Boee Sweeps As Buffs Finish Second At DU Invitational

Saturday, January 23

Minturn, Colo.

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Boee Sweeps As Buffs Finish Second At DU Invitational

January 23, 2021 | Skiing

Sophomore's Win Is Third In Four Races To Open Season

By: Curtis Snyder, Assistant AD/Sports Information

MINTURN, Colo. – Sophomore Magnus Boee earned a meet sweep by winning the men's 10K classic race as the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team finished second here Saturday at Maloit Park to close out the Denver Invitational.

Boee's win is his third of the season and first in classic action. It's his sixth career win, three of which have come in classic races. He has never lost a race at Maloit Park, having now swept the races for the second straight season for the DU meet. Boee continues the Buffs dominance at Maloit Park as the Buffs have now won 11 of 14 men's Nordic races at the venue since it became DU's home in 2013.

The men's team again put three skiers in the top eight with freshman Oyvind Haugan finishing sixth and freshman Will Koch eighth. The women's team finished in succession with junior Ezra Smith leading the squad in ninth followed by freshman Weronika Kaleta in 10th and sophomore Anna-Maria Dietze in 11th. Those six skiers racked up 160 points to finish with 608 points in the meet.

Utah won both races Saturday, topping the men's team by a single point (91-90) and scoring 102 in the women's race to finish with 683 points, 75 ahead of the Buffs. Behind CU was Montana State (538.5), Alaska Anchorage (503.5), Westminster (359), host Denver (307) and Colorado Mountain College (121). After opening in fifth with a short-handed alpine squad, the Buffs moved their way up the field to finish second in the first complete meet of the season.

The Utes Samuel Hendry was immediately behind Boee for the second straight race. While not as close as the three-tenths of a second win in the freestyle race Saturday, this time Boee won by 1.8 seconds, 27:39.4 to 27:41.2. Alaska Anchorage's Sigurd Roenning rounded out the podium in a time of 28:08.1.

In the women's race, UAA's Astrid Stav won the race, the first time a Utah skier hasn't won a women's Nordic race this season. Her time of 25:55.2 was four seconds ahead of the Utes Novie McCabe (25:59.2). The Utes did place three in the top four and five in the top eight ahead of the Buffs 9-10-11 finish.

WHAT IT MEANS: As the dust settles on the first meet completed of the season, the Buffs did what they needed to do on the Nordic side and moved up from fourth after being short-handed on the women's alpine side to take second. Utah, however, has picked up where it left off last season as one of the deeper teams in recent memory. That depth is especially helpful in the regular season where six skiers can compete for one of three scoring positions for each team, unlike the NCAA Championships where only three skiers are allowed to compete per team. The Nordic teams will attempt to repeat this feat and move up the standings of the CU Invitational in two weeks, but the Buffs full strength shouldn't be judged until the two RMISA Invitationals conclude in February leading up to the RMISA Championships.

UP NEXT: After two meets in the last seven days, the teams will now have a week off before resuming CU's own Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational in Aspen on Feb. 5-6. Teams will compete in freestyle sprint races on Friday, Feb. 5, before finishing off the meet Saturday, Feb. 6 with classic races. CU currently sits fourth in that meet as the Buffs, Utah and Montana State are all within 31 points of each other behind Westminster, which does not field a Nordic team.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs finished the meet in second place with 608 points, 75 behind meet winner Utah's total of 683. CU was then 69.5 points ahead of Montana State (538.5) and 104.5 ahead of Alaska Anchorage (144.5).
The Buffs scored the most points in men's Nordic action with 187 points over the two races, ahead of Utah's total of 180. The Utes edged the Buffs 91-90 Saturday after the Buffs scored 97 points and won the freestyle race Friday.
CU finished second in the point totals for Nordic and overall men's standings, third for women's Nordic and men's alpine, fourth in alpine and overall women, and fifth in women's alpine.
Scorers for the Buffs Saturday were Boee (40), Haugan (27) and Koch (23) for the men and Smith (25), Kaleta (23) and Dietze (22) on the women's side for 90 points in the men's race and 70 in the women's and a total of 160 on the day.
Utah won the Denver Invitational for the second straight season. Since the Pioneers resumed skiing in 1994, CU has won the DU Invitational nine times, more than any other team, and the Buffs have finished first or second 11 straight meets dating back to 1995 and in all but two meets since 1994.
Utah now has 67.5 meet victories since skiing went coed in 1983 and now hold a 5.5 advantage over the Buffs total of 62.

MEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Boee's win is the third of the season, first in classic action, and sixth of his career with three apiece in freestyle and classic action. It's the 653rd race win in CU history.
Boee has now won four straight races at Maloit Park and give the Buffs five meet sweeps in the last seven meets since Denver made the venue its Nordic home in 2013. Rune Oedegaard (2014), Mads Stroem (2016) and Alvar Alev (2019) also swept races at Maloit Park and Boee's four wins is the most ahead of Oedegaard's three (one in 2013). Oedegaard also swept races at the DU meet in 2012 at Tabernash before moving to Maloit Park, meaning CU has won 13 of the past 16 men's Nordic races hosted by the Pioneers.
Haugan continued the impressive start to his career with a sixth place finish, giving him a third and sixth place finish in his first collegiate meet.
Koch finished eighth for the second straight race, marking his first two career top 10 finishes and first in classic action.
Ryan Jackson finished 11th in a time of 29:12.7, again showing improvement for the fourth straight race. He opened the season 20th in the freestyle and 16th in the classic races at Soldier Hollow earlier in the week and was 12th in Friday's freestyle race.
Wyatt Gebhardt finished 20th in a time of 30:37.3 for his 16th career top 20 finish.
Tyler Terranova finished 21st in a time of 31:07.4, his best classic finish since taking 20th in the 2020 Owl Creek Chase, which doubled as an RMISA Nordic Qualifier.

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Smith led the Buffs with a ninth place finish, improving four spots from her 13th place classic finish in Utah. It's her 11th career top 10 finish and second of the season.
Kaleta's 10th place finish gives her three top 10s in her first four career races as she has finished between ninth and 12th in all four races so far this season.
Dietze's 11th place finish gives her four top 11's to open the season and her second straight 11th place classic finish to go with a fourth and sixth in freestyle races.
Quinn Lehmkuhl's 16th place finish matches her career best for a classic race, matching a 16th place at the 2018 New Mexico Invitational. It's her ninth career top 20 and fifth in classic races.
Ivy Eski finished 19th to give her three top 20s in her first four career races and first in classic action after she took 24th in the classic race at Utah.

TEAM STANDINGS (FINAL): 1. Utah, 683; 2. Colorado 608; 3. Montana State 538.5; 4. Alaska Anchorage 503.5; 5. Westminster 359; 6. Denver 307; 7. Colorado Mountain 121.

MEN'S 10K CLASSIC (23 collegiate finishers)—1. Magnus Boee, CU, 27:39.4; 2. Samuel Hendry, UU, 27:41.2; 3. Sigurd Roenning, UAA, 28:08.1; 4. Zanden McMullen, MSU, 28:10.9; 5. Ola Jordheim, UU, 28:21.4; 6. Oyvind Haugan, CU, 28:21.4; 7. Bjorn Riksaasen, UU, 28:41.1; 8. Will Koch, CU, 28:42.3; 9. Bernhard Flaschberger, DU, 29:03.8; 10. Ti Donaldson, MSU, 29:06.6. Other CU Finishers: 11. Ryan Jackson, 29:12.7; 20. Wyatt Gebhardt, 30:37.3; 21. Tyler Terranova, 31:07.4.

WOMEN'S 7.5K CLASSIC (23 collegiate finishers)—1. Astrid Stav, UAA, 25:55.2; 2. Novie McCabe, UU, 25:59.2; 3. Sydney Palmer-Leger, UU, 26:14.9; 4. Mariah Bredal, UU, 26:33.9; 5. Tuva Bygrave, UAA, 26:54.8; 6. Vera Norli, DU, 27:00.3; 7. Karianne Moe, UU, 27:10.6; 8. Julia Richter, UU, 27:12.3; 9. Ezra Smith, CU, 27:22.6; 10. Weronika Kaleta, CU, 27:34.8. Other CU Finishers: 11. Anna-Maria Dietze, 27:49.0; 16. Quinn Lehmkuhl, 29:14.5; 19. Ivy Eski, 29:57.5.