Forejtek Wins Slalom, Buffs Take Second At Utah Invite

PARK CITY, Utah – Senior Filip Forejtek won the slalom race and propelled the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team to a second place finish here Wednesday at the Utah Invitational.

Along with Jacob Dilling's fourth place finish and Joey Young's 14th place finish on top of Forejtek's win, the Buffs won the race as a team and moved past Alaska Anchorage into second place, the third race the men's team has won this season. Dilling won the second run, the second time he's done that in three slalom races this season.

The women's team then held onto second place on the strength of top 10 finishes from senior Kaitlyn Harsch and junior Emma Hammergaard. Freshman Cleo Braun finished 13th as the third team scorer and freshman Elena Exenberger finished 17th.

In the end, Utah won its own invitational with 648 points while the Buffs took second with 562. Alaska Anchorage finished third with 537 points with Denver (514) and Montana State (477) rounding out the top five.

Forejtek's win is his second this season and third of his career, and his first slalom win this season and second in his career. This season he's won one GS and one slalom race and he becomes the 15th men's alpine skier in CU history to win a slalom and GS race in the same season. More importantly, like in GS, he now has two podium finishes in slalom races this season, virtually guaranteeing himself of a top 10 starting position in slalom a the NCAA Championships.

WHAT IT MEANS: While the Buffs don't set goals to finish second, it is a great sign that under some pressure, the Buffs move up into second place on the final day of a meet. And unlike the Utes' win by more than 200 points in the first meet of the season, the Buffs finished 86 points behind the Utes with plenty of ways to close the gap even more. On the whole, after six races the past eight days, the Buffs got plenty of good work in while also figuring out what they can train to fix in the next few weeks before the next series of collegiate races.

UP NEXT: The alpine teams are now off until the third week of February when the Denver Invitational will take place just before the RMISA Championships. The Nordic teams have one more week off before heading to Fairbanks, Alaska, for four races over the course of six days that will comprise the second half of the RMISA Invitational and complete the UAF Invitational, which will be only Nordic scoring.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs finished second in the meet, improving from a fourth-place finish in the first meet of the season. The Buffs scored 151 points in the slalom races to pass Alaska Anchorage for second place. The Seawolves held the lead at the end of the Nordic portion of the races and through the GS races on Monday. The Buffs also held off Denver and Montana State, as all three teams entered the final day in the running for second place.
The men's team scored 88 points in the men's race, winning the race ahead of Westminster (77) and Utah (71). Forejtek scored 40 points for his win, Dilling scored 31 points and Young scored 17.
The women's team scored 63 points, fourth most, with two top 10 finishers in Kaitlyn Harsch (23 points, eighth place) and Emma Hammergaard (21 points, 10th place), while Cleo Braun rounded out the team scoring with 19 points.
In the final standings, the Buffs scored the most points in men's alpine and in the overall men's standings, and second most points in women's Nordic and women's alpine.

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Kaitlyn Harsch finished eighth to lead the Buffs, the second-best finish of her career and her third career top 10 finish, all coming in slalom. She also has 19 career top 20 performances in 28 races finished and 35 overall races.
Emma Hammergaard finished 10th for her third top 10 of the season and 11th of her career. She's finished four of six races this season with three top 10 and all four in the top 20. She now has finished 23 of 31 career races with 22 top 20 and 11 top 10 performances.
Cleo Braun finished 13th for the best finish of her young career. She's finished three of six races this season and her 13th place finish is nine spots better than her next best finish of 22nd. It's her first slalom finish in three tries.
Elena Exenberger finished 17th for her fourth top 20 finish. She's finished four of six races, all in the top 20 with one top 10 performance.

MEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Filip Forejtek won his second race of the season and third of his career. He became the 15th men's alpine skier in CU history to win a slalom and GS race in the same season.
- Forejtek finished five of six races this season with all five in the top 10 and four on the podium, including two wins and two seconds.
- Forejtek has now finished 30 of 40 career races with 25 top 10, 22 top five and 17 podium appearances including three wins.
- Forejtek's 22 top five finishes ranks 19th in CU history, 10th for men's skiers and is third most for men's alpine in CU history.
- Forejtek's 17 podium appearances ranks tied for 14th in CU history, tied for 10th for men's skiers and tied for fourth for men's alpine skiers with John Skajem.
Jacob Dilling finished fourth for the best finish of his career for the second straight race. He just missed picking up his first career podium by 21-hundredths of a second. He has finished all six races in his freshman season with five top 10 finishes and this marked his first top five finish. In the Utah Invitational, he finished fourth in slalom and sixth in GS. Dilling also won the second run, having the fastest time in the field, and he's now won the second run twice in the first three slalom races of the season.
Joey Young finished 14th and has finished between 11th and 16th in his last four finishes. He's finished five of six races this season with four top 20 performances. In his career, he's now finished 46 of 54 races with 37 top 20 performances.
Bobby Ryan finished 17th, the best finish of his season and first top 20. He's finished five of six races this season. He's finished 24 of 28 races in his career with 12 top 20s.
Alex Birkner and Max Bervy both didn't finish the first run and Chase Seymour didn't finish the second run.

Utah Invitational Team Results (FINAL): 1. Utah 648; 2. Colorado, 562; 3. Alaska Anchorage 537; 4. Denver 514; 5. Montana State 477; 6. Westminster 313; 7. Alaska Fairbanks 224; 8. Colorado Mountain 152; 9. Wyoming 97.

Men's Slalom (23 collegiate finishers): 1. Filip Forejtek, CU, 1:43.53; 2. Francesco Gori, WMC, 1:43.66; 3. Henry Heaydon, MSU, 1:44.34; 4. Jacob Dilling, CU, 1:44.55; 5. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:45.09; 6. Mikkel Solbakken, WMC, 1:45.21; 7. Tobias Kogler, DU, 1:45.29; 8. Jamie Casselman, MSU, 1:45.74; 9. Joachim Lein, UU, 1:45.86; 10. Simon Fournier, DU, 1:46.05. Other CU Finishers: 14. Joey Young, 1:47.75; 17. Bobby Ryan, 1:48.27. Did Not Finish First Run: Max Bervy, Alex Birkner. Did Not Finish Second Run: Chase Seymour.

Women's Slalom (26 collegiate finishers): 1. Eveline Fredricsson, WMC, 1:43.64; 2. Katie Hensein, DU, 1:43.73; 3. Denise Dingsleder, WMC, 1:44.47; 4. Galena Wardle, DU, 1:44.93; 5. Katie Vesterstein, UU, 1:45.06; 6. Alyssa Hill, UAA, 1:45.22; 7. Julia Toiviainen, WMC, 1:45.27; 8. Kaitlyn Harsch, CU, 1:45.30; 9. Ainsley Proffitt, CMC, 1:45.36; 10. Emma Hammergaard, CU, 1:45.40. Other CU Finishers: 13. Cleo Braun, 1:45.92; 17. Elena Exenberger, CU, 1:46.55.

Forejtek Wins Slalom, Buffs Take Second At Utah Invite

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Players Mentioned

Max Bervy

Alex Birkner

Cleo Braun

Jacob Dilling

Elena Exenberger

Filip Forejtek

Emma Hammergaard

Kaitlyn Harsch

Bobby Ryan

Chase Seymour

Joey Young

Forejtek Wins Slalom, Buffs Take Second At Utah Invite

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Players Mentioned

Max Bervy

Alex Birkner

Cleo Braun

Jacob Dilling

Elena Exenberger

Filip Forejtek

Emma Hammergaard

Kaitlyn Harsch

Bobby Ryan

Chase Seymour

Joey Young

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