Buffs Slip To Fourth In Tight Race For NCAA Ski Championship

PARK CITY, Utah—The Colorado Buffaloes ski team had an up-and-down slalom day here at the third day of the 69th Annual NCAA Ski Championships in the slalom races. In the end, the Buffs slipped from second to fourth but are just 37 points out of the lead in one of the tightest team races in recent memory.

On the up side, three Buffs picked up All-America honors67 including senior Kaitlyn Harsch in the women's race and Jacob Dilling and Filip Forejtek in the men's race. Harsch's performance was especially impressive given she started the race in 25th and was one of just two skiers with a starting place of 11th or higher to finish in the top 10. It was her fourth career races (out of 43) that she finished in the top 10.

On the down side, the Buffs slipped from second to fourth in the team standings. They are, however, extremely tight, as host Utah leads with 405 points and then Vermont (377.5), Denver (372.5) and the Buffs (368) are all within 10 points.

In the end, it call comes down to Saturday's freestyle races and all four teams have strong Nordic teams and can turn the tides in their favor.

In the men's slalom race, Forejtek had the fastest first run in the field but struggled in his second run to finish 10th. Jacob Dilling had the 12th fastest first run but then had a solid second run to move up five spots and pick up his first All-America honor. Louis Fausa finished 15th faster having the 14th fastest first and 16th fastest second runs.

On the women's side, the Buffs were an eyelash away from having a great day all the way around. Harsch started 25th and had the 10th fastest first run and then moved up two more spots to finish eighth. Emma Hammergaard started 19th and moved up to 16th after the first run and then up to 12th on her second run. She was just .13 of a second out of a top 10 finish. Luczak unfortunately had to hike on her first run and that made her finish 29th despite a great second run that ended up being the fifth fastest in the field.

WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs are 37 points behind host and favorite Utah, which will be a tall order for the Nordic teams but not impossible to overcome. The Buffs were down 54 points entering the final day in 2013 and ended up winning the National Championship. The Buffs are also 9.5 points out of second place as the Buffs, Denver and Vermont are all within 10 points.

UP NEXT: The final day of the season is upon us, and the 20K men's and 15K women's freestyle races will close out the 69th Annual NCAA Championships and 2022 season. The men's race will start at 9:30 a.m. and the women will close out the season with an 11:30 a.m. start.

ALL-AMERICA NOTES:

The Buffs picked up three All-America honors, all three second team honors.
In the Championship, the Buffs have nine honors through six of eight races.
Colorado now has 533 All-America honors in program history, 303 men's honors and 230 women's.
The Buffs now have 298 second-team honors.
Two of the three Buffs who picked up All-America honors picked up their first such honor with Jacob Dilling and Kaitlyn Harsch. Filip Forejtek, meanwhile, picked up his fifth career All-America honor.
Dilling and Harsch become the 205th and 206th skiers who have earned All-America honors. Dilling becomes the 120th men's skier and Harsch the 86th women's skier to earn All-America honors.
The Buffs now have 99 All-America honors in slalom races in program history, 51 women's and 48 men's.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs picked up 106 points in the two slalom races Friday, 62 in the men's race and 44 in the women's.
The Buffs have 368 points and are in fourth place, but just 4.5 points out of third, 9.5 points out of second and 37 points out of first place in one of the closest championships in the last decade.
Dilling picked up 25 points for his seventh place finish while Forejtek scored 21 points and Fausa 16.
Harsch picked up 23 points for her eighth place finish and Hammergaard scored 19 points and Luczak two.

MEN'S ALPINE NOTES:

Jacob Dilling finished seventh to pick up his first All-America honor. He ended his first season finishing all 14 races, all in the top 12 with 12 top 10 finishes.
Filip Forejtek finished 10th, finishing the 2022 season with a top 10 in every race he finished. He had the fastest first run in the field but slipped down a bit in his second run. He's finished 35 of 46 career races with 34 top 20s and this was his 30th career top 10 finish.
Louis Fausa finished 15th. He finished eight of 12 races he competed in this season, all in the top 15 with seven top 10 finishes, three top five and one podium.

WOMEN'S ALPINE NOTES:

Kaitlyn Harsch finished eighth to earn second-team All-America honors in her final college race. She ends her career finishing 36 of 43 career races and this was her fourth race in the top 10.
Emma Hammergaard finished 12th, her best finish in an NCAA Championship race. She finished just .13 seconds out of a top 10 and All-America honors. She now had 29 career top 20 finishes in 31 races finished.
Magdalena Luczak finished 29th after having to hike in her first run. She had the fifth-fastest second run but couldn't move up the final standings. She finished her freshman season finishing all five races with three top 10, two top five and one race win, which came in Thursday's GS race to win the individual NCAA Championship.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM STANDINGS (Thru 6 of 8 Races): 1. Utah 405; 2. Vermont, 377.5; 3. Utah 372.5; 4. Colorado 368; 5. Westminster 231; 6. Montana State 184; 7. Middlebury, 180.5; 8. New Hampshire 165; 9. Alaska Anchorage 158; 10. Dartmouth 130; 11. St. Michael's 108.5; 12. Alaska Fairbanks 108; 13. Michigan Tech 74; 14. Colby 38; 15. Northern Michigan 24; 16. St. Lawrence 20; 17. Plymouth State 19; 18. St. Scholastica 12; 19. Harvard 9; 20 Boston College & Bowdoin, 4; 22. Green Bay 0.

MEN'S SLALOM (30 finishers): 1. Mathias Tefre, UVM, 1:53.69; 2. Gustav Vollo, UU, 1:53.97; 3. Joachim Lindstol, UVM, 1:54.01; 4. Simon Fournier, DU, 1:54.47; 5. Simeon Strand, SMC & Francesco Gori, WMC, 1:54.65; 7. Jacob Dilling, CU, 1:54.68; 8. Joachim Lien, UU, 1:54.69; 9. Leon Nikic, UAA, 1:54.77; 10. Filip Forejtek, CU, 1:54.78. Other CU Finisher: 15. Louis Faust, 1:56.06.

WOMEN'S SLALOM (29 finishers): 1. Katie Hensien, DU, 1:45.50; 2. Evelina Fredericsson, WMC, 1:45.63; 3. Kristiane Bekkestad, MSU, 1:45.88; 4. Mia Clementson, UVM, 1:46.04; 5. Denise Dingsleder, WMC, 1:46.54; 6. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:47.44; 7. Hannah Utter, DAR, 1:47.84; 8. Kaitlyn Harsch, CU, 1:48.25; 9. Gwen Warrenmaker, DAR, 1:48.34; 10. Zoe Michael, UNH, 1:48.57. Other CU Finishers: 12. Emma Hammergaard, 1:48.70; 29. Magdalena Luczak, 2:33.11.

Buffs Slip To Fourth In Tight Race For NCAA Ski Championship

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Players Mentioned

Jacob Dilling

Louis Fausa

Filip Forejtek

Emma Hammergaard

Kaitlyn Harsch

Magdalena Luczak

Buffs Slip To Fourth In Tight Race For NCAA Ski Championship

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Players Mentioned

Jacob Dilling

Louis Fausa

Filip Forejtek

Emma Hammergaard

Kaitlyn Harsch

Magdalena Luczak

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