Forejtek Podiums Twice; Buffs Move To Fourth At DU

ASPEN, Colo. – Junior Filip Forejtek earned two podium appearances as the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team moved up one spot into fourth place after at the 2021 Denver Invitational here Monday at Aspen Highlands as the alpine events come to a close for the meet.

Forejtek picked up in 2021 where he left off in 2020, taking second place in the first GS race of the day and then finishing third in the other GS race in the afternoon. Forejtek closed out 2020 with three straight podium appearances in the postseason at the RMISA and NCAA Championships and now has five straight podium appearances.

"Two podiums for Filip and the rest of the guys are in pretty close distance to the top of the field," CU Coach Richard Rokos said. "It was a good confidence builder, it's good to see it go that way."

The Buffs finished second in the team standings in both race, picking up 82 points in the first race and 76 in the second to finish with 270 points. CU sits 89 points behind Westminster (359), but just 37 points behind second-place Utah (307) and 11 points behind Montana State (281) as the middle of the standings tightened from Sunday's women's results. Alaska Anchorage is fifth with 195 points while Colorado Mountain College (121) and host Denver (71) close out the team standings.

Senior Joey Young finished seventh in the first race and then after clocking in the second-fastest intermediate time on the first run of the second race, he fell hard on a gate and didn't finish the run. He headed back to Boulder early to get checked out by CU's medical staff and is unclear whether he will race in Tuesday's slalom races at Eldora.

Freshman Louis Fausa rebounded from a DNF in his first race to take ninth in the second race. He started 31st, moved his way up to 22nd after the first run, and then used the second-fastest time in the field to move all the way up to ninth. Juniors Sky Kelsey and Bobby Ryan were the only Buffs aside from Forejtek to finish both races and both finished in the top 20 in both races.

Alex Birkner and Max Bervy both picked up new career bests by trading places. After Birkner finished 12th in the first race, he didn't finish the second and Bervy was 12th in the first race and picked up a DNF in the second race. The 12th place finish by both are new career bests. Freshman Chase Seymour didn't finish either race but did finish one run in both races.

The podium was the same for both races as Utah's Gustav Voello picked up two wins. Forejtek and Westminster's Mikkel Solbakken traded places as Solbakken was third in the first race and fourth in the second. In the first race, Westminster's Joachim Mjelde and Alaska Anchorage's Didrik Nilsen rounded out the top five while Utah's Huston Philp and Montana State's Aage Solheim did the same in the second race.

CU will now turn its focus to slalom and hosting the CU Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational Tuesday and Wednesday. The women will compete in two slalom races Tuesday and the men in two slalom races on Wednesday.

"It's always good to compete at home and get on your home hill," Rokos said. "We've trained there a lot this season and should be familiar with the terrain."

WHAT IT MEANS: While the Buffs scored the third-most points on the day and moved up one spot into fourth place, the standings definitely tightened in the middle of the pack. Colorado was one point behind Alaska Anchorage and now holds a 75 point advantage over the Seawolves. Meanwhile, the Buffs closed the gap on Montana State, now just 11 points back, and are within 37 points of Utah. Westminster doesn't have a Nordic team, so essentially, the Nordic portion of the meet will commence with CU, Utah and Montana State fighting it out for the meet.

UP NEXT: Teams will now travel from Aspen Highlands Resort to Eldora Mountain Resort near Boulder to kick off CU's Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational on Tuesday and Wednesday. The women will compete in two slalom races on Tuesday, followed by the men on Wednesday. The DU Invitational will conclude with Nordic action Jan. 22-23 at Maloit Park near Vail while the CU Invitational will conclude Feb. 5-6 with Nordic action back in Aspen. But first, Nordic teams will begin another meet on Jan. 17-18 at Soldier Hollow in Utah.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs scored 158 points on the day, up from 112 in the women's races, and now sit with 270 points in fourth place.
CU was second in both races, scoring 82 in the first race, tied with Utah and four points behind Westminster, and scoring 76 in the second race, 20 behind Utah and three ahead of Westminster and Montana State.
The Buffs turned in two podium appearances on the day, both from Forejtek, while Young and Fausa also picked up top 10 finishes, giving the Buffs four top 10s. In all, every finish was in the top 10 with the Buffs picking up 10 of them.

INDIVIDUAL:

Forejtek finished second and third, respectively, in the two races, giving him two podium appearances to open the season. He now has five straight podium appearances counting the postseason last year and minus on DNF last year, he's finished in the top four in eight straight finishes in the last nine races. He now has eight career podium appearances, six in GS races, and 11 top-five performances in his career. Each of Forjtek's four runs ranked in the top five in the field. He was third after the first run of the first race and had the fifth-fastest second run. He was fourth after the first run of the second race and again had the fifth-fastest second run.
Young raced in his 40th and 41st collegiate race Monday and his seventh-place finish gives him he's 31 top 20 and 19 top 10 finishes in 36 finishes in his career. He had the fifth-fastest first run in the field in the first race.
Fausa didn't finish his first collegiate race but picked up a top 10 in his first career finish in his second race. He had the second-fastest second run in the field in the second race of the day.
Bervy picked up a new career-best 12th place finish, topping a pair of 14th place finishes he picked up in one slalom and one GS race in 2020. It was his sixth career top 20 finish.
Birkner's 12th place finish in the second race was also the best of his career. His previous best was 15th in a slalom RMISA Qualifier race last season. His previous best GS finish was 19th last season at the CU Invitational. It was his seventh career top 20 finish in his 13th collegiate race.
Junior transfer Sky Kelsey picked up a pair of top 20 finishes, taking 20th in the first race and 15th in the second. After transferring from Alaska Anchorage where he didn't ski in 2020, he finished a race for the first time since March 9, 2019, at the NCAA Championships. It's his seventh and eighth career top 20 finish.
Bobby Ryan also finished bot races, taking 15th in the first race and 17th in the second. He's in his second season at CU after transferring from Boston College. He now has seven career top 20 finishes, with six of those coming at CU.
Freshman Chase Seymour picked up two DNF's in his first two college races but did finish the first run in both races. In the first race, he struggled and was 30th among college skiers, but in the second race, his first run time was 22nd best among college racers.

TEAM STANDINGS (Thru 4 of 8 events): 1. Westminster 359; 2. Utah 307; 3. Montana State 281; 4. Colorado 270; 5. Alaska Anchorage 195; 6. Colorado Mountain 121; 7. Denver 71.

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM #1 (22 collegiate finishers)—1. Gustav Voello, UU, 2:05.51; 2. Filip Forejtek, CU, 2:05.92; 3. Mikkel Solbakken, WMC, 2:06.55; 4. Joachim Mjelde, WMC, 2:06.56; 5. Didrik Nilsen, UAA, 2:07.48; 6. Louis Muhlen-Schulte, MSU, 2:07.61; 7. Joey Young, CU, 2:07.73; 8. Tomas Birkner, UU, 2:08.13; 9. Henry Hakoshima, CMC, 2:08.29; 10. Francesco Gori, WMC, 2:08.47. Other CU Finishers: 12. Alex Birkner, 2:09.01; 15. Bobby Ryan, 2:09.59; 20. Sky Kelsey 2:10.87. Did Not Finish First Run: Louis Fausa. Did Not Finish Second Run: Max Bervy, Chase Seymour.

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM #2 (20 collegiate finishers)—1. Gustva Voello, UU, 2:03.38; 2. Mikkel Solbakken, WMC, 2:03.95; 3. Filip Forejtek, CU, 2:04.90; 4. Huston Philp, UU, 2:05.15; 5. Aage Solheim, MSU, 2:05.38; 6. Louis Muhlen-Schulte, MSU, 2:05.44; 7. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 2:05.69; 8. Didrik Nilsen, UAA, 2:06.21; 9. Louis Fausa, CU, 2:06.39; 10. Tomas Birkner, UU, 2:06.41. Other CU Finishers: 12. Max Bervy, 2:06.68; 15. Sky Kelsey, 2:07.23; 17. Bobby Ryan, 2:07.37. Did Not Finish First Run: Joey Young, Alex Birkner. Did Not Finish Second Run: Chase Seymour.

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Players Mentioned

Max Bervy

Alex Birkner

Louis Fausa

Filip Forejtek

Sky Kelsey

Bobby Ryan

Chase Seymour

Joey Young