Rokos, Weinberger Add Eight Skiers To 2021 Roster

BOULDER—Coach Richard Rokos and Nordic coach Jana Weinberger have added eight student-athletes to the Colorado Ski Team roster for the 2020-21 academic and athletic season.

The newcomers include women's alpine skier Katie Fleckenstein, men's alpine skiers Louis Fausa, Sky Kelsey and Chase Seymour, women's Nordic skiers Ivy Eski and Weronika Kaleta, and men's Nordic skiers Ovyind Haugen and Will Koch. More information is available below.

In other news, the RMISA released a preliminary schedule for the 2021 season. Weinberger, the RMISA President, said "We understand this is a preliminary schedule. As an outdoor sport with mostly interval timing competitions, we believe college skiing can safely take place and adapt to COVID-19 protocols. But we also understand all schools are working with reduced budgets and ski areas and venues where we compete will be operating with their own set of fluid rules and expectations and that any schedule we put out now will be nothing but preliminary."

The Buffs are not on the calendar to host a competition in 2021. As it stands now, there will be two complete invitationals, Denver and Utah, two alpine only meets (Westminster College, Colorado Mountain College) and one Nordic meet (Alaska Fairbanks). The University of Alaska is set to host the RMISA Championships and Middlebury College will serve as host of the NCAA Championships. Check out the complete preliminary schedule.

Katie Fleckenstein, 5-8, Fr., HS, Whistler, British Columbia, Rockridge Secondary, Whistler Mountain Ski Club

Fleckenstein has participated in 109 FIS races despite missing the majority of two seasons due to injury. She has 38 total top 10 finishes with 14 podiums and five race wins. She won the GS race at Gore Mountain in 2018 and had four wins, three in downhill and one in Super G, in Canada during the 2016 season. At the Canadian National Championships in 2016, she was third in the downhill and ninth in the alpine combined, and she was seventh in the GS at the 2018 Canadian National Championships.

She is the sister of junior Stef Fleckenstein. While many siblings have skied for the Buffs, not many have skied together. They are aiming to be the first set of siblings to compete at the same time since Maisha and Joaquin Goodpasture skied for the Nordic teams from 2006-09. They're the first set of siblings on the same gender and discipline since twins Henrick and Magnus Eriksson skied on the Nordic team together in 2000, and the first on the alpine side since Geoff and Greg Buchheister skied together in the 1996 and '97 seasons. She is interested in studying Psychology at Colorado and is interested in studying all aspects of the brain after she herself suffered a traumatic brain injury a couple years ago.

Louis Fausa, 5-10, Fr., HS, Oslo, Norway, Donski Videregaende Skole, Heming IL

Fausa has nearly 200 FIS starts in his career and has finished in teh top 10 a total of 32 times with six podiums, including two race wins. He won a GS race in Oppdal, Norway in 2019 and a slalom race in Raudalen, Norway, in 2020. He has 13 continental cup starts to his credit with two top 20 finishes and in the Norwegian National Championships in 2019, he finished sixth in the slalom, 11th in GS and 19th in downhill while taking seven in the alpine combined. At the Norwegian Junior National Championships, he was third in the GS in 2020 and eighth in the GS in 2018.

He has two sisters, a twin sister Lisette and older sister, Chloe, who skied for Utah and won the NCAA Championship in 2017. He's interested in majoring in Business Administration and Management at CU and enjoys traveling and playing soccer.

Sky Kelsey, 5-10, Jr., TR, Anchorage, Alaska, Frontier Charter School, University of Alaska Anchorage

Kelsey joins the Buffs after spending the last two seasons on the UAA Ski Team. He did not compete in 2020, and in 2019 had one podium appearance, a third place finish at the MSU Invitational in the GS. He was sixth in the slalom race at the CU Invitational and had four total top 10 finishes on the season, all in GS, in seven starts. He skied for UAA at the 2019 NCAA Championships, finishing 16th in the GS and 29th in the slalom. He was the U16 national overall champion in 2013 and '14. He was the U18 national champion in the downhill and took fifth in the slalom and at the U19 championships, he took second in the Super G. At the 2018 National Junior Championships, he was sixth in the GS and seventh in the slalom. He was a member of the Team USA National Training Group from 2016-18.

He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Frontier Charter school and is interested in majoring in Political Science and Media Production at Colorado.

Chase Seymour, 5-9, Fr., HS, Steamboat Springs, Colo., Steamboat Springs, Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club

Seymour has competed in over 150 FIS-sanctioned races since 2016 including North American Cup races, National Championship races and has competed as an individual in RMISA races since 2017. He has seven top 10 finishes in FIS races including two podium appearances. He finished third place in the slalom at the Holiday Classic in his hometown of Steamboat Springs and was also third in the GS at Vail. He made it to the Round of 8 on the World Pro Ski Tour.

He's interested in studying Business Administration at Colorado and has two brothers, Jett and Trey. Trey currently skis for the University of Denver and Jett was a member of the DU team and won the 2019 NCAA Individual Championship in the slalom. He enjoys mountain and road biking, and has volunteered teaching kids how to reach and how to ski and coaching mountain biking for kids ages 8-14. He chose CU because it's a great school with a great team and even better location.

Ivy Eski, 5-8, Fr., HS, Anchorage, Alaska, West Anchorage, Team Alaska

Eski's West Anchorage Nordic team was named the fastest cross country team in the nation for three straight years. She placed third at the Alaska State Championships her junior year and fourth as a senior, when she was also second in the Anchorage Region. Her teams won three state championships while also finishing third her senior year when the team was younger. She won the Besh Cup for U18, a series of six races, earning several podiums. At the US Junior Nationals, she has placed in the top 10 several times with a best of seventh in 2020. Her relay teams finished second in the U16 age group in 2018 and won the U18 age group in 2019, but was unable to finish in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She was a member of the National Honors Society at West Anchorage High School, a member of the Highly Gifted program and on the Honor Roll ever semester. She is planning to major in Integrative Psychology at Colorado and wants to be a physical therapist.

Weronika Kaleta, 5-7, Fr., HS, Kasina Wielka, Poland, Szkola Mistrozostwa Sportowego w Zakopanem, Polish National Team

Kaleta has skied for LKS MARKAM Wisniowa-Osieczany sports club for the last six years. She has 13 starts on the World Cup level, seven World Cup and six stage World Cup, with one top 20 performance in the team sprint final Dresden, Germany, in 2019, and she also competed at the World Championships in 2019. At the U23 World Championships in 2020, she finished 11th place in the sprint finals. She won a sprint race in a Slavic Cup competition at Strbske Pleso, Slovakia, in 2018 and overall has 10 podium appearances in FIS-sanctioned races.

She has two older and three younger siblings and along with her sister, Karolina, 17, are members of the Polish National Team. She lists cross country skiing as her main hobby and lifestyle and chose CU because of the great conditions for sports and scientific development.

Oyvind Haugen, 5-8, Fr., HS, Oslo, Norway, Norges Toppidrettsgymnas Gielo/Heming IL

Haugen competed primarily in biathlon during high school years, but has competed in high level FIS competition in cross country, as well. He finished 28th in the Norwegian National Championships in 2020 in the 15K freestyle races and competed in the Norwegian Junior National Championships in 2015, '16 and '18. He won the Junior Norwegian Cup Biathlon in 2019 and was a Junior National Champion in the relay in biathlon in 2019, and a U19 National Champion in the Biathlon mass start in 2017. His Heming team was ninth place in the relay at the Norwegian National Championships.

He is interested in majoring in Business Administration and he has one older brother. HIs parents run a luxury resort and vineyard in Piedmont, Italy, named Tenuta Miranda. He has spent his summer volunteering at a camp since 2015. He chose Colorado because they are among the best in both academics and sports.

Will Koch, 5-9, Fr., HS, Peru, Vt., Stratton Mountain School, Team USA

Koch is the top ranked American men's Nordic skier for his year of birth for sprint, distance and overall. He won a bronze medal at the Youth Olympic Games in the 10K classic race and was fourth in the Cross Country Cross finals. He has two fourth place finishes in Scandinavian Cups, in Estonia in 2019 and Sweden in 2020. He has competed in the U.S. National Championships for the past three seasons and on the U.S. Super Tour and in North American Cup races. He has 10 overall top 10's in FIS-sanctioned races with one podium appearance. He has five junior national championship wins, nine junior national podiums and 14 All-American finishes.

He was the valedictorian at Stratton Mountain and is interested in studying Physics at Colorado and is fascinated to learn how the physical world works. His sister, Mehana, skis at Wellesley College. He enjoys mountaineering, back country skiing and juggling and ride a unicycle. His father, Bill, is famous in the Nordic skiing world as the inventor of the freestyle or skate skiing technique. He was the first American to win a medal in international competition in 1974, won the silver medal in the 1976 Olympics, the U.S.'s first and only Olympic medal until 2018, and was the overall world champion in 1982.

Players Mentioned

Stef Fleckenstein

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