Buffs Take Second At CU Invitational, Open DU Meet

NEDERLAND & MINTURN, Colo.—A busy day of racing that saw the alpine and Nordic teams in action for the first time on the same day this season saw the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team slip to a second place finish at its own Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational while simultaneously opening the Denver Invitational in third place at Eldora Mountain Resort and Maloit Park.

The Buffs were in good shape at Eldora at the CU meet after the first runs of both the men's and women's giant slalom races, on the women's side Emma Hammergaard sat in fifth place and Elena Exenberger in 12th. On the men's side, Filip Forejtek won the first run with Jacob Dilling third and Louis Fausa ninth.

But after Hammergaard and Dilling slipped a few spots and Forejtek skied out of the second run, the Utes took advantage by winning both races as a team, including a 1-2 finish in the men's race to cap the day, turning a 50-point deficit into a 12-point victory. The Buffs missed out on winning their first full meet since the 2019 Montana State Invitational.

Meanwhile in Nordic action, the Buffs opened the Denver Invitational at Maloit Park with 5K freestyle races. The men opened the day and struggled a bit with just one top 10 finish, Will Koch in 10th place, while the next four Buffs all finished between 13th and 20th.

The women had a solid day with Anna-Maria Dietze picking up a podium in third place with Hanna Abrahamsson just behind her in fourth and freshman Elena Grissom and Karolina Kaleta finishing 13th and 15th, respectively. Weronika Kaleta clocked in with one of the best 2.5K marks in the field but did not finish the race.

WHAT IT MEANS
"That's ski racing" is probably never more fitting a mantra than it was Friday for the Colorado Buffaloes. After three-and-a-half great days of skiing and on the verge of the team's first full-meet win in over four years, the Buffs walked away frustrated. But the frustration can also be taken as a positive, the Buffs were in the thick of a meet victory and showing signs of progress during a critical part of the season. The Buffs can hold their heads high knowing they beat eight of the nine teams handily and took the two-time defending national champions down to the wire.

UP NEXT
A busy weekend lies ahead for the Buffs, with both alpine and Nordic teams in action again Saturday morning in the Denver Invitational. The Nordic teams will close out the meet with 10K classic mass start races at Maloit Park, with the women's race set to start at 9 a.m. and the men following at 10:30 a.m. Meanwhile the alpine teams move from Eldora to Loveland for a pair of slalom days Saturday and Sunday to comprise the alpine portion of the Pioneer's home meet.

TEAM NOTES

In the CU meet, the Buffs scored 121 points on the day, scoring 51 points in the women's race and 70 in the men's race.
The Buffs led by 50 at the start of the day and that lead shrunk to 12 after the women's race and then flipped from a 12 point lead to 12 point deficit after the men's race.
In the DU meet, the Buffs scored 144 points and sit in their place, five points behind Denver (149) and second place and 55 points behind Utah (199).
The Buffs scored 59 points in the men's race and were second in the women's race with 85 points.

WOMEN'S ALPINE NOTES

Hammergaard finished eighth in the women's race, her 20th career top 10 finish. She sat in fifth place after the first run.
Exenberger finished 17th, and continued her streak of top 20 finishes, now having finished in the top 20 of all 13 of her career finished races, in 17 career starts.
Cleo Braun finished 27th and Kaitlyn Harsch did not start the second run after a mishap on the first run and having seen all three of her teammates finish second runs.

MEN'S ALPINE NOTES

Dilling finished tied for fourth place after having the second-fastest first run. He now has finished all 19 of his career races with 15 in the top 10 and seven in the top five. Four of his seven top five finishes have come this season.
Fausa had his best finish of the season in sixth place, giving him to straight top 10 finishes and nine in his career. The sixth place matches the best GS finish of his career, also finishing in that position in the 2021 GS race at Park City.
Alex Birkner finished 27th, Chase Seymour 33rd and Sebastian Kohlhofer 35th for the Buffs. Jack Reich and Forejtek didn't finish their second runs.

WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES

Anna-Maria Dietze finished third for her second straight podium and third consecutive top-four finish to start the season. She finished in the top five seven times in her first 32 career races and has now done so three times to open 2023.
Hanna Abrahamsson finished fourth and she now has four top five finishes in five races this season and hasn't finished lower than sixth. She has never finished lower than seventh in her now 16-race career for the Buffaloes.
Elena Grissom finished 13th for her fourth straight top 20 finish on the season and fifth overall. She took 20th and 22nd to open her career at the US National Championships and then has finished between 11th and 14th in the last four races.
Karolina Kaleta competed in her third race of the season, taking 15th place. She has finished in the top 15 in all three races to date.
Kili Lehmkuhl finished 21st and Weronika Kaleta did not finish the race, just the second time in her career she hasn't finished.

MEN'S NORDIC NOTES

Will Koch finished 10th in just his third college race of the season. He took 10th and third in the first two races at US National Championships and then has been skiing at World University Games and on the World Cup Circuit this winter. It's his 15th career top 10 finish in 22 career races.
Oyvind Haugan finished 13th, Alexander Maurer 14th, Fredrik Nilsen 18th and Magnus Boee 20th for the Buffaloes, with Hugo Hinckfuss taking 26th and Luka Riley not starting the race. Haugan now has 17 top 20 finishes in 20 career races, Maurer has eight in 13 races, Nilsen has finished in the top 20 in all 13 of his career starts and Boee picked up his 39th top 20 finish in his 40th race start.

SPENCER JAMES NELSON MEMORIAL CU INVITATIONAL TEAM RESULTS (FINAL)—1. Utah 655; 2. Colorado 643; 3. Denver 540; 4. Montana State 491; 5. Alaska Anchorage 387; 6. Westminster 282; 7. Alaska Fairbanks 231; 8. Colorado Mountain 111; 9. Nevada 108; 10. Wyoming 30.

WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM #2 (37 collegiate finishers)—1. Sara Rask, DU, 1:51.69; 2. Madison Hoffman, UU, 1:52.38; 3. Evelina Fredricsson, WMC, 1:53.24; 4. Claire Timmermann, UU, 1:53.39; 5. Denise Dingsleder, WMC, 1:53.62; 6. Ashleigh Alexander, UAA, 1:53.69; 7. Nora Brand, DU, 1:53.87; 8. Emma Hammergaard, CU, 1:54.13; 9. Aisnley Proffit, UAA, 1:54.50; 10. Josefine Selvang, UU, 1:54.58. Other CU Finishers: 17. Elena Exenberger, 1:55.53; 27. Cleo Braun, 1:58.48. Did Not Start Second Run: Kaitlyn Harsch.

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM #2 (38 collegiate finishers)—1. Gustav Vollo, UU, 1:45.48; 2. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:46.20; 3. Mikkel Solbakken, WMC, 1:46.21; 4. Jacob Dilling, CU & Riley Seger, MSU, 1:46.51; 6. Louis Fausa, CU, 1:46.58; 7. Cooper Cornelius, DU, 1:46.65; 8. Matthew Macaluso, CMC, 1:46.66; 9. Gianluca Boehm, MSU, 1:46.69; 10. Jamie Casselman, MSU, 1:46.93. Other CU Finishers: 27. Alex Birkner, 1:51.35; 33. Chase Seymour, 1:51.35; 53. Sebastian Kohlhofer, 1:51.86. Did Not Finish Second Run: Filip Forejtek, Jack Reich.

DENVER INVITATIONAL TEAM RESULTS (Thru 2 of 8 Races)—1. Utah 199; 2. Denver 149; 3. Colorado 144; 4. Alaska Anchorage 127; 5. Alaska Fairbanks 113; 6. Montana State 108; 7. Wyoming 68.

MEN'S 5K FREESTYLE (33 collegiate finishers)—1. Bernhard Flaschberger, DU, 14:09.0; 2. Walker Hall, UU, 14:45.4; 3. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 14:47.7; 4. Brian Bushey, UU, 14:51.4; 5. Magnus Noroey, UAA, 14:53.3; 6. Samuel Hendry, UU, 14:55.2; 7. Tom Mancini, UU, 14:57.6; 8. Ari Endestad, UAA, 15:00.4; 9. Reed Godfrey, MSU, 15:06.2; 10. Will Koch, CU, 15:11.6. Other CU Finishers: 13. Oyvind Haugan, 15:22.4; 14. Alexander Maurer, 15:23.1; 18. Fredrik Nilsen, 15:43.5; 20. Magnus Boee, CU, 15:47.2; 26. Hugo Hinckfuss, 16:19.5. Did Not Start: Luka Riley.

WOMEN'S 5K FREESTYLE (30 collegiate finishers)—1.Novie McCabe, UU, 15:33.3; 2. Sophia Laukli, UU, 16:07.3; 3. Anna-Maria Dietze, CU, 16:18.3; 4. Hanna Abrahamsson, CU, 16:24.3; 5. Mariel Pulles, UAF, 16:50.2; 6. Karianne Dengerud, UU, 16:59.6; 7. Ezra Smith, UU, 17:04.7; 8. Tuva Bygrave, UAA, 17:15.5; 9. Anna Pryce, MSU, 17:21.1; 10. Celine Mayer, UU, 17:23.7. Other CU Finishers: 13. Elena Grissom, 17:38.0; 15. Karolina Kaleta, 17:45.1; 21. Kili Lehmkuhl, 18:19.9. Did Not Finish: Weronika Kaleta.

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Players Mentioned

Hanna Abrahamsson

Alex Birkner

Magnus Boee

Cleo Braun

Anna-Maria Dietze

Jacob Dilling

Elena Exenberger

Louis Fausa

Filip Forejtek

Elena Grissom

Emma Hammergaard

Kaitlyn Harsch

Oyvind Haugan

Hugo Hinckfuss

Karolina Kaleta

Weronika Kaleta

Will Koch

Sebastian Kohlhofer

Kili Lehmkuhl

Alexander Maurer

Fredrik Nilsen

Jack Reich

Luka Riley

Chase Seymour