed up that feat in 2008, but those are the only two teams that have won a title without a full team.

Colorado, Denver and Utah will all field full 12-skier teams while eastern powers Dartmouth, Middlebury and Vermont will all have 11-skier squads along with Montana State from the west. Alaska Anchorage and New Hampshire will both field 10-skier squads.

The west has dominated the NCAA Championships in recent years, winning each of the last seven championships (Vermont was the last east school to win, doing so the last time the championships were here in Bozeman in 2012) and 11 of the past 12 and 23 of the past 25 title. Since skiing went coed in 1983, the west has won 31 of the 37 championships, with Vermont winning five and Dartmouth one; while Utah (11), Denver (10) and Colorado (8) account for 29 of those 37 championships.

In the east this season, Vermont held off Middlebury by a single point at the EISA Championships two weeks ago as the Catamounts won four of the six meets this season with Middlebury winning the other two. Middlebury has long been a skiing power but has never won an NCAA Championship. The school does have two AIAW National Championships, winning the women's title in 1980 and '81 while finishing second in 1978 and '81. In NCAA Championship action, Middlebury's top finish was second in 1961 and they have finished third three times, but not since 1971. Middlebury's top coed finish is fifth, three times in 1983, '86 and 2008.

Buffs Head To Montana In Search Of School's 21st Title

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Players Mentioned

Hedda Baangman

Magnus Boee

Sondre Bollum

Anna-Maria Dietze

Stef Fleckenstein

Filip Forejtek

Emma Hammergaard

Ryan Jackson

Anne Siri Lervik

Teddy Takki

Mikaela Tommy

Joey Young