Friday, February 18
Copper Mountain, Colo.
All Day
Colorado
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Giant Slalom
Photo by: MSU Athletics
Dilling, Men Elevate Buffs Into Second At DU Invitational
February 18, 2022 | Skiing
COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo.—Freshman Jacob Dilling earned his first collegiate podium and the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team put three in the top five of the men's giant slalom race here at Copper Mountain Resort Friday, pushing CU into a tied for second place in the team standings at the midpoint of the alpine-only Denver Invitational.
Dilling had the fastest first run in the field, leading by two-tenths, but in the end, missed his first win by just seven-hundredths of a second to Denver's Tobias Kogler. Â Senior Filip Forejtek and sophomore Louis Fausa finished fourth and fifth, respectively, giving the Buffs three in the top five and a valuable 97 team points, easily winning the race as a team.Â
The last time the men's alpine team had three in the top five was in 2017 when Ola Johansen (second), David Ketterer (fourth) and Max Luukko (fifth) accomplished the feat in the slalom race at the RMISA Championships. Â The last GS outing with three in the top five was earlier that season at Montana State with the same trio, Johansen taking second, Luukko third, and Ketterer fourth. Â
The short-handed women's team struggled a bit with the top finisher being freshman Elena Exenberger in 13th place, followed by Emma Hammergaard tied for 15th and senior Kaitlyn Harsch in 25th. Â The women scored 53 points, fifth-most in the field. Â Those were the only three Buffs in the race, as Cleo Braun was injured Thursday in her race, Katie Fleckenstein has missed the last four races due to injury and Magdalena Luczak is competing in Beijing in the XIV Winter Olympic Games. Â
As a team, the Buffs scored 150 points and are tied with Westminster for second place, both teams nine points behind Utah (159). Â The host Denver Pioneers sit fourth with 132 points while Montana State (117) rounds out the top five.Â
On the men's side, Bobby Ryan tied for 16th, Alex Birkner took 23rd and Max Bervy finished 26th. Â Joey Young and Chase Seymour didn't finish the race.Â
WHAT IT MEANS: The men's team is certainly coming into their own at the right time with Dilling, Fausa, and Forejtek all consistently finishing high for the Buffaloes. Â Conversely, the women's team is short-handed but certainly has the potential and in the short term of the DU Invitational has competed better in slalom this season, and for the remainder of the season should receive a shot in the arm with the return of Luczak after her last Olympic event tonight in the Mixed Team Parallel, which will begin at 7 p.m. MT on NBC and Peacock. Â Luczak is expected back for the RMISA Championships for the Buffaloes. Â
Luczak and Cass Gray, who would've been a sophomore this season but took a break to make an Olympic push, will both compete in the Mixed Team Parallel. Â Gray will be wearing bib 91 for Canada and Luczak will be wearing bib 133 for Poland. Â Seeded ninth, Canada will take on eighth seed Slovakia in the first round. Â Seeded 13th, Poland will face fourth seed Norway in the first round. Â On the same side of the bracket, Gray and Luczak could meet in the semifinals.Â
MIXED TEAM PARALLEL 101: Part of the Olympics for just the second time, the mixed team parallel pits teams of four - two men and two women per team - against each other in a series of side-by-side slalom races. Â Each of the four members of a team races against another team and the winner of the side-by-side race earns a point. Â If it's tied 2-2, the team with the lowest combined time advances. The teams are bracketed much like March Madness and with 15 countries competing, top-seeded Austria has a bye. Â After the round of 16 and quarterfinals, the two winners of the semifinals compete for gold and silver while the two losers of the semifinals compete for bronze. Â Teams only use four skiers per round but are allowed up to six athletes and may rotate in each round.Â
UP NEXT: The Denver Invitational will wrap Monday (Feb. 21) at Keystone Resort before teams head from there straight to Steamboat Springs for the RMISA Championships, which will take place Feb. 23-26 with a busy slate of events that on the alpine side includes four days of racing with an extra slalom qualifier and a parallel exhibition event. Â
TEAM NOTES:Â
WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (27 collegiate finishers): 1. Nellie Talbot, MSU, 1:41.40; 2. Ainsley Proffitt, CMC, 1:41.68; 3. Kaja Norbye, CMC, 1:41.89; 4. Galena Wardle, DU, 1:42.30; 5. Sona Moravcikova, UU, 1:42.54; 6. Julia Toiviainen, WMC, 1:42.55; 7. Hannah Saethereng, WMB, 1:42.64; 8. Lana Zbasnik, WMC, 1:42.83; 9. Katie Vesterstein, UU, 1:42.89; 10. Eveline Fredricsson, WMC, 1:42.90. Â CU Finishers: 13. Elena Exenberger, 1:43.02; t-15. Emma Hammergaard, 1:43.49; 25. Kaitlyn Harsch, 1:46.06.
MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (34 collegiate finishers): 1. Tobias Kogler, DU, 1:38.85; 2. Jacob Dilling, CU, 1:38.92; 3. Mikkel Solbakken, WMC, 1:38.99; 4. Filip Forejtek, CU, 1:39.03; 5. Louis Fausa, CU, 1:39.34; 6. Gustav Voello, UU, 1:39.39; 7. Joachim Lein, UU, 1:39.42; 8. Joachim Mjelde, WMC, 1:39.75; 9. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:39.79; 10. Cooper Cornelius, DU, 1:40.03. Â Other CU Finishers: t16. Bobby Ryan, 1:40.94; 23. Alex Birkner, 1:41.24; 26. Max Bervy, 1:41.61. Â Did Not Finish First Run: Joey Young. Â Disqualified Second Run: Chase Seymour.
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Dilling had the fastest first run in the field, leading by two-tenths, but in the end, missed his first win by just seven-hundredths of a second to Denver's Tobias Kogler. Â Senior Filip Forejtek and sophomore Louis Fausa finished fourth and fifth, respectively, giving the Buffs three in the top five and a valuable 97 team points, easily winning the race as a team.Â
The last time the men's alpine team had three in the top five was in 2017 when Ola Johansen (second), David Ketterer (fourth) and Max Luukko (fifth) accomplished the feat in the slalom race at the RMISA Championships. Â The last GS outing with three in the top five was earlier that season at Montana State with the same trio, Johansen taking second, Luukko third, and Ketterer fourth. Â
The short-handed women's team struggled a bit with the top finisher being freshman Elena Exenberger in 13th place, followed by Emma Hammergaard tied for 15th and senior Kaitlyn Harsch in 25th. Â The women scored 53 points, fifth-most in the field. Â Those were the only three Buffs in the race, as Cleo Braun was injured Thursday in her race, Katie Fleckenstein has missed the last four races due to injury and Magdalena Luczak is competing in Beijing in the XIV Winter Olympic Games. Â
As a team, the Buffs scored 150 points and are tied with Westminster for second place, both teams nine points behind Utah (159). Â The host Denver Pioneers sit fourth with 132 points while Montana State (117) rounds out the top five.Â
On the men's side, Bobby Ryan tied for 16th, Alex Birkner took 23rd and Max Bervy finished 26th. Â Joey Young and Chase Seymour didn't finish the race.Â
WHAT IT MEANS: The men's team is certainly coming into their own at the right time with Dilling, Fausa, and Forejtek all consistently finishing high for the Buffaloes. Â Conversely, the women's team is short-handed but certainly has the potential and in the short term of the DU Invitational has competed better in slalom this season, and for the remainder of the season should receive a shot in the arm with the return of Luczak after her last Olympic event tonight in the Mixed Team Parallel, which will begin at 7 p.m. MT on NBC and Peacock. Â Luczak is expected back for the RMISA Championships for the Buffaloes. Â
Luczak and Cass Gray, who would've been a sophomore this season but took a break to make an Olympic push, will both compete in the Mixed Team Parallel. Â Gray will be wearing bib 91 for Canada and Luczak will be wearing bib 133 for Poland. Â Seeded ninth, Canada will take on eighth seed Slovakia in the first round. Â Seeded 13th, Poland will face fourth seed Norway in the first round. Â On the same side of the bracket, Gray and Luczak could meet in the semifinals.Â
MIXED TEAM PARALLEL 101: Part of the Olympics for just the second time, the mixed team parallel pits teams of four - two men and two women per team - against each other in a series of side-by-side slalom races. Â Each of the four members of a team races against another team and the winner of the side-by-side race earns a point. Â If it's tied 2-2, the team with the lowest combined time advances. The teams are bracketed much like March Madness and with 15 countries competing, top-seeded Austria has a bye. Â After the round of 16 and quarterfinals, the two winners of the semifinals compete for gold and silver while the two losers of the semifinals compete for bronze. Â Teams only use four skiers per round but are allowed up to six athletes and may rotate in each round.Â
UP NEXT: The Denver Invitational will wrap Monday (Feb. 21) at Keystone Resort before teams head from there straight to Steamboat Springs for the RMISA Championships, which will take place Feb. 23-26 with a busy slate of events that on the alpine side includes four days of racing with an extra slalom qualifier and a parallel exhibition event. Â
TEAM NOTES:Â
- The Buffs scored 150 points in the GS races, 97 in the men's race, and 53 in the women's. Â The Buffs are tied with Westminster for second place and the two teams trail Utah by just nine points. Â
- The Buffs scored 97 points on the men's side, led by Dilling (37) with Forejtek (31) and Fausa (29) also having big totals.Â
- The Buffs scored 53 points on the women's side, with Exenberger (21), Hammergaard (19), and Harsch (13) all scoring. Â
- The Buffs place three men's alpine skiers in the top five for the first time in five seasons, since 2017 when Ola Johansen, David Ketterer, and Max Luukko did so twice, once each in slalom and GS races. Â
- Jacob Dilling finished second, the first podium appearance of his career. Â He took fourth in the slalom at the Utah Invitational. Â He now has two top-five finishes, one each in GS and slalom, and in eight races, he's finished in the top 10 seven times.Â
- Dilling won the first run, his third run win of the season along with two on the slalom side. Â He joins Forejtek (2019, '21) as two of just seven men's alpine skiers since 2000 to win a run in both GS and slalom in a season. Â Â Â Â Â
- Filip Forejtek finished fourth, picking up his 24th career top five finish, alone in second place in CU history for men's alpine racing. He's just three behind Frank Brown, who had 27 of his astonishing 53 overall top five finishes come in alpine races from 1957-59. Forejtek broke a tie with Niklas Scherrer (1981-83) and has more than any skier in the last seven decades and most since skiing became specialized between Nordic and alpine racing in the 1960s.Â
- Louis Fausa finished fifth, his third career top-five finish, all coming in GS. Â He took fifth earlier this season at Montana State and was fourth at the RMISA Championships last season. Â Â
- Bobby Ryan finished tied for 16th, his best GS and overall finish of the season. Â He was 17th in the slalom at Park City. Â He's steadily improved throughout the season, and now has two top 20 and three finishes of 21st or better on the season. Â
- Alex Birkner finished 23rd and Max Bervy 26th while Joey Young didn't finish the first run and Chase Seymour was disqualified on his second run.Â
- Elena Exenberger finished 13th and missed improving her NCAA qualification by one spot with 8th and 12th place finishes already on the season. Â She has finished between eighth and 16th in her four GS finishes this season.Â
- Emma Hammergaard finished tied for 15th, her 24th career top 20 in 25 finished races. Â She's finished three straight races and six on the season, all in the top 18.Â
- Kaitlyn Harsch finished 25th, her 30th race finished in her career in 37 starts. Â
WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (27 collegiate finishers): 1. Nellie Talbot, MSU, 1:41.40; 2. Ainsley Proffitt, CMC, 1:41.68; 3. Kaja Norbye, CMC, 1:41.89; 4. Galena Wardle, DU, 1:42.30; 5. Sona Moravcikova, UU, 1:42.54; 6. Julia Toiviainen, WMC, 1:42.55; 7. Hannah Saethereng, WMB, 1:42.64; 8. Lana Zbasnik, WMC, 1:42.83; 9. Katie Vesterstein, UU, 1:42.89; 10. Eveline Fredricsson, WMC, 1:42.90. Â CU Finishers: 13. Elena Exenberger, 1:43.02; t-15. Emma Hammergaard, 1:43.49; 25. Kaitlyn Harsch, 1:46.06.
MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (34 collegiate finishers): 1. Tobias Kogler, DU, 1:38.85; 2. Jacob Dilling, CU, 1:38.92; 3. Mikkel Solbakken, WMC, 1:38.99; 4. Filip Forejtek, CU, 1:39.03; 5. Louis Fausa, CU, 1:39.34; 6. Gustav Voello, UU, 1:39.39; 7. Joachim Lein, UU, 1:39.42; 8. Joachim Mjelde, WMC, 1:39.75; 9. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:39.79; 10. Cooper Cornelius, DU, 1:40.03. Â Other CU Finishers: t16. Bobby Ryan, 1:40.94; 23. Alex Birkner, 1:41.24; 26. Max Bervy, 1:41.61. Â Did Not Finish First Run: Joey Young. Â Disqualified Second Run: Chase Seymour.
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