Buffs Finish Second In Final Regular Season Meet

Tuesday, February 23

Midway, Utah

All Day

Colorado

10/15K Freestyle

Photo by: Tony Harman

February 23, 2021 | Skiing

Results

By: Curtis Snyder, Assistant AD/Sports Information

MIDWAY, Utah – Sophomore Magnus Boee picked up his seventh podium of the season, taking third in the freestyle race that closed out the RMISA Invitational at Westminster & Soldier Hollow here Tuesday with the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team finishing a strong second in the team standings.

In a unique team start, where all the skiers from one team start at the same time and each team is staggered by two minutes, that perhaps gave CU's other men's skiers an advantage because they knew if they could stay with Boee, they'd finish near the top. Boee had won five straight and six of seven races entering Tuesday. Freshmen Oyvind Haugan and Will Koch did just that, as Haugan was just four-tenths behind Boee in fourth place and Koch finished in sixth, both having or coming close to their best finish of the season to date.

Junior Ezra Smith paced the women's team with a season-best fourth place finish and sophomore Anna-Maria Dietze earned her sixth top 10 on the season in eighth. Freshman Weronika Kaleta was pushing for a top 10 after the first lap but ended up not finishing the race. Senior Quinn Lehmkuhl was the Buffs third scorer in 14th place, one of the best finishes of her career.

CU racked up 92 points in the men's race, but still finished second to Utah, who took first, second and fifth for 106 points. Utah's Sam Hendry, who had finished second to Boee four times this season, broke through for another win. Boee and Hendry are the only two men's Nordic skiers to win a race this season. The women also finished second behind Utah in the women's race, but by a little wider margin, 103-78. The Utes placed five skiers in the top seven of the women's race led by Novie McCabe, who picked up her second win in as many days, winning the race by nearly a minute.

In the end, the Utes put another overall impressive performance together in winning the meet with 762 points, 138 ahead of the Buffs second-place total of 614. The Buffs, in turn, were 127 ahead of third place Montana State (487) while Denver (477.5) and Alaska Anchorage (441) closed out the top five of the team standings.

WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs have clearly established themselves as one of the top two teams in the RMISA, which usually translates to one of the top two teams in the nation, but Utah continues to dominate, especially in Nordic action. The final standings are telling where the Buffs finished more than 100 points ahead of third place but more than 100 points behind Utah. The Utes had nine top 10 performances Tuesday and didn't have any skier finish lower than 14th in either race. And while that made bode well for them to make a run at the RMISA Championship later this week, they can only take three skiers per gender to the NCAA Championships. The Buffs are in a good position to take three strong skiers in both genders to the Championships where anything can happen.

UP NEXT: The Nordic teams will now take two days as the regular season is officially complete, an accomplishment in and of itself, and return Friday for the start of the RMISA Championships, also held here at Solider Hollow. The Buffs enter the conference championship meet in second place, but are first among teams that compete in Nordic competition.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs scored 92 points in the men's race for the second straight day, and also finished second to Utah (106) for the second straight day. The women's team scored 78 points, which was also good for second behind Utah's total of 103. In all, the Buffs scored 160 points on the day to finish the meet with 614 points.
Team scorers for the Buffs were Boee (34), Haugan (31) and Koch (27) on the men's side and Smith (31), Dietze (27) and Lehmkuhl (20) on the women's side.
The Buffs finished 148 points behind Utah's total of 762, and 127 points ahead of third place Montana State and its total of 487. MSU edged out Denver (477.5) and Alaska Anchorage (441) as the five teams that have both alpine and Nordic teams.

MEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Magnus Boee finished in third, snapping a five-race win streak. He has now finished on the podium in six straight races and seven on the season, and hasn't finished lower the fourth all season. He now has 12 career podium appearances in 19 career races, with six apiece in classic and freestyle.
Oyvind Haugan finished fourth for his fourth straight top five finish and five in six races this season. He has finished either fourth or fifth in four straight races, and he now has three top five freestyle finishes on the season.
Will Koch finished in sixth, the best finish of his young career, and the third top 10 finish of the season, behind a pair of eighth place finishes at the DU Invitational.
Ryan Jackson finished 16th for the Buffs, his eighth top 20 finishes of the season in eight races. He now has 15 top 20s in 17 career races finished.
Wyatt Gebhardt finished 23rd after taking 22nd on Monday in the classic race. He now has finished in the top 25 in all eight races this season with four top 20s and one top 10.
Tyler Terranova finished 27th for his eighth top 30 finish of the season. He has three top 20s and one top 10 this season.

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Ezra Smith finished fourth, the best freestyle finish of her career. It was also her best finish of the season and second-best finish of her career. She now has two career top five finishes, one this season, and five top 10 finishes this season and 13 in her career.
Anna-Maria Dietze finished eighth for her fourth straight top 10 and sixth in eight races this season. She hasn't finished lower than 11th in any race this season. She now has 11 career top 10s in 19 career races.
Quinn Lehmkuhl finished 14th, matching the second-best freestyle finish of her career and best that wasn't a sprint race. She now has six straight top 20 finishes, which is one lower than her total top 20 output in her first 29 career races, giving her 13 career top 20s.
Ivy Eski finished 21st, just missing the top 20 for the second straight race (she was 22nd in the classic race Monday). She now has finished in the top 24 in all eight races this season with five top 20 performances.
Weronika Kaleta did not finish, the first time that has happened to her in her young career. She has six top 10 finishes in seven races this season.

RMISA INVITATIONAL AT WESTMINSTER & SOLDIER HOLLOW TEAM STANDINGS (FINAL): 1. Utah 553; 2. Colorado 444; 3. Denver 384.5; 4. Montana State 369; 5. Alaska Anchorage 318; 6. Westminster 300.5; 7. Colorado Mountain 128; 8. Alaska Fairbanks 118; 9. Wyoming 69.

MEN'S 15K FREESTYLE (33 collegiate finishers)—1. Sam Hendry, UU, 34:21.3; 2. Bjorn Riksaasen, UU, 34:47.1; 3. Magnus Boee, CU, 34:55.3; 4. Oyvind Haugan, CU, 34:55.7; 5. Luke Jager, UU, 34:59.7; 6. Will Koch, CU, 35:19.0; 7. Sigurd Roenning, UAA, 35:56.5; 8. Magnus Noroey, UAA, 36:16.3; 9. Ola Jordheim, UU, 36:20.5; 10. Reed Godfrey, MSU, 36:30.4. Other CU Finishers: 16. Ryan Jackson, 37:42.9; 23. Wyatt Gebhardt, 39:01.1; 27. Tyler Terranova, 40:22.2.

WOMEN'S 10K FREESTYLE (31 collegiate finishers)—1. Novie McCabe, UU, 26:29.3; 2. Astrid Stav, UAA, 27:22.4; 3. Mariah Bredal, UU, 27:35.4; 4. Ezra Smith, CU, 28:20.4; 5. Julia Richter, UU, 28:48.1; 6. Karianne Moe, UU, 28:49.0; 7. Sydney Palmer-Leger, UU, 29:13.1; 8. Anna-Maria Dietze, 29:19.6; 9. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 29:35.0; 10. Andrianna Proffitt, MSU, 29:41.2. Other CU Finishers: 14. Quinn Lehmkuhl, 30:24.4; 21. Ivy Eski, 31:29.2. Did Not Finish: Weronika Kaleta.