Abrahamsson Takes Second In First College Race

Thursday, January 6

Midway, Utah

All Day

Colorado

10/15K Classical (I)

Hanna Abrahamsson hit the podium in her first collegiate race.

Photo by: Forrest Gmitro, Utah Athletics

January 06, 2022 | Skiing

By: Curtis Snyder, Assistant AD/Sports Information

MIDWAY, Utah–Freshman Hanna Abrahamsson finished second in her first collegiate race and the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team sits in third place among tighter standings after the second day of racing at the Utah Invitational, which is having results pulled from the U.S. National Championships here at Solider Hollow Resort.

Alexander Maurer and Will Koch both had solid days, as well, each earning a spot on Team USA for the World Junior Cross Country Championships in February. Results from races here at the US National Championships were used among younger skiers to put the team together for the Junior Worlds team.

Colorado scored the second most points in both the men's and women's race, but a 1-2-3 sweep from Alaska Anchorage in the men's race put the Seawolves in second place ahead of the Buffs. Utah still leads with 346 points, but UAA is just 15 points behind with 331 and the Buffs also have over 300 points with 304 at the conclusion of the Nordic scoring for the Utah Invitational. Denver moved up to fourth with 252 points while Alaska Fairbanks (221) and Montana State (213) are battling for fifth place.

Abrahamsson had a solid race from start to finish and came in less than four seconds behind Utah's Sydney Palmer-Leger, who won both NCAA Championships a season ago. It's the Buffs highest finish in two years for women's Nordic and is the best finish in a college debut since Eliska Hajkova (now Albrightsen, head coach at Alaska Fairbanks) took second place in the classic race at the Montana State Invitational in 2010.

"Hanna, only four seconds behind Sydney, had a great race," CU Nordic Coach Jana Weinberger said. "Karolina and Weronika (Kaleta) had better races today, they're getting back into it. Especially Karolina, she felt better than she did earlier in the week."

The men were led by junior Magnus Boee, who finished fifth, his 14th straight top five finish. Maurer finished seventh and Koch 10th among RMISA skiers. Maurer was the top junior in the race and Koch was third among juniors. Koch came into Thursday's race in a solid position to earn a birth on the World Junior team, but Maurer needed a top finish and came through to earn a spot on the team.

"That was one of their goals for the season," Weinberger said. "They'll miss Regionals, which is a bummer, but they gain an opportunity to represent their country in a world-level event and compete against the top juniors in the world. Will was solid from the beginning, but Zander had to come from behind today. He raced well and won and that made it for him."

WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs improved on both the men's and women's side Thursday, a good sign as both teams are still a little short-handed to open the season. Getting Abrahamsson back after missing the first race showed how the Buffs will be able to improve as they return to full strength by the next meet next week. Notably, the Buffs will get Anna-Maria Dietze returning for the women's team and Oyvind Haugan and Ryan Jackson both back for the men.

Also notable, it was great for Alaska Anchorage to put on a great performance. The Seawolves program was on the brink of elimination from the University system but put together massive fundraising efforts to save the program.

UP NEXT: The Nordic portion of the Utah Invitation is now complete, but teams will remain at U.S. National's for one more race. The classic sprint races Friday will be used as an extra qualifier for RMISA teams for the NCAA Championships.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs scored 156 points on the day and sit in third place, 27 points behind Alaska Anchorage (331) and 42 behind Utah (346).
The Buffs scored 80 points in the men's race with Boee (31), Maurer (27) and Koch (22) scoring.
The Buffs scored 76 points in the women's race with Abrahamsson (37), Weronika (20) and Karolina (19) scoring.
The Buffs improved in both genders, scoring six more points in the women's race and two more in the women's race than Sunday.

MEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Magnus Boee's fifth place finish is the 21st of his career in 25 career races and is his 14th straight dating back to the end of his freshman season.
Alexander Maurer had his best career finish and first career top 10 in seventh place. He moved up 18 spots from his 25th place finish in the freestyle sprints race on Sunday. Maurer was the top skier under 20 years of age in the race.
Will Koch finished 10th for his sixth career top 10 finish in 12 career races, and second straight race.
Fredrik Nilsen finished 15th and improved four spots from his collegiate debut of 19th place in the freestyle sprint race.
Wyatt Gebhardt just missed a top 20, taking 21st after moving up 10 spots from the freestyle sprint race.

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Hanna Abrahamsson finished second in her first collegiate race. It's the highest debut for a women's Nordic skier in nine seasons, since Eliska Hajkova finished second in the 10K classic race at the Montana State Invitational in 2013. It's the highest season debut for the Buffs since 2018 when Petra Hyncicova and Christina Rolandsen finished 1-2 in the 10K freestyle race, that season also a part of the Cross Country Championships.
Weronika Kaleta finished 11th and has finished in the top 16 in every one of her 14 collegiate races, and in the top 11 a total of 10 times now.
Karolina Kaleta finished 12th and for the second straight race, the two sisters finished in succession, from fourth and fifth in the freestyle sprint race and now 11th and 12th in the classic race.
Kili Lehmkuhl knocked on the door of her first top 20 finish in the freestyle sprint race Sunday, taking 21st. She moved up two spots to get that first top 20, taking 19th in the classic race.

UTAH INVITATIONAL TEAM STANDINGS (Thru 4 of 8 Events): 1. Utah 346; 2. Alaska Anchorage 311; 3. Colorado 304; 4. Denver 252; 5. Alaska Fairbanks 221; 6. Montana State 213; 7. Wyoming 97.

WOMEN'S 10K CLASSICAL (24 collegiate finishers)—1. Sydney Palmer-Leger, UU, 29:35.7; 2. Hanna Abrahamsson, CU, 29:39.5; 3. Vera Norli, DU, 30:03.2; 4. Abigail Jarzin, UU, 30:15.7; 5. Julia Richter, UU, 30:58.1; 6. Tuva Bygrave, UAA, 30:58.6; 7. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 31:33.9; Pascale Paradis, UAA, 31:38.0; 9. Astrid Stav, UAA, 31:48.1; 10. Emma Larson, DU, 31:57.2. Other CU Finishers: 11. Weronika Kaleta, 31:58.9; 12. Karolina Kaleta, 32:20.6; 19. Kili Lehmkuhl, 35:47.5.

MEN'S FREESTYLE SPRINTS (34 collegiate finishers)—1. J.C. Schoonmaker, UAA, 40:10.9; 2. Espen Persen, UAA, 40:22.9; 3. Magnus Noroey, UAA, 40:46.7; 4. Sigurd Roennng, UAA, 40:53.5; 5. Magnus Boee, CU, 41:12.7; 6. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 41:42.3; 7. Alexander Maurer, CU, 41:59.7; 8. Mike Ophoff, UAF, 42:01.5; 9. Walker Hall, UU, 42:01.6; 10. Will Koch, CU, 42:27.4. Other CU Finishers: 16. Fredrik Nilsen, 44:08.8; 21. Wyatt Gebhardt, 46:47.7.