Women's Alpine Shines At RMISA Championships

ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Elena Exenberger finished as the third CU skier but put together one of the more clutch performances in Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team history, throwing down the fastest second run in the field to push herself into the final qualification spot for women's alpine into the NCAA Championships here Friday at the 74th Annual RMISA Championships.

Exenberger entered the day in the No. 18 qualification spot, the first one out of qualifying for the championships, and after the first run she sat in 18th place while the skier occupying the No. 17 and final spot was in 11th place. Exenberger needed to finish in the top 15 and one spot ahead of her to secure the final spot. She did more than that, winning the second run to move all the way up to ninth to secure the final spot, thus enabling CU to qualify a full 12-skier team for the NCAA Championships.

Emma Hammergaard finished sixth and Kaitlyn Harsch seventh ahead of Exenberger as the group put together the best team finish of the season and in the process, each of the three improved their positioning for the championships.

On the men's side, Louis Fausa and Filip Forejtek were both set for high finishes, as Fausa had the fastest first run and was gunning for a top seed position in slalom at the NCAAs, but he skied out on his second run. Forejtek was then in position to slip into the top seed, but was disqualified sitting in fourth place. Along with Jacob Dilling, who is in the top seed in both disciplines, as it stands all three should be in the first half of the field at NCAAs in both disciplines as one of the strongest teams in Lake Placid.

Alex Birkner also qualified as an alternate for the Buffs and led the way in 17th place while Chase Seymour finished 28th just ahead of Sebastian Kohlhofer to pick up team points for the Buffs.

On the Nordic side, the Buffs participated in the 5K women's and 10K men's freestyle races. With Hanna Abrahamsson and Will Koch sitting out, the Buffs were a little short handed and led by Anna-Maria Dietze, who finished sixth in the women's race and Oyvind Haugan, who was ninth in the men's race.

Behind Dietze was Karolina Kaleta in 19th and Elena Grissom in 23rd as scoring Buffs. On the men's side, the trio of Magnus Boee (14th), Fredrik Nilsen (15th) and Hugo Hinckfuss (16th) finished in succession in the top 20.

In the team standings, Fausa and Forejtek skiing out did hurt the overall standings for the Buffs, who sit in fifth place with 307 points. Montana State leads a close race at the top with 446 points while Utah (427.5) and Denver (417.5) are within 30 points of the Bobcats and host Alaska Anchorage Is just ahead of the Buffs in fourth place.

WHAT IT MEANS:

It cannot be understated how clutch Exenberger's finish was. Down to what could have been her last run of the season and down eight spots to the skier she needed to catch, she had no choice but to send it and pulled through with the fastest run in the field to move into the position she needed to. And some years the skiers that sneak in at the 11th hour end up finishing lower at the NCAA Championships and not making a big impact, but Exenberger, along with all three Buffs, are all capable of earning All-America honors and top 10 finishes if not higher at the championships.

UP NEXT:

The final day of the RMISA Championships and final day of six racing in Alaska take place Saturday with the 20K freestyle races at Government Peak. The Buffs will then return home where the 12 selected Buffs will prep for the NCAA Championships, which take place in Lake Placid, N.Y., from March 8-11.

QUALIFICATION NOTES:

Exenberger sat with the No. 18 slalom ranking entering the day and two Montana State skiers sat just ahead and behind her on the list. Her ninth place gave her an extra seven points to move up three spots to No. 15, clinching the final spot for the Championships.
Hammergaard finished as the No. 10 slalom seed and the No. 7 overall seed for the championships.
Harsch moved up from No. 15 to No. 12 on the slalom list with her eighth place finish while she is the No. 16 seed in, she will start the slalom race no lower than 24th.
Fausa was extremely close to earning a top seed, holding the fastest first run time. Going all out to make that happen and attempt to knock of Utah's Wilhelm Normannseth, who has won every slalom race this season, he unfortunately skied out but proved he can not only finish high, but potentially win, the race in two weeks at the NCAA Championships.
Forejtek was unfortunately disqualified while sitting in fourth place after the second run on Friday. If he held that, he would've moved into the top seed and held top seeds in both disciplines. As it stands, he will start in a position he can still make some noise as a multiple time first-team All-American and individual National Champion.
Dilling is skiing at the Nor-Am championships and has a real shot to win the NorAm GS title. Being safely qualified, he nonetheless held onto the top seed in both disciplines and will start in the top 10 of both races at the NCAA Championships. He is the only skier that will hold that distinction at the NCAA Championships out of the RMISA.
Birkner was able to sneak into a qualification spot and will serve as an alternate for the Buffs.

RMISA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM RESULTS (Thru 6 of 8 races)—1. Montana State 446; 2. Utah 427.5; 3. Denver 417.5; 4. Alaska Anchorage 379; 5. Colorado 307; 6. Westminster 292.5; 7. Alaska Fairbanks 161; 8 Nevada 141.5; 9. Colorado Mountain 116.

WOMEN'S 5K FREESTYLE (30 collegiate finishers)—1. Novie McCabe, UU, 13:51.3; 2. Mariel Pulles, UAF, 13:54.4; 3. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 14:20.8; 4. Tuva Bygrave, UAA, 14:33.5; 5. Rosie Fordham, UAF, 14:34.4; 6. Anna-Maria Dietze, CU, 14:36.3; 7. Anna Pryce, MSU, 14:40.8; 8. Tilde Baangman, MSU, 14:42.7; 9. Karianne Dengerud, UU, 14:43.2; 10. Pascale Paradis, UAA, 14:48.2. Other CU Finishers: 19. Karolina Kaleta, 15:06.5; 23. Elena Grissom, 15:31.4; 29. Kili Lehmkuhl, 16:03.2. Did Not Start: Hanna Abrahamsson.

MEN'S 10K FREESTYLE (32 collegiate finishers)—1. Bernhard Flaschberger, DU, 26:02.8; 2. Magnus Noroey, UAA, 26:03.9; 3. Mike Ophoff, UAF, 26:05.2; 4. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 26:17.9; 5. Luke Jager, UU, 26:24.4; 6. Walker Hall, UU, 26:29.3; 7. Brian Bushey, UU, 26:33.3; 8. Samuel Hendry, UU, 26:47.3; 9. Oyvind Haugan, CU, 26:51.4; 10. Anders Weiss, MSU, 26:52.4. Other CU Finishers: 14. Magnus Boee, 27:17.5; 15. Fredrik Nilsen, 27:17.9; 16. Hugo Hinckfuss, 27:23.7; 21. Alexander Maurer, 27:42.0; 26. Luka Riley, 28:01.1. Did Not Start: Will Koch.

WOMEN'S SLALOM (35 collegiate finishers)—1. Nora Brand, DU, 1:28.43; 2. Michelle Kerven, UU, 1:28.84; 3. Kristiane Bekkestad, MSU, 1:29.52; 4. Sara Rask, DU, 1:29.53; 5. Justine Lamontagne, MSU, 1:29.61; 6. Emma Hammergaard, CU, 1:29.88; 7. Kaitlyn Harsch, CU, 1:30.88; 8. Mia Hunt, DU, 1:30.44; 9. Elena Exenberger, CU, 1:30.85; 10. Ainsley Profitt, UAA, 1:31.02. Did Not Finish Second Run: Cleo Braun.

MEN'S SLALOM (34 collegiate finishers)—1. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:28.26; 2. Gianluca Boehm, MSU, 1:28.50; 3. Leon Nikic, UAA, 1:28.65; 4. Henry Heaydon, MSU, 1:29.20; 5. Dawson Yates, MSU, 1:29.24; 6. Mikkel Solbakken, 1:29.31; 7. Jeremy Mathers, UU, 1:29.46; 8. Jeremie Lagier, WMC, 1:29.47; 9. Bjorn Brudevoll, UU, 1:29.68; 10. Andreas Smith, UN, 1:30.09. CU Finishers: 18. Alex Birkner, 1:31.24; 28. Chase Seymour, 1:36.28; 29. Sebastian Kohlhofer, 1:36.29. Did Not Finish First Run: Jack Reich. Did Not Finish Second Run: Louis Fausa. Disqualified Second Run: Filip Forejtek.

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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