Buffs Slip To Fourth At Montana State Invitational

KETCHUM, Idaho–Despite top 10 performances from Hanna Abrahamsson and Magnus Boee, the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team slipped one spot into fourth place at the conclusion of the Nordic Events Sunday here in Sun Valley at the Montana State Invitational.

The Buffs sit in third place in both the men's and women's Nordic standings at the conclusion of the meet, but ended up in fourth overall after the results were calculated. Utah continued to dominate the meet, earning another podium sweep on the women's side, and lead with 404 points, some 123 points ahead of second place Alaska Fairbanks (281). After that 123-point difference from first to second, the next four teams are within 27 points with Denver moving up to third with 272 points, ahead of CU's total of 258, which is just ahead of Alaska Anchorage's 254 points to round out the top five.

"It's disappointing," Nordic coach Jana Weinberger said. "Usually we have a podium or two. I think everybody is tired. It's been a long trip and we're ready to get home, take some time off and regroup for Alaska."

The men began the morning with the 15K classic race, and Boee led the way in seventh place. Fredrik Nilsen was the next best CU skier in 20th place while Ryan Jackson took 22nd and Alexander Maurer 23rd for the men.

Hanna Abrahamsson continues to impress on the women's side, finishing fifth behind the Utah trio and UAF's Mariel Pulles and keep her string of top 5 finishes to start her career intact. Junior Anna-Maria Dietze finished 12th and freshman Karolina Kaleta was 18th to round out the team scoring.

The Buffs were a little short-handed with the absence of Will Koch and Weronika Kaleta. Koch sustained a bruised foot and can't ski the classic discipline for a few weeks, but is OK to ski freestyle like he did yesterday, taking an impressive seventh place. Kaleta is headed back to Europe to make a final push for the Polish Olympic team. She skied Saturday to fully qualify for the NCAA Championships as she will potentially now miss a good portion of the middle of the season.

WHAT IT MEANS: While certainly disappointing that the Buffs slipped to fourth instead of surging into second, the team scores from second through fifth are close enough that any of those spots are up for grabs for the alpine teams starting Tuesday. The Nordic teams will use the next few weeks to get back to Boulder for the first time in nearly three weeks, take a few days of much needed rest and get a few good weeks of training in before heading to Alaska for the middle third of the season.

UP NEXT: The Nordic teams have been on the road since before the beginning of January, and now have two weeks off before they head to Fairbanks, Alaska, for two meets in the first week of February. The alpine teams now take center stage, getting their seasons underway Tuesday in Bozeman to finish out the Montana State Invitational. Including two qualifier races, the alpine teams will race six days over the next eight days from Tuesday to Tuesday, closing out both the MSU and Utah Invitationals and getting the alpine half of the RMISA Invitational out of the way.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs scored 119 points in Sunday's two races, 65 in the women's race and 54 in the men's race, to finish the Nordic portion of the meet with 258 points.
Utah dominated the Nordic meet scoring 404 points and opening up a 123 point lead over Alaska Fairbanks. With UAF not having an alpine team, the Utes essentially opened up a 132 point lead over Denver, the next team with an alpine team.
The women's team scored 65 points and finished third in the 15K freestyle event. Abrahamsson scored 29 points, Dietze 21 and Kaleta 15.
The men's team scored 54 points and finished sixth in the men's race. Boee scored 25 points, Nilsen 15 and Jackson 14.

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Hanna Abrahamsson continued her streak of Top 5 finishes to start her career, taking fifth place. She now has one second, one fourth and two fifth place finishes in her first four races as a collegian. She's the first women's Nordic freshman with five straight top five finishes to start a career since Eliska Hajkova in 2010.
Anna-Maria Dietze finished 12th and was CU's second scorer in the meet. She's now finished in the top 20 a total of 24 times in 25 career races, and 22 of those 24 have now come in the top 15, including both of her finishes here in 2022.
Karolina Kaleta finished in 18th place and has finished in the top 20 in all five of her collegiate races.
Kili Lehmkuhl took 23rd and has finished all five of her college races between 19th and 23rd to open her career.

MEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Magnus Boee finished seventh for his 27th career top 10 finish in 28 career races. It's his first race outside the top five since the 2020 NCAA Championships where he took eighth in the freestyle race. He's now finished in the top 10 in 20 straight races dating back to February of 2020.
Fredrik Nilsen finished 20th to keep his streak of top 20 finishes alive, and he's finished in the top 20 in each of his five collegiate races. He's been consistent, finishing between 13th and 20th in those five races.
Ryan Jackson finished 22nd, six spots better than Saturday's freestyle race. Those are two of the four races in his career he's finished outside the top 20. Jackson flew to meet the team after the U.S. National's from Canada attempting to qualify for the Olympics for Canada.
Alexander Maurer finished 23rd and has placed in the top 25 in each of his first five career races. In four of the five, he has finished between 20th and 25th.
Wyatt Gebhardt finished 30th for the Buffs, his 35th career race. He's finished between 21st and 31st in all five races this season.
Oyvind Haugan had his first career "DNF" (Did Not Finish). He's finished 11 of his 12 career races to date. This was his second race of the season after sitting out the Utah Invitational due to NCAA rules.
Will Koch did not race for the Buffs. He bruised his foot and is not able to compete in classical races for a few weeks.

MONTANA STATE INVITATIONAL TEAM STANDINGS (Thru 4 of 8 Events): 1. Utah 404; 2. Alaska Fairbanks 281; 3. Denver 272; 4. Colorado 258; 5. Alaska Anchorage 254; 6. Montana State 215; 7. Wyoming 101.

MEN'S 15K CLASSIC (42 collegiate finishers)—1. Bernhard Flaschberger, DU, 37:18.9; 2. Sam Hendry, UU, 37:19.9; 3. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 37:43.0; 4. Luke Jager, UU, 37:51.0; 5. J.C. Schoonmaker, UAA, 37:57.2; 6. Joe Davies, UAF, 38:05.1; 7. Magnus Boee, CU, 38:38.7; 8. Reed Godfrey, MSU, 38:54.3; 9. Kai Meyers, MSU, 39:02.6; 10. Bjorn Riksassen, UU, 39:04.9. Other CU Finishers: 20. Fredrik Nilsen, 39:55.3; 22. Ryan Jackson, 41:02.1; 23. Alexander Maurer, 41:11.3; 30. Wyatt Gebhardt, 42:51.5. Did Not Start: Will Koch. DId Not Finish: Oyvind Haugan.

WOMEN'S 10K CLASSIC (31 collegiate finishers)—1. Novie McCabe, UU, 30:42.9; 2. Sydney Palmer-Leger, UU, 31:01.7; 3. Sophia Laulki, UU, 31:02.5; 4. Mariel Pulles, UAF, 32:16.5; 5. Hanna Abrahamsson, CU, 32:25.7; 6. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 32:32.2; 7. Julia Richter, UU, 33:02.1; 8. Emma Larsson, DU, 33:14.8; 9. Karianne Dengerud, UU, 33:21.4; 10. Pascale Paradis, UAA, 33:22.2. Other CU Finishers: 12. Anna-Maria Dietze, 33:59.9; 18. Karolina Kaleta, 34:37.8; 23. Kili Lehmkuhl, 35:45.3.

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Players Mentioned

Hanna Abrahamsson

Magnus Boee

Anna-Maria Dietze

Wyatt Gebhardt

Oyvind Haugan

Ryan Jackson

Karolina Kaleta

Weronika Kaleta

Will Koch

Kili Lehmkuhl

Alexander Maurer

Fredrik Nilsen