Skiers Third At UAA Invitational

ANCHORAGE, Alaska—The Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team sits in third place at the three-quarters mark of the Alaska Anchorage Invitational after two days of racing here at Kincaid Park and Alyeska Resort.

Individually, the Buffs put up a dozen top 10 performances in the six races, including podium performances from Hanna Abrahamsson, Magnus Boee and Anna-Maria Dietze. And while in the team standings, the Buffs took a hit on the alpine side and slid behind Denver into third place, looking deeper into the NCAA Qualification shows several silver linings, and potentially a huge one.

Entering the day, the Buffs were headed toward not qualifying a full team for the NCAA Championships, and while the Buffs have won the title short-handed, it's a rarity and has only happened twice in the last two decades.

On the alpine side, Elena Exenberger was the star of the day, finishing a career-best sixth and moving up into the final qualification spot for NCAAs. It's still precarious, and as it stands now Kaitlyn Harsch and Exenberger are in the final two qualification spots for the Championships with three days of racing remaining here in Alaska.

After some timing mishaps, Monday's freestyle sprint results were not made available until after midnight MT, so combining those with Tuesday's 10K classic races and the first alpine event, giant slalom, get us to the three-quarters mark of the meet.

Dietze and Boee both picked up third-place finishes in the sprint races on Monday, and with Karolina Kaleta (sixth), Abrahamsson (seventh), Hinckfuss (sixth) and Koch (10th), the Buffs had six top 10 finishes and ended the day solidly in second place, just 18 points behind the Utes.

Saturday it was Abrahamsson's turn for a podium appearance, taking second in the 10K classic race and in doing so clinching the women's classic MVP honor in the process. Dietze just missed a podium by 1.1 seconds and finished fourth. On the men's side, no skier finished in the top six, but six Buffs finished between seventh and 17th in the overall solid performance.

At the end of Saturday, Utah holds at commanding lead with 499 points while Denver (407) just edged the Buffs (403), with both the Buffs and Pioneers about 50 points ahead of Montana State (351) and the host Seawolves (348) who round out the top five.

WHAT IT MEANS: Every team wants to win a meet, but the ultimate goal of every CU team is to compete for an win national championships, and one of the main goals to accomplish that is to qualify a full team. Make no mistake, the Buffs want to win every race and every meet, but the headline from Tuesday was the Buffs moving up in the qualification standings, not the team standings.

UP NEXT: There are still four more days of racing in Alaska. Wednesday will be another GS race for the alpine skiers, and that will signal the start of the 73rd Annual RMISA Championships, also hosted by the Seawolves. Thursday's slalom races will conclude the UAA Invitational and the regular season and by Saturday, the teams will have completed the RMISA Championships.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs have 403 points through six races, and were edged by the Pioneers after building a 70-point lead over them in Nordic races.
The Buffs finished second in the Nordic races with 324 points, the second most points of the season behind 360 at the CU Invitational.
The Buffs have scored the most points amongst women's team through the first three races of the meet and with 232 points are ahead of Utah (220) and Montana State (195).
The women's Nordic team was within nine points of Utah (181-172) in the two races and finished second overall, well ahead of third place Alaska Fairbanks (146).

WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES:

Hanna Abrahamsson finished second in the classic race and seventh in the freestyle race. She has finished seventh or better in all 19 of her career races, and it marks her fifth podium of the season, third in classic, and eighth podium of her career, fifth in classic. She also has 15 career top five finishes.
Anna-Maria Dietze finished third in the freestyle race and fourth in the classic race. She picked up her 12th and 13th career top five finish in 38 career races and her fourth career podium performance, and third of the season, all have come in freestyle.
Karolina Kaleta finished sixth in the freestyle race and 14th in the classic race. She now has a top six finish in both classic and freestyle this season and in 14 career races, she has 14 top 20 finishes and seven top 10 performances.
Elena Grissom finished 20th in the freestyle race and 23rd in the classic race. She now has seven top 20 finishes in nine races this season.
Kili Lehmkuhl finished 26th in the freestyle race and 29th in the classic race.

MEN'S NORDIC NOTES

Magnus Boee finished third in the freestyle and eighth in the classic race. He has now raced in 43 career races with 42 top 20, 39 top 10 and 32 top five finishes including 26 podium performances along with 15 victories.
Hugo Hinckfuss finished sixth in the freestyle race and seventh in the classic race, his third and fourth top 10 of the season.
Will Koch finished 10th in both races, giving him 17 career top 10 finishes in 25 career races.
Alexander Maurer finished 17th in the freestyle race and 15th in the classic race, giving him 11 top 20 finishes in 16 career races.
Luka Riley finished 27th in the freestyle race and 17th in the classic race, and Oyvind Haugan finished 28th in the freestyle race and 16th in the classic race. Riley now has four top 20s and Haugan 19, including five this season.
Fredrik Nilsen finished 23rd in the freestyle race 26th in the classic race.

WOMEN'S ALPINE NOTES:

Elena Exenberger finished sixth in the GS race, her best career GS finish and second career top 10 performance. She has 15 top 20 finishes in 16 career races finished.
Kailyn Harsch finished 13th in the GS race, matching her best career GS finish. She now has 28 career top 20 finishes in 52 career races.
Cleo Braun finished 23rd in the GS race and Emma Hammergaard did not finish her second run after having the fifth-fastest first run. Bruan has finished every race this season and done so between 22nd and 28th place.

MEN'S ALPINE NOTES:

Alex Birkner was the lone CU finisher in 11th place, his best career finish. It's his 16th career top 20 in 42 race starts and 36 finished races. .
Sebastian Kohlhofer and Chase Seymour did not finish their first runs, Jack Reich didn't finish his second run and Louis Fausa didn't start his second run. Jacob Dilling and Filip Forejtek both did not race.

ALASKA ANCHORAGE INVITATIONAL (Thru 6 of 8 Races): 1. Utah 499; 2. Denver 407; 3. Colorado 403; 4. Montana State 351; 5. Alaska Anchorage 348; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 273; 7. Westminster 170; 8. Colorado Mountain 84; 9. Nevada 74.

WOMEN'S FREESTYLE SPRINTS (32 collegiate finishers): 1. Mariel Pulles, UAF; 2. Novie McCabe, UU; 3. Anna-Maria Dietze, CU; 4. Karianne Dengerud, UU; 5. Pascale Paradis, UAA; 6. Karolina Kaleta, CU; 7. Hanna Abrahamsson, CU; 8. Tilde Baangman, MSU; 9. Kate Oldham, MSU; 10. Tuva Bygrave, UAA. Other CU Finishers: 20. Elena Grissom; 26. Kili Lehmkuhl.

MEN'S FREESTYLE SPRINTS (34 collegiate finishers): 1. Luke Jager, UU; 2. Andreas Kirkeng, DU; 3. Magnus Boee, CU; 4. Tom Mancini, UU; 5. Walker Hall, UU; 6. Hugo Hinckfuss, CU; 7. Bernhard Flaschberger, DU; 8. Noel Keeffe, UU; 9. Ari Endestad, UAA; 10. Will Koch, CU. Other CU Finishers: 17. Alexander Maurer; 23. Fredrik Nilsen; 27. Luka Riley; 28. Oyvind Haugan.

MEN'S 10K CLASSICAL (34 collegiate finishers): 1. Luke Jager, UU, 26:27.0; 2. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 26:29.4; 3. Chrisopher Kalev, UAF, 26:46.3; 4. Walker Hall, UU, 26:46.7; 5. Mike Ophoff, UAF, 26:48.1; 6. Bernhard Flaschberger, DU, 26:49.4; 7. Hugo Hinckfuss, CU, 26:55.4; 8. Magnus Boee, 26:55.6; 9. Reed Godfrey, MSU, 26:56.7; 10. Will Koch, CU, 27:15.6. Other CU Finishers: 15. Alexander Maurer, 27:47.4; 16. Oyvind Huagan, 27:49.2; 17. Luka Riley, 27:55.8; 26. Fredrik Nilsen, 28:51.6.

WOMEN'S 10K CLASSICAL (31 collegiate finishers): 1. Novie McCabe, UU, 30:41.0; 2. Hanna Abrahamsson, CU, 31:01.2; 3. Mariel Pulles, UAF, 31:26.1; 4. Anna-Maria Dietze, CU, 31:27.2; 5. Celine Mayer, UU, 31:30.0; 6. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 31:47.3; 7. Karianne Dengerud, UU, 31:52.5; 8. Tilde Baangman, MSU, 31:54.7; 9. Sophia Mazzoni, MSU, 31:58.1; 10. Anna Pryce, MSU, 31:59.1. Other CU Finishers: 14. Karolina Kaleta, 32:27.6; 23. Elena Grissom, 33:16.8; 29. Kili Lehmkuhl, 35:52.9.

WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (29 collegiate finishers): 1. Sara Rask, DU, 1:34.18; 2. Hannah Saethereng, WMC, 1:34.63; 3. Nora Brand, DU, 1:35.26; 4. Justine Lamontague, MSU, 1:36.03; 5. Katie Parker, UU, 1:36.08; 6. Elena Exenberger, CU, 1:36.42; 7. Evelina Fredricsson, WMC, 1:36.43; 8. Lana Zbasnik, WMC, 1:36.49; 9. Denise Dingsleder, WMC, 1:36.73; 10. Nicola Rountree-Williams, CMC, 1:37.06. Other CU Finishers: 13. Kaitlyn Harsch, 1:38.42; 23. Cleo Braun, 1:41.38. Did Not Finish First Run: Emma Hammergaard.

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (32 collegiate finishers): 1. Gustav Vollo, UU, 1:32.85; 2. Jeremie Lagier, WMC, 1:33.34; 3. Leon Nikic, UAA, 1:33.35; 4. Matthew Macaluso, CMC, 1:33.42; 5. Cooper Cornelius, DU, 1:33.50; 6. Francisco Galdiolo, WMC, 1:33.67; 7. Raphael Lessard, UU, 1:34.15; 8. Bjorn Brudevoll, UU, 1:34.18; 9. Gianluca Boehm, MSU, 1:34.23; 10. Mikkel Solbakken, 1:34.25. CU Finisher: 11. Alex Birkner, 1:34.32. Did Not Finish First Run: Sebastian Kohlhofer, Chase Seymour. Did Not Start Second Run: Louis Fausa. Did Not Finish Second Run: Jack Reich.

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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

Will Koch

Sebastian Kohlhofer

Kili Lehmkuhl

Alexander Maurer

Fredrik Nilsen

Jack Reich

Luka Riley

Chase Seymour