Buffs Open In Fifth Place At Own Invitational

NEDERLAND, Colo. – Junior Kaitlyn Harsch and senior Isabelle Fidjeland both secured the best finishes of their career, but the Colorado Buffaloes ski team opened up in fifth place at its own Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational Tuesday here at Eldora Mountain Resort.

The Buffs are still short-handed with only four of eight skiers participating Tuesday and it showed in the team standings, with the Buffs sitting in fifth place. Similar to the standings after two GS races Sunday as part of the Denver Invitational, Westminster is leading the meet after the first day with 181 points, followed by Utah (165), Montana State (139) and Alaska Anchorage (128.5) ahead of the Buffs total of 126.5. Colorado Mountain scored 89 points while Denver, with just one skier that didn't finish either race, did not score.

Harsch finished sixth place in the afternoon race and it marks the first time she's led the way for the Buffs in a college race. It marks her second career top 10 finish, both of which have come in slalom races. She didn't finish the first race of the day.

Harsch, however, wasn't the only Buff to earn a personal best. Fidjeland was the Buffs' most consistent skier on the day, and did so after starting back in the field in both races. She picked up a pair of ninth place finishes after starting each race in 45th place, easily the best improvement in both races from starting position to end result among college skiers. Those two finishes match her best career finish of ninth in a slalom race at New Mexico in the 2018 season.

Senior Andrea Arnold finished 13th and 12th, respectively, in the two races. Sophomore Emma Hammergaard was 14th in the first race and did not finish the second race.

Utah newcomer Madison Hoffman won her first career race in the morning race while Westminster's Julia Toiviainen, who finished second in the morning race, won the afternoon race and has now won three of the four races early in the college season.

WHAT IT MEANS: Much as was explained Sunday after the women's GS races, the Buffs certainly are never satisfied being in the bottom half of the team standings. In the DU Invitational when the Buffs sat in fifth after the first day, the men were able to move up the team up a spot and tightened the team standings in that meet. The good news is the top four teams in the league that sponsor both alpine and Nordic, necessary to compete for a meet title, are within 40 points. If CU's men's team, which has been better in slalom than GS in recent years, can close the gap again Wednesday, the standings should be up in the air for the Nordic teams when they continue this meet in early February. The other silver lining is that multiple Buffs have set new or come close to setting new career marks, so when the women's team is closer to full strength later in the season, the team standings should reflect that progress.

UP NEXT: The men will now take center stage at Eldora on Wednesday with two slalom races to close out the alpine portion of the CU Invitational. After that, Nordic teams will then get the 2021 season underway with three meets in three weeks, starting Sunday at Soldier Hollow in Utah for an RMISA Invitational. Nordic teams will then close out the DU Invitational Jan. 22-23 at Maloit Park and the CU Invitational Feb. 5-6 in Aspen.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs scored 58.5 points in the first race and 68 points in the second race to sit in fifth place with 126.5, just two behind Alaska Anchorage and fourth place (128.5) and 12.5 points behind third place Montana State (139).
With just four skiers and three counting for team scoring, the Buffs are able to discard just one result should everybody finish. Unfortunately Tuesday, Harsh didn't finish the first race and Hammergaard the second, so every result counted. The bright spot is the Buffs did secure three finishers in both races so they didn't take a zero in one of those scoring spots.

INDIVIDUAL:

Harsch came back in the afternoon after not finishing the morning race and took sixth place, her career best finish by four spots. It's her second career top 10, both coming in slalom races. After finishing 13th in both GS races at the DU Invitational, Harsh has now set a new career best in both disciplines after the first races in those disciplines to continue a solid start to her season.
Fidjeland finished ninth in both races, both matching her career best slalom finish of ninth first set back in the 2018 season. She had her fourth and fifth career top 10 finishes, getting her fifth campaign as part of the team off to a fantastic start. She accomplished her career bests despite starting 45th in both races. She started that far back due to some bad luck. Last season she returned for the final two races of the season, but both were GS races. Because she skied at all, she couldn't roll over results from the previous year to potentially earn a higher starting position. In GS, she started 20th based on her results from 2020, but because she didn't have any slalom results in 2020, she had to start further back in the field.
Arnold also continued a solid start to her fifth season in a Buffs uniform with two more top 15 finishes to open the season. She has become one of the more consistent skiers, now having finished 14 of the last 15 college races dating back to early last season, and has just one finish outside the top 20 in that time.
Hammergaard finished the first race in 15th and then had a DNF in the second race, her second DNF in four races this season, matching her total through 13 races last season. She has been a consistent top 15 finisher thus far in her career with 10 such finishes in those 13 finishes early in her sophomore season.

TEAM STANDINGS (Thru 2 of 8 events): 1. Westminster 181; 2. Utah 165; 3. Montana State 139; 4. Alaska Anchorage 128.5; 5. Colorado 126.5; 6. Colorado Mountain 89; 7. Denver 0.

WOMEN'S SLALOM #1 (23 collegiate finishers)—1. Madison Hoffman, UU, 1:30.21; 2. Julie Toiviainen, WMC, 1:30.76; 3. Denise Dingsleder, WMC, 1:31.90; 4. Kristiane Bekkestad, MSU, 1:32.32; 5. Tegan Wold, MSU, 1:32.42; 6. Brynne Hitchcock, MSU, 1:32.67; 7. Lana Zbasnik, WMC, 1:32.76; 8. Li Djurstaal, UAA, 1:32.77; 9. Isabelle Fidjeland, CU & Rebecca Fiegl, UAA, 1:32.78. Other CU Finishers: 13. Andrea Arnold, 1:32.98; 14. Emma Hammergaard, 1:33.19. Did Not Finish First Run: Kaitlyn Harsch.

WOMEN'S SLALOM #2 (20 collegiate finishers)—1. Julie Toiviainen, WMC, 1:35.27; 2. Tegan Wold, MSU, 1:36.61; 3. Katie Vesterstein, UU, 1:36.88; 4. Madison Hoffman, UU, 1:36.94; 5. Rebecca Fiegl, UAA, 1:37.34; 6. Katilyn Harsch, CU, 1:37.63; 7. Lana Zbasnik, WMC, 1:37.65; 8. Michelle Kerven, UU, 1:37.96; 9. Isabelle FIdjeland, CU, 1:38.08; 10. Georgia Burgess, UAA, 1:38.27. Other CU Finisher: 12. Andrea Arnold, 1:38.41. Did Not Finish First Run: Emma Hammergaard.

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Players Mentioned

Andrea Arnold

Isabelle Fidjeland

Emma Hammergaard

Kaitlyn Harsch