Forejtek Second In GS As Buffs Struggle At NCAAs

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Sophomore Filip Forejtek was one of the lone bright spots for the Colorado Ski Team Wednesday during the first day of the NCAA Ski Championships, finishing second in the men's giant slalom race while the Buffs struggled as a team to eighth place in the standings.

Forejtek led after the first run and was beat out by Denver's Tobias Kogler by just two-hundredths of a second. The two continued a rivalry that sparked here in Bozeman at the RMISA Championships two weeks ago as Kogler defeated Forejtek by just one-hundredth of a second in the slalom race to close out that championship.

Aside from his performance, the Buffs had some of the worst luck of any day in recent memory. Senior Mikaela Tommy, who had won five of six GS races this season, finishing second in the other as the top seeded skier out of the RMISA, fell on her first run and didn't finish. Sophomore Stef Fleckenstein, who held the No. 3 GS seed out of the RMISA and was fifth after the first run, lost her ski in the second run and was also forced to take a DNF and zero team points.

"I've never been through a day like this," CU coach Richard Rokos said. "It's tough to swallow, mainly for the athletes. They came with such high hopes and ambitions. Those that came with the highest level of competitions and ambitions, they ended up out of the races today. I've seen a lot of things happen, but this may be a traumatic experience for some of them. We'll have time to heal, but we have to do it quickly, in fact we have one day to do it. We're not going to divorce or anything in the family, that's now how we do it. We have joy and sometimes sorrow comes as part of the family life, I'm sure our Nordic counterparts will push their best tomorrow. We'll fight to the end and we'll see how this will end up."

Freshman Emma Hammergaard was the lone finisher on the women's side, taking a respectable 20th place and moving up seven spots from her starting position of 27th. She earned 11 points for the Buffs. On the men's side after Forejtek, who earned 37 points for his runner-up finish, junior Joey Young finished 25th and sophomore Teddy Takki 27th, earning a combined 10 points.
Sitting in eighth place is certainly new territory for the Buffs, who have the nation's longest streak of finishing in the top four of the NCAA Championships at 14 consecutive seasons. It's not out of the question for the Buffs to bounce back and keep that streak alive, as only three teams scored more than 100 points on the day, led by Denver's total of 172 and Utah's score of 152. Middlebury sits third with 115 points and fourth place is host Montana State with 98 points, 40 more than the Buffs total of 58. In 2013, the Buffs erased a 54-point deficit on the final day of the Championship to win.

Thursday's action will shift to the Nordic teams, which will partake in the 5K women's and 10K men's freestyle races. The women's interval start race will start at 10 a.m. followed by the men's race at Noon. Higher-seeded skiers start at the back of the field and five of six Buffs will start the race in the second half of the field (and the sixth in the 19th spot).
In the women's race, junior Hedda Baangman will be the 23rd skier out of the gate with senior Anne Siri Lervik going off in 29th and freshman Anna-Maria Dietze in 30th. On the men's side, senior Ryan Jackson will be the 19th skier out on the course with freshman Magnus Boee in 29th and junior Sondre Bollum in 34th.

WHAT IT MEANS: While it's not the day any team wants, the Buffs will respond and finish the championships strong. As Rokos said "We have joy and sometimes sorry comes as part of the family." The bottom line is the Buffs are a family and will support each other the rest of the week to close out the championships as high up the standings as possible.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs scored 58 points and that on the strength of Forejtek's second place finish, which accounted for 37 of those points. If the Buffs can push for podium finishes, top five finishes and multiple top 10 finishes in the other six races, rising up the standings is something that can easily happen. Had either Tommy or Fleckenstein finished, the Buffs would be closer to fifth place and had both finished in the top three.

MEN'S ALPINE NOTES:

Forejtek was just two-hundredths of a second from winning an individual NCAA Championship.
Forejtek's podium was the 26th podium in men's alpine action at the NCAA Championships under coach Richard Rokos.

WOMEN'S ALPINE NOTES:

Tommy's DNF is just the second of her career in GS action. She finished 10 of 12 career GS races and finished with eight wins, nine podiums and all 10 finishes came in the top five. She had won five of six GS races this season, taking second in the other. ???????
Fleckenstein's DNF is just her second of the season and third time she hasn't finished in the top five all season. She has now finished 11 of 13 races this season with 10 top five finishes, six podium appearances and one win.

QUOTABLE:
RICHARD ROKOS:

"I've never been through a day like this. It's tough to swallow, mainly for the athletes. They came with such high hopes and ambitions. Those that came with the highest level of competitions and ambitions, they ended up out of the races today."

"I've seen a lot of things happen, but this may be a traumatic experience for some of them. We'll have time to heal, but we have to do it quickly, in fact we have one day to do it. We're not going to divorce or anything in the family, that's now how we do it. We have joy and sometimes sorrow comes as part of the family life, I'm sure our Nordic counterparts will push their best tomorrow. We'll fight to the end and we'll see how this will end up."

FILIP FOREJTEK:

"The guys all finished, that's always important at NCAAs, all the points count. I did pretty well, it was my best finish so far, i was second by two-hundredths of a second. The day was actually pretty bad, the conditions were soft, the snow was bad and it was windy. Some guys were lucky and some weren't. The visibility wasn't very good. For the women, they skied in our course after us, it was really bumpy for them, that wasn't the best idea. Tomorrow we will strain slalom, get ready for Friday, then we'll go support the Nordies and hope they pick up some of the points we lost today."

UP NEXT: The season is over for the majority of the team, it's just a matter of who as the 12 skiers selected to represent the Buffs at the NCAA Championships will be announced early next week. The Buffs look in solid position to field a full and strong team for the NCAA Championships, which will take place March 11-14 back here in Bozeman. The teams will head back to Boulder Sunday, get a full week of school and training in and the 12 skiers and coaches will return a week from today on Saturday to start preparations.

TEAM STANDINGS (Thru 2 of 8 Races): 1. Denver 172; 2. Utah 152; 3. Middlebury 115; 4. Montana State 98; 5. New Hampshire and Westminster, 86; 7. Dartmouth 71; 8. Colorado 58; 9. Vermont 37; 10. Colby 32; 11. Alaska Anchorage 22; 12. Plymouth State 19; 13. Harvard 15; 14. Boston College 13; 15. Williams 10; 16. St. Lawrence 7; 17. Bates 2.

WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (28 collegiate finishers)—1. Storm Klomhaus, DU, 1:53.35; 2. Nellie Talbot, MSU, 1:53.97; 3. Sona Moravcikova, UU, 1:54.22; 4. Patricia Mangan, DAR, 1:54.28; 5. Lucia Bailey, MID, 1:54.52; 6. Ali Nullmeyer, MID, 1:54.83; 7. Amelia Smart, DU, 1:55.15; 8. Nina Reichhelm, MID, 1:55.41; 9. Katie Parker and Eirin Engeset, UU, 1:55.51. Other CU Finisher: 20. Emma Hammergaard, 1:56.76. Did Not Finish First Run: Mikaela Tommy. Did Not FInish Second Run: Stef Fleckenstein.

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (30 collegiate finishers)—1. Tobias Kogler, DU, 1:46.93; 2. Filip Forejtek, CU, 1:46.95; 3. Joachim Lien, UU, 1:47.53; 4. Patrick Kenney, UNH, 1:47.84; 5. Simon Fournier, DU, 1:48.06; 6. Tim Gavett, MID, & Aage Solheim, MSU, 1:48.21; 8. Addison Dvoracek, UU, 1:48.44; 9. Joachim Mjelde, WMC, 1:48.50; 10. Louis Muhlen-Schulte, MSU, 1:48.59. Other CU Finishers: 25. Joey Young, 1:50.39; 27. Teddy Takki, 1:51.50.

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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