Buffs To Send Full Contingent To NCAA Championships

INDIANAPOLIS – The Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team has qualified a full 12-skier contingent for the 68th Annual NCAA Ski Championships, set for March 10-13 in New Hampshire, the association announced Tuesday.

Skiing for the Buffs in search of their 21st National Championship (20th NCAA) will be Magnus Boee (men's Nordic), Anna-Maria Dietze (women's Nordic), Louis Fausa (men's alpine), Stef Fleckenstein (women's alpine), Filip Forejtek (men's alpine), Cassidy Gray (women's alpine), Emma Hammergaard (women's alpine), Oyvind Haugan (men's Nordic), Weronika Kaleta (women's Nordic), Will Koch (men's Nordic), Ezra Smith (women's Nordic) and Joey Young (men's alpine).

The 12 Buffs representing CU will be on the youthful side with one senior, three juniors, three sophomore and five freshmen. Six Buffs; Fausa, Gray, Haugan, Kaleta, Koch and Smith, will be making their first appearance at the NCAA Championships. Boee, Dietze and Hammergaard will be making their second appearance while Fleckenstein, Forejtek and Young will be making their third appearance. This group of skiers has compiled 67 top 10 finishes this season with 19 podium appearances and 10 race victories. In their careers, those numbers jump to 138 top 10 finishes with 41 podium appearances and 16 race wins. Nine of the 12 skiers have hit the podium in their careers and five have won at least one race in their careers.

A deeper look at each skier representing CU at the NCAA Championships:

Boee, a sophomore making his second NCAA Championship appearance, is in the midst of one of the most dominant seasons in CU history. He has eight race wins, matching the season record for a men's Nordic skier in CU history. His other two finishes were third and fourth. He has four wins in both classic and freestyle races, also matching the CU record, and won both individual regional championships with race wins at the RMISA Championships at Soldier Hollow. He earned second-team All-America honors last season and in 21 career races, he has 20 top 10 and 17 top five finishes with 14 podiums and 11 race wins, which ranks in the top 10 in CU history for all gender and disciplines.

Dietze, a sophomore in her second season on the team, will be competing at the NCAA Championships for the second time. In 10 races this season, she's finished in the top 15 in every race with seven top 10 performances and two top five finishes, both in freestyle races. She has competed in 21 college races in her career with 12 top 10 and six top five finishes including one podium appearance.

Fausa, a freshman, will be making his first NCAA Championship appearance after a solid rookie season that saw him finish seven of 10 races with five of the seven in the top 10 and one top five finish, coming in fourth in the GS at the RMISA Championships.

Fleckenstein, a junior in her third season with the Buffs, will be making her third appearance at the NCAA Championships. She earned second-team All-America honors as a freshman in 2019. In 2020, she became one of the top alpine skiers in college with 10 top five finishes and one win in 13 starts. This season, she was injured prior to the season and missed the first four races of the season, but in six races, she's finished five, all in the top seven with four top five finishes and one podium appearance, taking second in the GS at the RMISA Championships. In 33 career races, she has 23 top 10 and 14 top five finishes with seven podium appearances and one race victory.

Forejtek, a junior in his third season with the Buffs, will be making his third appearance at the NCAA Championships. He was a bit injury prone his freshman season and only finished four races that season, but midway through his sophomore season, something clicked and he's been one of the top skiers in the nation. He's the only men's alpine skier at the NCAA Championships with a top three seed for both GS and slalom. In the last 17 races dating back to February 2020, he's finished 15 of them all in the top six with 11 podium appearances and one race win. He missed out on an Individual NCAA Championship in last year's GS race by just two-hundredths of a second, earning first-team All-America honors.

Gray, a freshman, will be making her first NCAA Championship appearance. She has started just four races this season, finishing three, which included a win in the GS race at the RMISA Invitational in Park City. She has been skiing in the World Cup for much of this season with Team Canada and finished 23rd at the World Championships in mid-February. She also took fifth in the GS race at the Italian National Championships Tuesday, and will be joining the Buffs in New Hampshire for her first shot at an individual national championship.

Hammergaard, a sophomore in her second season with the Buffs, will be making her second NCAA Championship appearance. She has finished six of 10 races this season with five top 10 finishes, which include four eight place finishes, three in GS and one in slalom. She has eight top 10 finishes in 23 career races.

Haugan, a freshman, will be making his NCAA Championship debut. He had a solid rookie season after missing the first two races of the season, he has finished in the top 11 the remaining eight races and has six top five finishes with one podium appearance. In freestyle races, he has one third, two fourth and one fifth place finish.

Kaleta, a freshman, will be making her first NCAA Championship appearance after a solid rookie season. She finished nine of 10 races, all in the top 16 with seven top 10 performances, which includes one podium appearance in the freestyle sprint race as part of the CU Invitational. She has finished between between eighth and 10th six times this season.

Koch, a freshman, will be making his first appearance at the NCAA Championships. In his rookie season, he missed two races while competing at the Junior World Championships in Poland, and he's had three top 10 finishes in eight races. His best finish was sixth place in the freestyle race just ahead of the RMISA Championships at Soldier Hollow.

Smith, a junior in her third season with the Buffs, will be making her NCAA Championship debut. She has had a solid season with all 10 race results in the top 14, including five top 10 and one top five finish, which came in the freestyle race just ahead of the RMISA Championships at Soldier Hollow. She now has 30 races in her career with 25 top 10, 14 top 10 and three top five finishes, including one podium appearance.

Young, a senior in his fourth season with the Buffs, will be making his third appearance at the NCAA Championships. In 2019, he narrowly missed out on two All-America honors, taking 11th in the GS and 13th in the slalom races. His senior season has been a bit injury ridden, as he fell and hit a gate in the second race of the season and missed the subsequent two races, getting behind in the start list points and never quite making it back to the norm he established his first three seasons. He has three top 20 and one top 10 finish this season but has 49 races of experience in his career with 33 top 20, 19 top 10 and seven top five finishes including three podium appearances and two race victories.

Colorado University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Magnus Boee

Anna-Maria Dietze

Louis Fausa

Stef Fleckenstein

Filip Forejtek

Cassidy Gray

Emma Hammergaard

Oyvind Haugan

Weronika Kaleta

Will Koch

Ezra Smith

Joey Young

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