Buffs Move Up To Second At DU Invitational

Friday, January 22

Minturn, Colo.

All Day

Colorado

5/7.5K Freestyle

January 22, 2021 | Skiing

Results (PDF)

Boee Wins Second Freestyle Race Of Season; Haugan Podiums In First Collegiate Race

By: Curtis Snyder, Assistant AD/Sports Information

MINTURN, Colo. – Sophomore Magnus Boee won his second freestyle race in two tries to open the 2021 season and freshman Oyvind Haugan earned a podium in his first collegiate race, propelling the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team into second place at the Denver Invitational here at Maloit Park Friday.

Boee and Haugan were joined by freshman Will Koch in eighth place and not to be outdone, the CU women's team also placed three in the top 10 with sophomore Anna-Maria Dietze taking fourth, matching her career-best freestyle finish, followed by junior Ezra Smith in sixth and freshman Weronika Kaleta in ninth.

CU won the men's race with 97 points, eight ahead of Utah and 28 more than Montana State to pass the Bobcats in the team standings. The Buffs then scored 81 points in the women's race, good for third, but the combined 178 points was the second most in the field behind Utah's combined 183. In the team standings, Utah leads with 490 points with CU 42 points back with 448, but then 40.5 ahead of third place Montana State (407.5). Westminster (359), Alaska Anchorage (346.5), Denver (190) and Colorado Mountain College (121) round out the team scoring.

The Buffs also placed five of the top 12 in the men's race with junior Wyatt Gebhardt finishing 11th and senior Ryan Jackson 12th, while senior Tyler Terranova finished 18th in one of his best career finishes. This race marks just the second time in the last decade the Buffs have had five of the top 12 finishers in a men's Nordic race. Freshman Ivy Eski on the women's side was 15th and senior Quinn Lehmkuhl's 20th place finish to give all nine Buffs top 20 finishes.

Boee's win was by just three-tenths of a second ahead of Utah's Samuel Hendry, 19:07.9 to 19:08.2, marking just one of five races in the RMISA over the past seven years that has been that close and being topped by only one race in that time. Haugan clocked a time of 19:21.6 behind those two and well ahead of fourth place Zanden McMullen from Montana State (19:36.5).

The women's race was dominated by Utah's Novie McCabe (14:27.4) and Alaska Anchorage's Astird Staf (14:31.9) who were about a minute ahead of the rest of the competition. The Seawolve's Tuva Bygrave was third in 15:27.8, ahead of Dietze's time of 15:40.3. There were just 17.2 seconds separating Dietze in fourth and Kaleta (15:57.5) in ninth with Smith's time of 15:43.9 just one-tenth of a second outside the top five.

WHAT IT MEANS: Although not unexpected, the Buffs ascension up the standings is nonetheless a great sign and the manner in which they accomplished the feat was impressive Friday. Any time a Buff wins a race, whether it's an individual or as a team, it's a big deal, and Boee's performance along with Haugan's podium in his first college race and Koch's top 10 (a sophomore and two freshmen) give the CU youngsters a lot of confidence early in the season. On the women's side, Dietze, Smith and Kaleta remain the scorers for the Buffs and finished in that same order for the third straight race, but moved up a combined 16 spots between the three of them from Monday's race in Utah. The Utes still look very good, but the Buffs proved they can ski with them, diminishing what was a 33 point lead after the freestyle races in the Utah meet down to just five.

UP NEXT: The Denver Invitational will be the first meet to finish in the 2021 season on Saturday with the 7.5K women's and 10K men's classic races here at Maloit Park. Three meets are concurrently happening, which is believed to be a first in RMISA history. After Saturday, the Nordic teams will have a week off before closing out the Spencer James Nelson CU Memorial Invitational in Aspen on Feb. 5-6.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs won a race as a team for the first time this season, picking up 97 points in the men's race. Along with 81 in the women's race, good for third, the Buffs scored 178 points on the day, just five behind Utah's total of 185. To compare, the Utes beat the Buffs by 33 points in the freestyle races last week at Soldier Hollow and by 106 points in the two Nordic races.
The Buffs moved up from fourth to second in the team standings. Entering the day, the top four were Westminster 359, Utah 307, Montana State 281 and Colorado 270. After the men's race, Utah and Colorado had passed Westminster, which doesn't field a Nordic team, and the Buffs had also surpassed the Bobcats with Utah holding a 396-367 advantage over Colorado and MSU closing in on the Griffins, 359-350. Then after the women's race, Utah opened up a 42-point advantage over Colorado with Montana State 40.5 behind the Buffs, 490-448-407.5.
CU's team scorers, for the men, were Boee (40), Haugan (34) and Koch (23). On the women's side, Dietze (31), was followed by Smith (27) and Kaleta (23). To letter for the Buffs, you have to score for the team three times throughout the course of the season, and all six except Haugan, who is racing for the first time this season, have already accomplished that feat.
On the day, the Buffs had one win, two podiums, three top five, six top 10 and nine top 20 finishes.
The men's team had five finishers in the top 12, a feat that has happened just once in the past decade. The Buffs have only once had more than five in the top 12 when all six skiers finished that high in the 1989 Utah Invitational. The most recent time it's happened was at the 2019 New Mexico Invitational. This is the 16th time since 1989 the Buffs have had five or more skiers finish in the top 12 in a men's Nordic race.

MEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Boee's win is the fifth of his career and 652nd in CU history. He's the 18th men's Nordic skier in CU history to win two or more freestyle races in the same season. He's the 10th skier in CU history to win three freestyle races in a career and his five career wins ties him for 26th among men's skiers and tied for 37th overall in CU history.
Haugan's third place finish is the highest for a skier in their first race since Maria Nordstroem finished third to open her career in the 2013 Colorado Invitational 15K women's freestyle race. It's the best finish for a men's skier in his college debut since 2009 when Vegard Kjoelhamar won the 10K freestyle race at the Alaska Anchorage Invitational.
Koch earned his first career top 10 finish in his third career race after knocking on the door twice in Utah, taking 11th in the freestyle and 12th in the classic races.
Gebhardt broke out of a funk of sorts with his 11th place finish, which is the highest since he finished seventh to open the 2020 season in the freestyle race at the CU Invitational. Dating back to the Utah Invitational in mid-February of 2020, it's his first top 20 finish in the last seven races, and it gives him 15th career top 20 finishes.
Jackson continues to improve every race early in the 2021 season as he gets back into full conditioning after an off season injury. He took 20th and 16th at Utah and improved to 12th on Friday. It was his second-best freestyle finish of his career behind a ninth place finish at the 2020 RMISA Championships. His best classic finish came at that same meet when he was the runner up.
Terranova's 18th place finish matches the second-best freestyle finish of his career. He was also 18th on this same course his freshman season at the 2018 Denver Invitational, a mark he bettered by one with a 17th place finish in the RMISA Nordic Qualifier freestyle race in Aspen last season. He now has four career top 20 finishes with three coming in freestyle races.

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Dietze's fourth place finish matched her career best for freestyle and this is her third different fourth place freestyle finish in her career, also coming in fourth last season at the Utah Invitational and RMISA Championships. It's her fifth career top five finish, first of 2021, and eighth career top 10 and second of the season.
Smith's sixth place finish matches the second-best freestyle finish of her career and third-best overall finish. She was also sixth last season here at Maloit Park in the freestyle race, bested by her fifth-place finish at the RMISA Championships. Her overall best finish was in a classic race her freshman season at the 2019 New Mexico Invitational when she took third. She now has nine career top 10 finishes.
Kaleta placed in ninth for the second straight freestyle race of the season, giving her two top 10 finishes early in her career.
Eski had the best finish of her young career in 15th, moving up four spots from her 19th place finish at Utah earlier this week and giving her two top 20s in her first three career races.
Lehmkuhl had her first top 20 of the season after finishing 22nd and 23rd at Utah earlier this week. She now has eight career top 20 finishes with four apiece in each discipline.

TEAM STANDINGS (Thru 6 of 8 events): 1. Utah 490; 2. Colorado 448; 3. Montana STate 407.5; 4. Westminster 359; 5. Alaska Anchorage 346.5; 6. Denver 190; 7. Colorado Mountain 121.

MEN'S 7.5K FREESTYLE (24 collegiate finishers)—1. Magnus Boee, CU, 19:07.9; 2. Samuel Hendry, UU, 19:08.2; 3. Oyvind Haugan, CU, 19:21.6; 4. Zanden McMullen, MSU, 19:36.5; 6. Bjorn Rissaasen, UU, 19:49.5; 7. Ola Jordheim, UU, 19:52.0; 8. Will Koch, CU, 19:56.9; 9. Espen Persen, UAA, 20:05.9; 10. Magnus Noroey, UAA, 20:06.4. Other CU Finishers: 11. Wyatt Gebhardt, 20:11.7; 12. Ryan Jackson, 20:12.4; 18. Tyler Terranova, 21:13.8.

WOMEN'S 5K FREESTYLE (24 collegiate finishers)—1. Movie McCabe, UU, 14:27.4; 2. Astrid Stav, UAA, 14:31.9; 3. Tuva Bygrave, UAA, 15:27.8; 4. Anna-Maria Dietze, CU, 15:40.3; 5. Mariah Bredal, UU, 15:43.8; 6. Ezra Smith, CU, 15:43.9; 7. Julia Richter, UU, 15:56.5; 8. Sydney Palmer-Leger, UU, 15:57.0; 9. Weronika Kaleta, CU, 15:57.5; 10. Vera Norli, DU, 16:09.7. Other CU Finishers: 15. Ivy Eski, 16:42.0; 20. Quinn Lehmkuhl, 16:58.2.