Buffs In Third, And In Contention, At RMISA Championships

PARK CITY, Utah – The battle for the 2021 RMISA Championship will come down to the Nordic teams. The Colorado Buffaloes alpine ski team slipped one spot to third, but the standings remain tight after slalom races Friday here at Park City Mountain Resort.

The slalom, the most unpredictable discipline of college skiing, did take a toll on most teams Friday, and when the snow settled, the Buffs picked up 134 points to finish the alpine competition with 297 points in third place. Westminster leads the field with 320 points and Montana State is eight points ahead of the Buffs with 305. Behind the Buffs are Utah with 286 points and further back in fifth place is Denver with 228 points. Westminster does not field a Nordic team, but the Bobcats, Buffs and Utes will all be within 19 points of each other when the Nordic teams pick up the action next weekend at Soldier Hollow.

Junior Filip Forejtek finished second in the men's race and junior Stef Fleckenstein fourth in the women's race to pace the Buffs. Those were the only two top 10 finishes on the day, but no team was able to stockpile more than two skiers into the top nine of either race. Senior Isabelle Fidjeland was the next highest finisher on the women's side in 13th place while junior Olivia Gerrard took 26th. In men's action, juniors Max Bervy in 16th and Bobby Ryan in 18th were the other two team scorers.

The college alpine season is now over for a majority of the Buffs, as only three per gender can ski for the team at the NCAA Championships.

WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs are in a good spot to challenge Utah, along with Montana State, Denver and Alaska Anchorage, for a conference championship next week. The Nordic teams will first compete in the RMISA Invitational at Soldier Hollow where Utah holds a 67 point advantage over the Buffs, 350-283, at the conclusion of the alpine meet. In the RMISA Championships, the Buffs enter with a modest 11 point advantage over the Utes, 297-286. This being the only meet that will mirror what the NCAA Championships will look like on both and alpine and Nordic side, it's also a good sign for the Buffs at the NCAA Championships in March.

Most importantly at the RMISA Championships, the Buffs secured a full alpine team at the NCAA Championships and while coach Richard Rokos has time to pick who will represent the Buffs in New Hampshire, there are plenty of solid options and the Buffs will enter as one of a few teams capable of winning a national championship with a full allotment of six alpine skiers.

UP NEXT: With alpine action now complete, the focus returns to the Nordic side again next week. Teams will compete in the RMISA Invitational at Soldier Hollow on Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 22-23, and then compete in the RMISA Championships next Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27, at which point only the NCAA Championships will remain, scheduled for March 10-13 in Jackson and Francona, New Hampshire.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs scored 61 points in the women's race to finish fourth, and 73 in the men's race to finish third, and slipped one spot to third behind Westminster (320) and Montana State (305) with 297 points through four races.
Individual scorers in the women's race were Fleckenstein (31), Fidjeland (18) and Gerrard (12), and for the men Forejtek (37), Bervy (19) and Ryan (17).

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Fleckenstein's fourth place finish gave her an all-important second top five in slalom action this season, big for NCAA Qualification and seeding. On the slalom side, she should start the slalom race in the top 18 and in the GS race, she will be part of the random draw encompassing the top 10 seeds. She has finished fourth three times this season, twice in slalom and once in GS, giving her four top five finishes in five races finishes, taking seventh in the other. She now has 14 top five finishes in her career.
Fidjeland took 13th place as the Buffs second team scorer, her 17th career top 20 and fifth of the season out of five races finished.
Gerrard had a mishap and had to hike in her second run and she finished 26th. It was a good thing she did hike, as three of her teammates did not finish the race and she wound up being the third Buffs scorer, picking up 12 points. Had she elected not to finish, the Buffs would've slipped to fourth behind Utah.
Senior Andrea Arnold, sophomore Emma Hammergaard and junior Kaitlyn Harsch all did not finish their second runs.

MEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Forejtek picked up another podium, taking second place on the strength of the fifth-fastest first run and third-fastest second run in the field. Along with one slalom win, he was able to move up to the No. 2 seed for the RMISA in slalom action. He is also the No. 3 seed for GS and will be the only skier from the RMISA in the top seed in both races at the NCAA Championships. This marks his sixth podium in 10 races and nine finishes this season with eight top five performances and all nine finished races in the top six. He's now finished in the top six in 14 straight races, the longest stretch in almost 40 years for a men's alpine skier. He took second in the slalom at the RMISA Championships for the second straight season.
Bervy finished in 16th, his second straight top 20. He has finished eight of 10 races this season and he now has 12 top 20 finishes in his career, with seven coming this season, more than half.
Ryan finished in 18th and has been the Buffs most consistent finisher this season, finishing nine of 10 races with seven in the top 20. In two years on the Buffs, he's finished 19 of 22 races with 11 top 20 performances.
Birkner finished in 25th and is probably happy to be leaving Utah. In six races, he had one top 20, taking 14th in the a slalom race at Snowbird on Feb. 9. After not finishing the other slalom race, he took between 25th and 33rd in the four GS races at Park City. He took 12th in the GS race at Aspen to open his season. He has also been consistent in finishing, with eight finishes in 10 races this season and 19 in 22 over the past two seasons.
Young finished in 28th in his 49th career college race. He's finished 41 of those races with 33 in the top 20. It looks as though he's still recovering from an early season fall, in the second GS race on Jan. 11 in Aspen, after he took seventh in the first race. Prior to this season, he had finished 25 of the previous 27 races, including all 14 in his sophomore season in 2019.
Kelsey finished in 31st for the second straight race and has finished eight of 10 races this season with three top 20 performances.
Sophomore Louis Fausa and freshman Chase Seymour did not finish their first runs.

RMISA CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM STANDINGS (Through 4 of 8 Races): 1. Westminster 320; 2. Montana State 305; 3. Colorado 297; 4. Utah 286; 5. Denver 228; 6. Alaska Anchorage 213; 7. Colorado Mountain 146.

WOMEN'S SLALOM (27 collegiate finishers)—1. Tegan Wold, MSU, 1:47.44; 2. Reece Bell, DU, 1:47.57; 3. Rebecca Fiegl, UAA, 1:47.92; 4. Stef Fleckenstein, CU, 1:48.34; 5. Julia Toiviainen, WMC, 1:49.61; 6. Michelle Kerven, UU, 1:49.93; 7. Kristiane Bekkestad, MSU, 1:50.45; 8. Li Djurestaal, UAA, 1:50.52; 9. Eveline Fredricsson, WMC, 1:50.57; 10. Lana Zbasnik, WMC, 1:50.65. Other CU Finishers: 13. Isabelle Fidjeland, CU, 1:51.14; 26. Olivia Gerrard, 2:04.62. Did Not Finish Second Run: Andrea Arnold, Emma Hammergaard, Kaitlyn Harsch.

MEN'S SLALOM (32 collegiate finishers)—1. Bjorn Brudevoll, UU, 1:38.31; 2. Filip Forejtek, CU, 1:39.00; 3. Mikkel Solbakken, WMC, 1:39.09; 4. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:39.48; 5. Francesco Gori, WMC, 1:39.51; 6. Louis Muhlen-Schulte, MSU, 1:40.14; 7. Joachim Lein, UU, 1:41.19; 8. Tobias Kogler, DU, 1:41.84; 9. Aage Solheim, MSU, 1:41.99; 10. Dawson Yates, MSU, 1:42.12. Other CU Finishers: 16. Max Bervy, 1:42.68; 18. Bobby Ryan, 1:43.04; 25. Alex Birkner, 1:44.23; 28. Joey Young, 1:46.06; 31. Sky Kelsey, 1:47.51. Did Not Finish: Louis Fausa, Chase Seymour.

CASSIDY GRAY UPDATE—Freshman Cassidy Gray was with the Buffs for the first part of the Utah swing, winning the GS race at Park City earlier in the week, then headed to Italy to take part in the World Championships at Cortina D'Ampezzo, where she participated in the parallel, team parallel and giant slalom. She took 23rd in the GS race, believed to be the best finish but a CU skier at World Championships. Gray will remain in Europe with Team Canada before returning prior to NCAA Championships.

WILL KOCH UPDATE—Freshman Will Koch recently returned from Vuokatti, Finland, where he represented the United States at the World Junior Championships. There, he took 43rd in the classic sprints, 36th in the 10K freestyle race and helped Team USA to an eighth place finish in the 4x5K relay.

CENTRAL REGION UPDATE—The teams in the Central Collegiate Ski Association, which compete in Nordic only, have two meets remaining ahead of NCAA Championships, starting with its conference championship this weekend and the NCAA Central Regional Championships Feb. 27-28. To date, four schools in the region have competed in the Northern Michigan Invitational and the Gitchi Games. Northern Michigan, Michigan Tech, St. Scholastica and Green Bay all competed and St. Cloud State and St. Olaf have not.

EASTERN REGION UPDATE—It appears that several teams in the east are not competing this season. To date, the EISA has completed the New Hampshire Alpine Carnival, the EISA Nordic Invitational at New Hampshire, the EISA Maine Nordic meet, the Woodstock Nordic meet, an alpine FIS-U at Burke Mountain and the UNH Nordic Carnival. Still ahead are the St. Lawrence Alpine carnival, the EISA Nordic meet in Vermont and the Boston College Alpine Carnival ahead of NCAA Championships. Teams that have competed thus far are Boston College (alpine), Colby College (Nordic), New Hampshire (both), Plymouth State (alpine), St. Lawrence (both) and Vermont (both). It's unclear which schools will compete in the remaining events.

Buffs In Third, And In Contention, At RMISA Championships

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Players Mentioned

Andrea Arnold

Max Bervy

Alex Birkner

Louis Fausa

Isabelle Fidjeland

Stef Fleckenstein

Filip Forejtek

Olivia Gerrard

Cassidy Gray

Emma Hammergaard

Kaitlyn Harsch

Sky Kelsey

Will Koch

Bobby Ryan

Chase Seymour

Joey Young

Buffs In Third, And In Contention, At RMISA Championships

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Andrea Arnold

Max Bervy

Alex Birkner

Louis Fausa

Isabelle Fidjeland

Stef Fleckenstein

Filip Forejtek

Olivia Gerrard

Cassidy Gray

Emma Hammergaard

Kaitlyn Harsch

Sky Kelsey

Will Koch

Bobby Ryan

Chase Seymour

Joey Young

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