Boee Wins Regional Championship; Buffs In Second

Friday, February 26

Midway, Utah

All Day

Colorado

5/10K Classic

Photo by: Ed Kosmicki

February 26, 2021 | Skiing

Results

By: Curtis Snyder, Assistant AD/Sports Information

MIDWAY, Utah - Sophomore Magnus Boee won the classic race at the 2021 RMISA Championships, earning an individual regional championship and enabling the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team to move into second place in the team standings here Friday at Soldier Hollow.

Boee's win is his seventh of the season in nine races and 10th of his career. It's his first regional championship. He was the only skier in the top 10 for either race for the Buffs, as the rest of the team had a bit of an off day, but the Buffs still moved up one spot into second place after sitting in third at the conclusion of the alpine races last week.

The Buffs scored 80 points in the men's race and 57 in the women's race and moved past both Montana State and Westminster while falling behind Utah in the team standings. The Utes lead the way with 483 points, a 49-point lead over Colorado's total fo 434. Montana State is third with 415 points followed by Denver (347) and Alaska Anchorage (340) rounding out the top five.

Freshman Oyvind Haugan was 11th as the Buffs second team scorer and freshman Will Koch edged senior Ryan Jackson for the third team scorer, as the two finished 13th and 14th, respectively. On the women's side, all five Buffs finished within seven spots of each other from 14th to 20th place. Junior Ezra Smith led the way in 14th with sophomore Anna-Maria Dietze and freshman Weronika Kaleta coming in succession in 15th and 16th place as the three team scorers. Senior Quinn Lehmkuhl was 18th and freshman Ivy Eski was 20th.

WHAT IT MEANS: Moving up a spot despite not having the best day, other than Boee's regional win, is a good sign of overall strength, but the Buffs weren't able to fend off the Utes, particularly in the women's race, being outscored 108-57. The Buffs actually took the lead in the meet after the men's race, being outscored 89-80 in that race but holding a 13 point lead over the Utes entering the day. The Buffs still looked solid but would be the first to admit they can do better. It's better to have a bit of an off day now rather than at NCAA Championships.

UP NEXT: The RMISA Championships finish up on Saturday with the 15K women's and 20K men's freestyle races, which will be the end of the season for about half the Nordic team, as only three skiers in each gender can represent the Buffs at the NCAA Championships.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs were third in the men's race, scoring 80 points behind 89 from Utah and 81 from Alaska Anchorage.
The Buffs were fifth in the women's race, scoring 57 points, behind 108 from Utah, 72 from Alaska Fairbanks, 66 from Denver and 59 from Montana State.
Through six races, the Buffs are in second place with 434 points, 49 behind Utah's total of 483. Montana State is third with 415 followed by Denver with 347 and Alaska Anchorage with 340, the five teams that have both alpine and Nordic teams. Westminster was leading after the alpine races with 320 points and fell to sixth place, ahead of Colorado Mountain (146), Alaska Fairbanks (139) and Wyoming (69).
Scoring for the men's team was Boee (40), Haugan (21) and Koch (19), and for the women was Smith (20), Dietze (19) and Kaleta (18).

MEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Magnus Boee won his seven race of the season and 10th of his career. He the first CU skier to win the men's classic championship since Mads Stroem did in 2016. From 2006-16, the Buffs won this race eight times and between Stroem and Rune Oedegaard, the Buffs had five straight wins from 2012-16. In all, the Buffs have won the race 13 times, almost doubling up Utah's total of seven wins in the race.
Boee is the 17th skier in CU history to win 10 or more career races, the 12th men's skier and sixth men's Nordic skier to accomplish the feat. He now has six career classic wins, which ties him for third most in CU history with Stroem, trailing just Ove Erik Tronvoll (7, 1998-99) and Oedegaard (12).
Boee is the 11th skier to win seven or more races in a season, the sixth men's skier and second men's Nordic skier. Only Stroem has won more races as a men's Nordic skier with eight in 2016. His four classic wins in a season matches the school record set by Stroem in 2016 and Tronvoll in 1999.
Oyvind Haugan finished 11th, his seventh straight finish of 11th or higher. It's his first finish outside the top 10.
Will Koch finished 13th, his second straight 13th place classic finish. He's finished in the top 15 in all seven races he's competed in this season.
Ryan Jackson finished 14th, his ninth top 20 in nine races this season. He now has 16 top 20 finishes in 20 career races, 18 of which he's finished.
Wyatt Gebhardt finished 24th and Tyler Terranova 27th for the Buffaloes.

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Ezra Smith led the Buffs with a 14th place finish, her ninth top 15 of the season in nine races. She now has 24 career top 20 finishes in 29 career races.
Anna-Maria Dietze was just behind Smith in 15th place, also her ninth top 15 of the season. She now has 19 career top 20 finishes in 20 career races.
Weronika Kaleta finished 15th just behind Dietze and after her first career DNF on Tuesday, she now has eight top 20 finishes this season, all coming in the top 16.
Quinn Lehmkuhl finished in 18th place, her seventh straight top 20 finish and 14th of her career. She has seven top 20s in her last seven races after having seven in the first 30 races of her career.
Ivy Eski finished 20th, her third straight finish between 20th and 22nd, and her sixth top 20 of the season.

RMISA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM STANDINGS (Through 6 of 8 Races): 1. Utah 483; 2. Colorado 434; 3. Montana State 415; 4. Denver 347; 5. Alaska Anchorage 340; 6. Westminster 320; 7. Colorado Mountain 146; 8. Alaska Fairbanks 130; 9. Wyoming 69.

MEN'S 10K CLASSIC (33 collegiate finishers)—1. Magnus Boee, CU, 25:05.6; 2. Sam Hendry, UU, 25:28.1; 3. Sigurd Roenning, UAA, 25:41.2; 4. Mike Ophoff, UAF, 25:43.3; 5. Espen Persen, UAA, 25:44.6; 6. Ola Jordheim, UU, 25:58.2; 7. Luke Jager, UU, 26:02.5; 8. Bjorn Riksaasen, UU, 26:05.2; 9. Bernhard Flaschberger, DU, 26:12.9; 10. Christopher Kalev, UAF, 26:18.5. Other CU Finishers: 11. Oyvind Haugan, 26:26.5; 13. Will Koch, 26:33.0; 14. Ryan Jackson, 26:45.3; 24. Wyatt Gebhardt, 28:03.4; 27. Tyler Terranova, 28:31.3.

WOMEN'S 5K CLASSIC (31 collegiate finishers)—1. Sydney Palmer-Leger, UU, 15:25.8; 2. Novie McCabe, UU, 15:34.3; 3. Mariel Pulles, UAF, 15:40.8; 4. Julia Richter, UU, 15:46.0; 5. Astrid Staf, UAA, 15:49.4; 6. Vera Norli, DU, 16:02.6; 7. Karianne Moe, UU, 16:09.8; 8. Mariah Bredal, UU, 16:11.3; 9. Hanna Ray, DU, 16:14.5; 10. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 16:28.0. CU Finishers: 14. Ezra Smith, 17:04.1; 15. Anna-Maria Dietze, 17:06.5; 16. Weronika Kaleta, 17:10.6; 18. Quinn Lehmkuhl, 17:16.3; 20. Ivy Eski, 17:40.5.