Magnus Boee Wins U.S. National Championship

MIDWAY, Utah–Junior Magnus Boee not only took first place in the RMISA Nordic Qualifier Friday, he won the overall U.S. National Championship in the classic sprint race to close out a week's worth of action for the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team with an RMISA Qualifier race here at Soldier Hollow.

Boee's win is his first of the 2022 season and 14th of his career. While not part of any team results for the RMISA, it does count as a perfect score for NCAA Qualification purposes.

In all, five Buffs on the men's and women's side picked up top 10 finishes Friday, with sophomore Weronika Kaleta finishing third in the women's classic sprint. Freshman Hanna Abrahamsson finished fifth and Karolina Kaleta eighth on the women's side and Will Koch finished 10th in the men's race.

As part of the U.S. National Championships, the top 30 from the overall standings in the sprint qualifier advance into one of five quarterfinals of six skiers each. The top two from each heat plus two lucky losers advance to two semifinal heats, where again the top two from each heat and two lucky losers advance to the finals.

Boee was fourth overall after the qualifier race and then won his quarterfinal heat. He took second in his semifinal heat before beating out Karl Schulz from Sun Valley SEF at the line by 35-hundredths of a second. He topped Alaska Anchorage's J.C. Schoonmaker and Utah's Noel Keeffee as the three collegians in the finals heat.

On the women's side, none of the RMISA skiers advanced to the finals heat. Weronika Kaleta was one of three skiers that advanced to the semifinals and thus her third place finish. She was one of the lucky losers in the quarterfinals as the third place finishers in the second quarterfinal.

WHAT IT MEANS: While not part of a team result for the Buffs, the races Friday are nonetheless important for NCAA Qualifying purposes, and the Buffs strong performance marks the end of a solid week of racing at Soldier Hollow.

UP NEXT: The Buffs will remain in Utah training the next few days before heading to Sun Valley, Idaho, for the Montana State Invitational. RMISA teams will compete in freestyle races next Friday (Jan. 15) and classic races on Sunday.

MEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Magnus Boee's win is the 14th of his career. He moves into the top 5 in CU history for wins, matching the total of Dave Butts (1958-60) and Mads Stroem (2014-17).
- He now has 14 career wins in 26 career races and is the only men's skier in CU history that has won above 50 percent of his career races.
- His 14 career wins ranks tied for third for all Nordic skiers, tied for No. 3 among men's skiers, and tied for No. 2 for men's Nordic skiers.
- It marks his eighth career classic win, second most for men's Nordic skiers and fourth most for all Nordic skiers in CU history.
- It also marks his 18th career podium and 22nd career top 5 finish in 26 career races. He's finished in the top 5 of 15 straight races and he's won 10 of the last 13 races dating back to last season.
Will Koch finished 10th for the second straight race, his seventh career top 10 finish in 13 career races, and third straight.
Fredrik Nilsen finished 13th and improved for his third straight race, from 19th to 15th and now 13th, giving him three straight top 20 finishes to open his career.
Alexander Maurer finished 20th for his second top 20 in his first three college races.
Wyatt Gebhardt finished 25th and has been in the top 25 in each of the last two races.

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Weronika Kaleta finished third for her second career podium appearance, both coming in sprint races. She now has two top five finishes in three races this season, two of her top three career results.
Hanna Abrahamsson finished fifth in her second career race after taking second in Thursday's 10K classic race. She opens her career with two straight top five finishes.
Karolina Kaleta finished eighth for her second top 10 finish in three career races. She took fifth in the freestyle sprint race Sunday before taking 12th Thursday in the classic distance race.
Kili Lehmkuhl rounded out the women's skiers in 22nd place.

MEN'S CLASSIC SPRINT (29 collegiate finishers)—1. Magnus Boee, CU; 2. J.C. Schoonmaker, UAA; 3. Noel Keeffe, UU; 4. Andreas Kirkeng, DU; 5. Sigurd Roenning, UAA; 6. Ole Marius Kirkeng, DU; 7. Mike Ophoff, UAF; 8. Reed Godfrey, MSU; 9. Bjorn Riksassen, UU; 10. Will Koch, CU. Other CU Finishers: 13. Fredrik Nilsen, 20. Alexander Maurer, 25. Wyatt Gebhardt.

WOMEN'S CLASSIC SPRINT (23 collegiate finishers)—1. Sydney Palmer-Leger, UU; 2. Tuva Bygrave, UAA; 3. Weronika Kaleta, CU; 4. Astrid Stav, UAA; 5. Hanna Abrahamsson, CU; 6. Abigail Jarzin, UU; 7. Julia Richter, UU; 8. Karolina Kaleta, CU; 9. Hanna Ray, DU; 10. Kendall Kramer, UAF. Other CU Finisher: 22. Kili Lehmkuhl.

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Players Mentioned

Hanna Abrahamsson

Magnus Boee

Wyatt Gebhardt

Karolina Kaleta

Weronika Kaleta

Will Koch

Kili Lehmkuhl

Alexander Maurer

Fredrik Nilsen