Five New Buffs Join CU Ski Team

BOULDER—Five new skiers have joined the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team for the fall 2023 semester to continue their studies and compete on the snow for the Buffs, head coach Andy LeRoy and Nordic coach Jana Weinberger announced Monday.

Elena Grissom (women's Nordic), Hugo Hinckfuss (men's Nordic), Sebastian Kohlhofer (men's alpine), Jack Reich (men's alpine) and Luka Riley (men's Nordic) are all enrolled and have begun dryland training with the ski team.

Grissom is a freshman from Park City, Utah, and has competed for the Park City Ski and Snowboard Club since 2011. At the U.S. Junior Cross Country Championships in 2022, she brought home two top five finishes including a fourth place in the 10K classic race. She was also a member of the U.S. National Training Group and the Western Regional Elite group of skiers for both 2021 and '22.

Hinkfuss joins the Buffs from the Australian National Team, where he competed in the 2022 Winter Olympics. He also competed at the Junior World Championships and had two top 30 results in Lygna, Sweden, and was a Youth Winter Olympian in 2020 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Kohlhofer is a freshman from Vail where he attended Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy and also skied for Ski Club Vail. He competed in seven Nor-Am Cup races in 2021 and scored points in two slalom races, both at Copper Mountain. Since 2021, he's had three podium appearances in FIS races, taking third in a slalom at Steamboat Springs in 2021 and in 2022, his best finish was a third place at Winter Park in Slalom and second place in a giant slalom race at Vail.

Reich joins the Buffs from Colorado Mountain College, a non-NCAA school that's an associate member of the RMISA, and he has four years to ski four in eligibility. A Denver native, he has skied for Team Summit, Front Range Ski Club, Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club and Ski and Snowboard Club Vail spanning 14 years. He was given the Spencer Nelson All-Star Athlete of the Year award from SSWSC and was a member of several development camps.

Riley is a freshman from Boulder, attended Fairview High School and has skied for the Boulder Nordic Junior Racing Team since 2018 and also for Rocky Mountain Nordic. At the 2022 U.S. Junior National Championships, he had two top 10 finishes including sixth in the 10K freestyle race and seventh in the 15K classic race.

Related Videos