Forejtek, Luczak Win Individual Championships, Buffs Second At NCAAs

PARK CITY & SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah—Magdalena Luczak and Filip Forejtek became the first CU skiers to sweep both GS races, each winning an Individual National Championship to lead the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team into second place at the midpoint of the 2022 NCAA Ski Championships here Thursday.

Originally scheduled for Wednesday, the giant slalom races were moved to Thursday along with the classic races on the Nordic side as half the championship was contested. In Nordic action, the Buffs were led by Magnus Boee in third place in the 10K classic race and Hanna Abrahamsson in fifth place in the women's 5K classic. All four skiers earned first-team All-America honors.

In the team standings, the top is a lot close than most expected as the Buffs are just 24.5 points behind host Utah, who leads with 286.5 points. CU is second with 262, 13 ahead of third place Denver (249) with Vermont also in the mix with 235 points. Those four are still in the hunt for the team championship and hold more than a 100 point advantage over the next team in the standings, which is Middlebury with 131.5 points.

Luczak won the program's 101st individual NCAA Championship and 99th NCAA Individual Championship and Forejtek then brought home the 102nd overall and 100th NCAA. Both numbers lead the nation. Along with Boee and Abrahamsson, Will Koch and Weronika Kaleta picked up second-team All-America honors with seventh and 10th place performances, respectively, in the men's and women's Nordic races.

Utah performed as expected in the women's classic race, picking up three of the top six finishers en route to 106.5 points. Abrahamsson was able to beat the third Utah skier and after Kaleta's 10th place finish was Anna-Maria Dietze in 14th. On the men's side, the Utes struggled to just 46 points and the Buffs put up 76 points with all three Buffs performing well. Koch was put into the race's second seed and one of two from that seed to finish in the top 10. Nilsen had a similar performance, as the final seed out of the RMISA and first out on course, he finished 16th and was one of just two skiers to finish in the top 20 from the lowest seeded skiers.

"Overall we had a good, solid day today," Nordic coach Jana Weinberger said. "Magnus got on the podium, Will got a top 10 and Fredrik finished 16th after going out first. Hanna had a great race, Weronika performed well after not skiing in college for almost two months, and Anna-Maria also did well."

At the end of the Nordic races, the Buffs were within 7.5 points of Utah. With Luczak and Forejtek both winning, the Buffs had the opportunity for the lead at the midpoint but ran into a little bad luck. Louis Fausa, who started the first run in 17th and threw down the fifth fastest run, had his binding release on the second run and didn't finish. Had he finished and maintained a top five finish, the Buffs would've had the lead. Freshman Jacob Dilling had a little mishap on his first run but then had the third-fastest second run to finish 12, just a quarter second out of All-America status.

In the women's race, Luczak had the fastest time in both of her runs, especially impressive given the fact she started the race 29th out of 34 skiers. In the end, she won by an impressive 1.25 seconds. Emma Hammergaard finished 15th and Kaitlyn Harsch 25th for the women's team.

"Aside from one misstep with a binding that pre-released, we performed well today," CU coach Andy LeRoy said. "Other than that we were the strongest team on the hill today, and it showed with the to national champions that we had, and the rest of the team skied great, as well. We're excited for the slalom tomorrow and to see the Nordies finish it off on Saturday."

WHAT IT MEANS: To most on-lookers, the teams were racing for second place here with the strength of the hometown Utes. And while Utah performed well today and leads at the midpoint, there are four teams within striking distance and the Buffs are the lead threat chasing down the Utes. Former coach Richard Rokos calls the slalom races the "great equalizer," which means just about anything can happen Friday. If the Buffs are in a close race, they have performed better in freestyle this season should it come down to the final day.

UP NEXT: The alpine teams ski for the second straight day with the slalom races at Park City Mountain Resort starting at 9:30 a.m. Friday. A live steam will be available at the NCAA's website and live timing and team scoring is available at the RMISA website. Saturday's 15K women's and 20K men's freestyle races will close out the Championships and the season.

INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES:

Magdalena Luczak and Filip Forejtek both won their respective GS races, picking up the 101st and 102nd Individual National Championships (99th and 100th NCAA Individual Championsships).
The Buffs swept the men's and women's GS titles for the first time in program history.
Luczak picked up the 17th and Forejtek the 18th overall GS championships.
Luczak picked up the program's 29th individual title for women, and seventh for women's GS, including two straight with Cass Gray in 2021.
Forejtek picked up the 73rd championship by men's skiers and 11th for men's GS, although just the third since 1995 after David Ketterer in 2017 and Adam Zika in 2012.

ALL-AMERICA NOTES:

The Buffs picked up six All-America honors on Thursday, four first team and two second team honors.
Colorado now has 530 All-America honors in program history and went over the 300 mark on the men's side, entering the day with 298 and picking up three men's honors to get to 301. The women's total went up to 229.
The Buffs now have 308 first-team honors, 175 men's and 133 women's.
The Buffs now have 295 second-team honors.
CU now has 52 All-America honors in women's GS.
CU now has 51 All-America honors in men's GS.
CU now has 56 All-America honors in women's classic.
CU now has 49 All-America honors in men's classic.
CU went over the 100 mark in classic honors, from 99 to 103. CU also has 103 overall GS honors, going from 101 to 103 on the day.
Magdalena Luczak and Hanna Abrahamsson picked up their first All-America honors on the day, and CU now has 204 overall skiers that have earned All-American honors and 85 women who have picked up All-America honors, including 63 who have picked up first-team All-America honors.
Weronika Kaleta and Will Koch each picked up their second All-America honor after both picked up honors in 2021.
Magnus Boee and Filip Forejtek both picked up their fourth All-America honor and have picked up All-America honors in the last four races which date back to the beginning of the 2020 NCAA Championships (only four of eight races were completed due to the Pandemic that season).

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs picked up 262 points in four races on Thursday and sit in second place at the 69th Annual NCAA Championships, 24.5 points behind Utah (286.5) and 13 ahead of third place Denver (249).
The Buffs did win any of the four races as a team, but finished in the top three of all of them, taking second in the women's 5K classic (67 points), tied for third in the men's 20K classic (74), third in the women's GS (62) and third in the men's GS (59).
The Buffs scored the third most alpine points on the day, just 17 behind Utah and 11 behind Denver. The Buffs scored 141 points in Nordic action, just 7.5 behind Utah's lead of 148.5 points.
The Buffs sit second on both the men's overall standings (133 points, six behind DU) and women's overall standings (129, 36.5 behind Utah).

WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES:

Hanna Abrahamsson finished fifth, picking up first-team All-America honors. She has finished in the top six in all 10 of her races in her freshman season and nine of the 10 now in the top five.
Weronika Kaleta finished 10th, picking up second-team All-America honors. She competed in her first college race since Jan. 15 and has in that time competed both at the XXIV Winter Olympic Games and at the U23 World Championships. She picked up her third top 10 in five college races and 11th career top 10 in 16 finished races. She picked up her second All-America honor, also earning the honor last season in the freestyle race.
Anna-Maria Dietze finished 14th, picking up her eighth top 20 finish in eight races this season. She's finished in the top 20 in 30 of 31 career races. She also finished 14th in the 5K classic race at the RMISA Championships two weeks ago, and followed that up with an eighth place finish in the freestyle race.

MEN'S NORDIC NOTES:

Magnus Boee finished third, picking up first-team All-America honors. He has earned All-America honors in all four opportunities dating back to the 2020 NCAA Championships, including three first-team selections. He picked up his fourth straight podium and seventh on the season in 11 races. He's finished in the top seven in all 11 races this season. It's also his 23rd career podium, 28th career top five and 33rd career top 10 finish in 34 career races. His 23 career podiums ranks fourth all-time for men's Nordic in CU history, and his 28 top five finishes ranks tied for fifth.
Will Koch finished seventh, matching his performance last season at the NCAA Championships, picking up his second All-American honor. He's finished in the top 10 in all eight college races this season and in the top seven in six of those eight races, including two podium appearances. He missed the RMISA Championships while competing at the Junior World Championships, where he anchored the bronze-medal winning 4x5K relay team for the United States.
Fredrik Nilsen finished 16th despite being the first skier out of the gate Thursday. He's finished in the top 20 in all 11 races this season. He's finished slightly better in freestyle races with two top 10s in his most recent two freestyle races.

WOMEN'S ALPINE NOTES:

Magdalena Luczak won the Buffs 101st Individual National Championship and along with Forejtek's 102nd, includes 100 NCAA and two AIAW titles.
- Luczak had the fastest run in both the first and second runs. That was especially impressive given her starting bib of 29th. In the end her winning margin was 1.25 seconds.
- After not winning a women's alpine title since 2008, the Buffs have repeated the women's GS title after Cass Gray won in 2021. Luczak won the Buffs seventh women's GS title joining Gray, Lynda McGehee (1986), Caroline Gedde-Dahl (1998), Aime-Noel Hartley (1999, 2000) and Zikova (2008).
- The Buffs repeated as women's GS individual champions for the first time since three straight in 1998-2000 with Gedde-Dahl and Hartley.
- Luczak joins Gray as the only two women's alpine skiers in CU history to win their first NCAA Championship race. Overall she's the 13th skier to do it in CU history with David Ketterer (2017) being the most recent before Gray.
- Luczak won her first college race in her fourth start and three of the four have been in the top 10 and both her GS finishes are in the top five.
Emma Hammergaard finished 15th and has now finished between 15th and 20th in all four of her NCAA Championship races (she finished 14th in the GS and 16th in the slalom in 2021). She now has 28 career top 20 finishes in 30 races finished.
Kaitlyn Harsch finished 25th in her first NCAA Championship race. It was her 42nd start and 35th race finished in her career.

MEN'S ALPINE NOTES:

Filip Forejtek won the Buffs 102nd Individual National Championship and 100th Individual NCAA Championships, both numbers are most in the nation.
- Forejtek had the second-fastest first run then threw down the fastest second run to win his third race of the season and fourth of his career.
- Forejtek took the RMSIA Championship races off to rest for this week, and it worked out. He's now finished nine of 11 races this season with three wins, four podiums and seven top five finishes. He's finished in the top nine in all nine races finished.
- In his career, he's finished 34 of 45 races with 33 top 20s, 29 top 10s, 25 top fives, 18 podiums and four wins.
- Forejtek picked up his fourth All-America honor (each of his last four races at NCAAs). He's finished second twice at the NCAA Championships, in the 2020 GS race by .02 seconds and the 2021 slalom race by .06 seconds.
- Forejtek's win is the Buffs 18th in giant slalom (along with Luczak), the 73rd for men and 50th in alpine. He won the first men's GS race wince David Ketterer swept the 2017 championships. It's the Buffs 11th Men's GS National Championship dating back to 1977 when Stephen Heinzsch won the program's first for men's GS.
Jacob Dilling finished 12th, just .25 seconds out of a top 10 and All-America performance. He struggled on his first run, finishing 21st, but then had the third-fastest second run to move up nine spots and push for All-America honors. He's finished all 13 races this season, all in the top 15 with 12 in the top 12.
Louis Fausa had his binding pre-release and that caused him to pick up a DNF. He had the fifth fastest first run and was looking for his first All-America performance (he finished 11th last season in the slalom race).

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM SCORING (Thru 4 of 8 Races): 1. Utah 286.5; 2. Colorado 262; 3. Denver 249; 4. Vermont 235; 5. Middlebury 131.5; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 108; 7. Alaska Anchorage 103; 8. Westminster 101; 9. Montana State 100; 10. New Hampshire 97; 11. Michigan Tech 74; 12. Dartmouth 74; 13. St. Michael's 59; 14. Colby 31; 15. Northern Michigan 24; 16. St. Lawrence 20; 17. Plymouth State 15; 18. St. Scholastica 12; 19. Harvard 8; 20. Boston College & Bowdoin 4; 22. Green Bay 0.

WOMEN'S 5K CLASSIC (40 finishers): 1. Novie McCabe, UU, 13:22.8; 2. Anna Bizyukova, UVM & Sophia Laukli, UU, 13:36.3; 4. Anabel Needham, MTU, 13:48.6; 5. Hanna Abrahamsson, CU, 13:57.2; 6. Sydney Palmer-Leger, UU, 13:58.7; 7. Nea Katajala, MTU, 14:09.0; 8. Jasmine Lyons, UNH, 14:12.6; 9. Hanna Ray, DU, 14:13.8; 10. Weronika Kaleta, CU, 14:16.3. Other CU Finisher: 14. Anna-Maria Dietze, 14:26.7.

MEN'S 10K CLASSIC (40 finishers): 1. Ben Ogden, UVM, 23:43.1; 2. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 23:49.5; 3. Magnus Boee, CU, 24:03.7; 4. Christopher Kalev, UAF, 24:08.3; 5. Mike Ophoff, UAF, 24:25.6; 6. Jacob Nystedt, UVM, 24:35.6; 7. Will Koch, CU, 24:37.3; 8. Peter Wolter, MID, 24:40.1; 9. Espen Persen, UAA, 24:52.5; 10. Bernhard Flaschberger, DU, 24:57.8. Other CU Finisher: 16. Fredrik Nilsen, 25:17.8.

WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (30 finishers): 1. Magdalena Luczak, CU, 2:02.03; 2. Katie Hensien, DU, 2:03.28; 3. Katie Parker, UU, 2:03.63; 4. Nellie Talbot, MSU, 2:03.73; 5. Kaja Norbye, UU, 2:04.00; 6. Denise Dingsleder, WMC, 2:04.63; 7. Galena Wardle, DU, 2:04.68; 8. Ellie Curtis, DAR, 2:04.72; 9. Helene Kristoffersen, SMC, 2:05.20; 10. Marina Vilanova, UVM, 2:05.35. Other CU Finishers: 15. Emma Hammergaard, 2:05.77; 25. Kaitlyn Harsch, 2:07.95.

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (29 finishers): 1. Filip Forejtek, CU, 1:57.41; 2. Gustav Vollo, UU, 1:58.14; 3. Riley Seger, MSU, 1:58.20; 4. Tobias Kogler, DU, 1:58.28; 5. Bastian Meisen, UNH, 1:58.40; 6. Joachim Lien, UU, 1:58.61; 7. Mikkel Solbakken, WMC, 1:58.78; 8. Oliver Morgan, DAR, 1:58.89; 9. Joachim Lindstol, UVM, 1:58.96; 10. Simen Strand, SMC, 1:58.98. Other CU Finishers: 12. Jacob Dilling, 1:59.23. Did Not Finish Second Run: Louis Fausa.

Forejtek, Luczak Win Individual Championships, Buffs Second At NCAAs

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Players Mentioned

Hanna Abrahamsson

Magnus Boee

Anna-Maria Dietze

Jacob Dilling

Louis Fausa

Filip Forejtek

Emma Hammergaard

Kaitlyn Harsch

Weronika Kaleta

Will Koch

Magdalena Luczak

Fredrik Nilsen

Forejtek, Luczak Win Individual Championships, Buffs Second At NCAAs

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Players Mentioned

Hanna Abrahamsson

Magnus Boee

Anna-Maria Dietze

Jacob Dilling

Louis Fausa

Filip Forejtek

Emma Hammergaard

Kaitlyn Harsch

Weronika Kaleta

Will Koch

Magdalena Luczak

Fredrik Nilsen

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