Wednesday, February 23
Steamboat Springs, Colo.
All Day
Colorado
vs
Giant Slalom
Photo by: Evan Wang
Hammergaard Podium Propels Buffs To Third At RMISA Championships
February 23, 2022 | Skiing
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo.—Junior Emma Hammergaard finished second and after the snow settled on one of the strangest men's races in recent history, the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team sits in third place here Wednesday after the first day of the 2022 RMISA Championships, which triple as the NCAA West Regional and the CU Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational.
After it was all said and done, Utah took the overall lead with 164 points, 12 ahead of Denver's total of 152 with Colorado (138.5) and Westminster (138) both close behind. Montana State rounded out the top five with 114 points.
Hammergaard got her first career podium and first top five finish, setting her career best finish for the second straight race. After finishing eighth a total of eight times, she broke through with a sixth-place finish Monday in a slalom race for the Denver Invitational, then continued her success Wednesday with her first podium.
Freshman Magdalena Luczak also made her collegiate debut with a fifth-place finish. After being stuck in Europe because of multiple COVID-related issues before and throughout the Winter Olympics, she landed in Denver on Tuesday afternoon and drove to Steamboat Springs ahead of the west regional.
Meanwhile on the men's side, the weather caused one of the strangest results in recent memory, and teams were affected in a good or bad way seemingly randomly. The Buffs were unfortunately on the bad side of that luck and after having three skiers in the top 10 of the first run, finished with sophomore Louis Fausa tied for 10th as the best result with freshman Jacob Dilling immediately behind him in 12th.
The weather for the men's first run was beautiful, and that resulted in an extremely close race. After the first run, the 29 skiers in places four through 33 were separated by just 1.7 seconds. The weather then hit near the start of the second run and got progressively worse, giving the first skiers out on the second run a decided advantage. As evidence, the top 10 in the final standings had more skiers ranked 20-30 after the first run than in the top 10 of that first run.
Behind Fausa and Dilling, Alex Birkner was the third men's scorer in 19th place as the only three CU finishers out of eight skiers and in the women's race behind Hammergaard and Luczak, Elena Exenberger finished 15th and Kaitlyn Harsch 19th.
WHAT IT MEANS: Ski racing can be unpredictable, and that's exactly what transpired Wednesday to kick off the conference and regional championships. The good news is the Buffs are just 25.5 points out of first place after a strange day of racing. With six of eight races still remaining, the title is up for grabs. Individually, Hammergaard's result will help dramatically with NCAA Qualification and having Magdalena Luczak back and finishing in the top five helped the women to its best day of the season.
UP NEXT: The alpine teams will host the second of four days of competition but close out the RMISA Championship portion of the week with slalom races Thursday at Howelsen Hill. Friday will see the Nordic teams get underway with the 5K women's and 10K men's freestyle races and an extra slalom qualifier, all at Howelsen Hill. Competition will conclude Saturday with the women's 15K and men's 20K classic races and a parallel slalom exhibition on the women's side.
TEAM NOTES:
• The Buffs scored 84 points in the women's race and 54.5 in the men's race to finish the first day with 138.5 points and sit in third place.
• In the women's race, Hammergaard scored 37 points, Luczak 29 and Exenberger 18.
• In the men's race, Fausa was tied for 10th place and picked up 21.5 points, Dilling scored 20 and Birkner 13.
WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:
RMISA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM SCORING (Thru 2 of 8 Races): 1. Utah 164; 2. Denver 152; 3. Colorado 138.5; 4. Westminster 138; 5. Montana State 114; 6. Colorado Mountain 102.5; 7. Alaska Anchorage 99.
WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (28 collegiate finishers): 1. Julia Toiviainen, WMC, 1:56.78; 2. Emma Hammergaard, CU, 1:57.26; 3. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:57.27; 4. Nallie Talbot, MSU, 1:58.34; 5. Magdalena Luczak, CU, 1:58.45; 6. Lana Zbasnik, WMC, 1:58.72; 7. Giulia Tintorri, WMC, 1:58.77; 8. Denise Dingsleder, WMC, 1:58.80; 9. Hannah Saethereng, WMC & Galena Wardle, DU, 1:58.85. Other CU Finishers: 15. Elena Exenberger, 2:00.07; 19. Kaitlyn Harsch, 2:00.78.
MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (31 collegiate finishers): 1. Tobias Kogler, DU, 1:52.28; 2. Oliver Parazette, UU, 1:52.69; 3. Trey Seymour, DU, 1:53.25; 4. Joachim Lein, UU, 1:53.28; 5. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:53.35; 6. Cooper Cornelius, DU, 1:53.42; 7. Francesco Gori, SMC, 1:53.43; 8. Cole Puckett, DU, 1:53.46; 9. Nicholas Unkovskoy, CMC, 1:53.54; 10. Matthew Macaluso, CMC & Louis Fausa, CU, 1:53.79. Other CU Finishers: Did Not Finish First Run: Max Bervy, Joey Young. Did Not Finish Second Run: Filip Forejtek, Bobby Ryan, Chase Seymour.
After it was all said and done, Utah took the overall lead with 164 points, 12 ahead of Denver's total of 152 with Colorado (138.5) and Westminster (138) both close behind. Montana State rounded out the top five with 114 points.
Hammergaard got her first career podium and first top five finish, setting her career best finish for the second straight race. After finishing eighth a total of eight times, she broke through with a sixth-place finish Monday in a slalom race for the Denver Invitational, then continued her success Wednesday with her first podium.
Freshman Magdalena Luczak also made her collegiate debut with a fifth-place finish. After being stuck in Europe because of multiple COVID-related issues before and throughout the Winter Olympics, she landed in Denver on Tuesday afternoon and drove to Steamboat Springs ahead of the west regional.
Meanwhile on the men's side, the weather caused one of the strangest results in recent memory, and teams were affected in a good or bad way seemingly randomly. The Buffs were unfortunately on the bad side of that luck and after having three skiers in the top 10 of the first run, finished with sophomore Louis Fausa tied for 10th as the best result with freshman Jacob Dilling immediately behind him in 12th.
The weather for the men's first run was beautiful, and that resulted in an extremely close race. After the first run, the 29 skiers in places four through 33 were separated by just 1.7 seconds. The weather then hit near the start of the second run and got progressively worse, giving the first skiers out on the second run a decided advantage. As evidence, the top 10 in the final standings had more skiers ranked 20-30 after the first run than in the top 10 of that first run.
Behind Fausa and Dilling, Alex Birkner was the third men's scorer in 19th place as the only three CU finishers out of eight skiers and in the women's race behind Hammergaard and Luczak, Elena Exenberger finished 15th and Kaitlyn Harsch 19th.
WHAT IT MEANS: Ski racing can be unpredictable, and that's exactly what transpired Wednesday to kick off the conference and regional championships. The good news is the Buffs are just 25.5 points out of first place after a strange day of racing. With six of eight races still remaining, the title is up for grabs. Individually, Hammergaard's result will help dramatically with NCAA Qualification and having Magdalena Luczak back and finishing in the top five helped the women to its best day of the season.
UP NEXT: The alpine teams will host the second of four days of competition but close out the RMISA Championship portion of the week with slalom races Thursday at Howelsen Hill. Friday will see the Nordic teams get underway with the 5K women's and 10K men's freestyle races and an extra slalom qualifier, all at Howelsen Hill. Competition will conclude Saturday with the women's 15K and men's 20K classic races and a parallel slalom exhibition on the women's side.
TEAM NOTES:
• The Buffs scored 84 points in the women's race and 54.5 in the men's race to finish the first day with 138.5 points and sit in third place.
• In the women's race, Hammergaard scored 37 points, Luczak 29 and Exenberger 18.
• In the men's race, Fausa was tied for 10th place and picked up 21.5 points, Dilling scored 20 and Birkner 13.
WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL NOTES:
- Emma Hammergaard fished second, her career-best finish, first top-five finish and first podium. It's the second straight race she's had a career best finish, following at sixth place finish in Monday's slalom races at Keystone as part of the DU Invitational. She has finished in the top 20 in all eight races she's finished this season with six top 10 and now one top five and podium appearance.
- Magdalena Luczak finished fifth in her collegiate debut. Due to COVID restrictions while skiing with the Polish National team before and during the Olympics, she has not been able to start a college race. She started 16th and moved up to sixth after the first run and then another spot to fifth in her second run.
- Elena Exenberger finished 15th. She started 10th and was 10th after the first run, but slipped a few spots in the second run.
- Kaitlyn Harsch finished 19th. She had a solid first run, starting 34th and putting down the 17th-fastest run, before finishing 19th after both runs were calculated.
- Louis Fausa finished tied for 10th, marking his sixth top 10 finish out of six finishes this season. He had the fourth-fastest first run and was one of just four in the top 10 of the first run to hold onto a top 10 by the end.
- Jacob Dilling finished 12th, his first race out of the top 10 this season. He was in sixth place after the first run and fared much better than other skiers around him aside from teammate Fausa.
- Alex Birkner finished 19th, his second straight and fourth overall top 20 finish of the season. He now has 14 career top 20 finishes.
- Max Bervy and Joey Young both didn't finish the first run and Filip Forejtek, Bobby Ryan and Chase Seymour didn't finish their respective second runs.
RMISA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM SCORING (Thru 2 of 8 Races): 1. Utah 164; 2. Denver 152; 3. Colorado 138.5; 4. Westminster 138; 5. Montana State 114; 6. Colorado Mountain 102.5; 7. Alaska Anchorage 99.
WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (28 collegiate finishers): 1. Julia Toiviainen, WMC, 1:56.78; 2. Emma Hammergaard, CU, 1:57.26; 3. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:57.27; 4. Nallie Talbot, MSU, 1:58.34; 5. Magdalena Luczak, CU, 1:58.45; 6. Lana Zbasnik, WMC, 1:58.72; 7. Giulia Tintorri, WMC, 1:58.77; 8. Denise Dingsleder, WMC, 1:58.80; 9. Hannah Saethereng, WMC & Galena Wardle, DU, 1:58.85. Other CU Finishers: 15. Elena Exenberger, 2:00.07; 19. Kaitlyn Harsch, 2:00.78.
MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (31 collegiate finishers): 1. Tobias Kogler, DU, 1:52.28; 2. Oliver Parazette, UU, 1:52.69; 3. Trey Seymour, DU, 1:53.25; 4. Joachim Lein, UU, 1:53.28; 5. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:53.35; 6. Cooper Cornelius, DU, 1:53.42; 7. Francesco Gori, SMC, 1:53.43; 8. Cole Puckett, DU, 1:53.46; 9. Nicholas Unkovskoy, CMC, 1:53.54; 10. Matthew Macaluso, CMC & Louis Fausa, CU, 1:53.79. Other CU Finishers: Did Not Finish First Run: Max Bervy, Joey Young. Did Not Finish Second Run: Filip Forejtek, Bobby Ryan, Chase Seymour.
Players Mentioned
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