Friday, March 10
Lake Placid, N.Y.
All Day
Colorado
vs
Slalom
Photo by: NCAA Photos
Buffs Second By 1.5 Points With Final Day Looming
March 10, 2023 | Skiing
Top Three Teams Within 12 Points
LAKE PLACID, N.Y.— Legendary coach Richard Rokos always considered slalom "the great equalizer." Consider things equalized. With 75 percent of the 70th Annual NCAA Ski Championships now complete, the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team sits in second place, just one-and-a-half points behind leader Utah and 10 points up on Denver with one day of competition remaining after slalom races Friday here at Whiteface Mountain.
On a rollercoaster of a day where each of the top three teams probably feel like they missed an opportunity to take hold of the championship, especially the Buffs and Utes, it will now come down to Saturday's 20K classic races to determine the National Champion.
Entering the day, the Buffs held a 16.5 lead on Utah and 49 point lead on Utah and exiting the day the three teams are within 12 points with Utah holding the slimmest of advantages with 358 points to Colorado's 356.6 and Denver's 346.5. There is then over a 100-point cushion to fourth place Montana State (243) as the three western rivals battle it out.
The first roller coaster moment came in the men's race when Filip Forejtek, Wednesday's GS champion, straddled a gate within sight of the finish line. After hiking, he finished last in the first run and had his intermediate times held he would've finished in the top three. Forejtek did rebound to have the fastest time his second and final collegiate run. Jacob Dilling finished 15th and Louis Fausa 19th after sitting in eighth in the first run, to give the Buffs 30 points in the race. Utah scored 48 points, mostly from Wilhelm Normannseth's second place to give the Utes a 1.5 lead after the race.
The Utes had a decided advantage over the Buffs in the women's race in terms of starting bibs. Utah held bibs 3, 6 and 34 and CU held bibs 20, 22 and 28. Utah's Michelle Kerven had a similar experience to Forejtek being one of the race favorites she had to hike and finished last. She also put down the fastest second run.
Emma Hammergaard was the star of the day, starting 20th she moved up to 13th in the first run and then another five spots to earn her second All-America honor of the week in eight place after having the third-fastest second run. Elena Exenberger finished 17th and Kaitlyn Harsch 21st. With Kerven not scoring, Utah was led by race winner Madison Hoffman and they also picked up a 24th place. In the end, the two teams scored 47 points each and the Utes 1.5 point lead held. Denver was bolstered by second, third and 12th place finish to score 90 points in the race and close the gap on the Buffs and Utes.
WHAT IT MEANS
It all comes down to this. Not many thought the Buffs could seriously compete for a title this week, and all the Buffs have done to date is competed for put themselves in position to win a national championship. You never know what to expect in the slalom races, but now that the dust has settled, it all comes down to Saturday. Looking back at Nordic action on Thursday, the Buffs and Utes scored within seven points of each other, and both teams probably feel like they can ski better. Denver's men's team is also extremely strong, as well, although they are one woman short of a full team, but they are still fully in the mix, as well.
UP NEXT
The women get things started on Saturday at 8 a.m. MT (10 a.m. local) with a mass start in their 20K classic race. The men follow two hours later at 10 a.m. MT (Noon local).
TEAM NOTES
Chad Wolk
On Expectations – "In slalom, I don't expect anything. I just tried to keep our team together and try to be in attack mode. I think we felt really good about what the Nordics did yesterday and we're really excited. And I think we had a little bit of defensive skiing, trying to protect what we had instead of attacking and trying to secure our position. Overall, I'm really proud of the team. They're monsters. This sport isn't easy. We don't get these kind of conditions very often and for us to do what we did this season, pulling together as a group, I'm really impressed with them."
On Filip Forejtek – "That's just the fight. That's the fight and I'm so impressed with him. I know he's feeling this one quite a bit because he had it; he was there. He just lost it a little bit and paid the price for it. But, in the end we've seen it from the greatest in history. We've seen it from Mikaela (Shiffrin)'s Olympic result. We've seen it from Marcel Hirscher in slalom. Two of the greatest ever to do it couldn't necessarily finish off a slalom and that's what makes this sport so amazing because anything can happen at any time."
On The Team's Performacne - "Transition is always difficult and we've had some pretty serious bumps in the road along the way this year. All we've done is focus on moving forward, focus on what we can control and just do that, because in the end I wanted each of these athletes to not try to do anything special and just do them. Did we execute it perfectly? No, but we saw some shining moments and when we saw some people really battle it out in a way that makes me proud."
Emma Hammergaard
Overall Thoughts This Week – "It feels great. I'm really happy, especially with my second run today; it was really good. So yeah, I'm proud of myself."
On Moving Up Through The Field– "Yeah, that was kind of my goal to move up, for sure. So I'm really happy I was able to do it."
On Tomorrow's Nordic Races – "I'm gonna tell them to go for it and push themselves hard because we're in it. It's only a 1.5-point lead or something, so they can do it. They've showed us they can do it. I'm just gonna get them excited."
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM RESULTS (Thru 6 of 8 races)— 1. Utah, 358.0; 2. Colorado, 356.5; 3. Denver, 346.5; 4. Montana State, 243.0; 5. Vermont, 239.0; 6. Westminster, 225.0; 7. Dartmouth, 204.5; 8. New Hampshire, 174.0; 9. Alaska Fairbanks, 150.0; 10. Middlebury, 146.0; 11. St. Michael's, 145.0; 12. Alaska Anchorage, 112.0; 13. Plymouth State, 104.0; 14. Michigan Tech, 60.0; 15. Colby, 46.0; 16. Harvard, 27.0; 17. St. Lawrence, 26.0; 18. Nevada, 21.0; 19. Northern Michigan, 8.5; 20. Bowdoin, St. Scholastica, Williams, 0.0.
MEN'S SLALOM (31 collegiate finishers)— 1. Mathias Tefre, UVM, 1:49.32; 2. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:50.11; 3. Joachim Lindstol, UVM, 1:50.38; 4. Mikkel Solbakken, WMC, 1:50.43; 5. Oscar Zimmer, DAR, 1:50.68; 6. Leon Nikic, UAA, 1:50.72; 7. Max Haussmann, PSU, 1:50.75; 8. Gianluca Boehm, MSU, 1:50.76; 9. Eirik Kveno, SMC, 1:50.98; 10. Henry Heaydon, MSU, 1:51.11. CU Finishers: 15. Jacob Dilling, 1:51.48; 19. Louis Fausa, 1:51.96; 29. Filip Forejtek, 2:04.22.
WOMEN'S SLALOM (31 collegiate finishers)— 1. Madison Hoffman, UU, 1:49.37; 2. Nora Brand, DU, 1:50.34; 3. Sara Rask, DU, 1:50.36; 4. Ella Bromee, UAA, 1:50.75; 5. Kristiane Bekkestad, MSU, 1:51.51; 6. Justine Lamontagne, MSU, 1:51.59; 7. Evelina Fredricsson, WMC, 1:51.61; 8. Emma Hammergaard, CU, 1:52.14; 9. Justine Clement, UVM, 1:52.44; 10. Denise Dingsleder, WMC, 1:52.69. Other CU Finishers: 17. Elena Exenberger, 1:53.50; 21. Kaitlyn Harsch, 1:53.69.
On a rollercoaster of a day where each of the top three teams probably feel like they missed an opportunity to take hold of the championship, especially the Buffs and Utes, it will now come down to Saturday's 20K classic races to determine the National Champion.
Entering the day, the Buffs held a 16.5 lead on Utah and 49 point lead on Utah and exiting the day the three teams are within 12 points with Utah holding the slimmest of advantages with 358 points to Colorado's 356.6 and Denver's 346.5. There is then over a 100-point cushion to fourth place Montana State (243) as the three western rivals battle it out.
The first roller coaster moment came in the men's race when Filip Forejtek, Wednesday's GS champion, straddled a gate within sight of the finish line. After hiking, he finished last in the first run and had his intermediate times held he would've finished in the top three. Forejtek did rebound to have the fastest time his second and final collegiate run. Jacob Dilling finished 15th and Louis Fausa 19th after sitting in eighth in the first run, to give the Buffs 30 points in the race. Utah scored 48 points, mostly from Wilhelm Normannseth's second place to give the Utes a 1.5 lead after the race.
The Utes had a decided advantage over the Buffs in the women's race in terms of starting bibs. Utah held bibs 3, 6 and 34 and CU held bibs 20, 22 and 28. Utah's Michelle Kerven had a similar experience to Forejtek being one of the race favorites she had to hike and finished last. She also put down the fastest second run.
Emma Hammergaard was the star of the day, starting 20th she moved up to 13th in the first run and then another five spots to earn her second All-America honor of the week in eight place after having the third-fastest second run. Elena Exenberger finished 17th and Kaitlyn Harsch 21st. With Kerven not scoring, Utah was led by race winner Madison Hoffman and they also picked up a 24th place. In the end, the two teams scored 47 points each and the Utes 1.5 point lead held. Denver was bolstered by second, third and 12th place finish to score 90 points in the race and close the gap on the Buffs and Utes.
WHAT IT MEANS
It all comes down to this. Not many thought the Buffs could seriously compete for a title this week, and all the Buffs have done to date is competed for put themselves in position to win a national championship. You never know what to expect in the slalom races, but now that the dust has settled, it all comes down to Saturday. Looking back at Nordic action on Thursday, the Buffs and Utes scored within seven points of each other, and both teams probably feel like they can ski better. Denver's men's team is also extremely strong, as well, although they are one woman short of a full team, but they are still fully in the mix, as well.
UP NEXT
The women get things started on Saturday at 8 a.m. MT (10 a.m. local) with a mass start in their 20K classic race. The men follow two hours later at 10 a.m. MT (Noon local).
TEAM NOTES
- Colorado scored 30 points in the men's race and 47 points in the women's race to score 77 on the day and finish with 356.5 points. Utah scored 95 points (48 in the men's race, 47 in the women's) to pass the Buffs by just 1.5 points with 358. Denver scored 116 points to close the gap on both and sits third with 346.5 points.
- Dilling finished 15th for 16 points, Fausa finished 20th for 12 points and Forejtek 29th for two points.
- Hammergaard finished eighth for 23 points, Exenberger finished 17th for 14 points and Harsch took 21st for 10 points.
- Hammergaard was the Buffs sole All-American on the day, earning second team honors, her second honor this week and second of her career.
- It's the Buffs ninth honor these championships.
- CU now has 533 All-America honors in CU history and it's the 52nd women's honor in slalom and CU's 100th slalom honor between men and women.
- It's the 235th all-time All-America honor for a women's skier at CU.
- Jacob Dilling finished 15th, his 22nd top 20 finish in 23 finished races. He's finished each of his started races in his CU career.
- Louis Fausa finished 19th, his 21st career top 20 finish in 27 finished races out of 37 race starts.
- Forejtek ends his CU career with 57 races started and 41 finished with 39 top 200, 35 top 10s, 29 top 5s including 22 podiums and six race wins, including two individual NCAA Championships.
- Emma Hammergaard finished eighth in her 52nd career race. She's finished 41 of them with 38 in the top 20, 24 in the top 10 and also has four top five finishes and two podiums.
- Exenberger finished 17th, her 19th career top 20 finish out of 20 finished races and 25 starts.
- Harsch ends her CU career with 57 race starts and she finished 45 of them with 32 top 20 finishes.
Chad Wolk
On Expectations – "In slalom, I don't expect anything. I just tried to keep our team together and try to be in attack mode. I think we felt really good about what the Nordics did yesterday and we're really excited. And I think we had a little bit of defensive skiing, trying to protect what we had instead of attacking and trying to secure our position. Overall, I'm really proud of the team. They're monsters. This sport isn't easy. We don't get these kind of conditions very often and for us to do what we did this season, pulling together as a group, I'm really impressed with them."
On Filip Forejtek – "That's just the fight. That's the fight and I'm so impressed with him. I know he's feeling this one quite a bit because he had it; he was there. He just lost it a little bit and paid the price for it. But, in the end we've seen it from the greatest in history. We've seen it from Mikaela (Shiffrin)'s Olympic result. We've seen it from Marcel Hirscher in slalom. Two of the greatest ever to do it couldn't necessarily finish off a slalom and that's what makes this sport so amazing because anything can happen at any time."
On The Team's Performacne - "Transition is always difficult and we've had some pretty serious bumps in the road along the way this year. All we've done is focus on moving forward, focus on what we can control and just do that, because in the end I wanted each of these athletes to not try to do anything special and just do them. Did we execute it perfectly? No, but we saw some shining moments and when we saw some people really battle it out in a way that makes me proud."
Emma Hammergaard
Overall Thoughts This Week – "It feels great. I'm really happy, especially with my second run today; it was really good. So yeah, I'm proud of myself."
On Moving Up Through The Field– "Yeah, that was kind of my goal to move up, for sure. So I'm really happy I was able to do it."
On Tomorrow's Nordic Races – "I'm gonna tell them to go for it and push themselves hard because we're in it. It's only a 1.5-point lead or something, so they can do it. They've showed us they can do it. I'm just gonna get them excited."
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM RESULTS (Thru 6 of 8 races)— 1. Utah, 358.0; 2. Colorado, 356.5; 3. Denver, 346.5; 4. Montana State, 243.0; 5. Vermont, 239.0; 6. Westminster, 225.0; 7. Dartmouth, 204.5; 8. New Hampshire, 174.0; 9. Alaska Fairbanks, 150.0; 10. Middlebury, 146.0; 11. St. Michael's, 145.0; 12. Alaska Anchorage, 112.0; 13. Plymouth State, 104.0; 14. Michigan Tech, 60.0; 15. Colby, 46.0; 16. Harvard, 27.0; 17. St. Lawrence, 26.0; 18. Nevada, 21.0; 19. Northern Michigan, 8.5; 20. Bowdoin, St. Scholastica, Williams, 0.0.
MEN'S SLALOM (31 collegiate finishers)— 1. Mathias Tefre, UVM, 1:49.32; 2. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:50.11; 3. Joachim Lindstol, UVM, 1:50.38; 4. Mikkel Solbakken, WMC, 1:50.43; 5. Oscar Zimmer, DAR, 1:50.68; 6. Leon Nikic, UAA, 1:50.72; 7. Max Haussmann, PSU, 1:50.75; 8. Gianluca Boehm, MSU, 1:50.76; 9. Eirik Kveno, SMC, 1:50.98; 10. Henry Heaydon, MSU, 1:51.11. CU Finishers: 15. Jacob Dilling, 1:51.48; 19. Louis Fausa, 1:51.96; 29. Filip Forejtek, 2:04.22.
WOMEN'S SLALOM (31 collegiate finishers)— 1. Madison Hoffman, UU, 1:49.37; 2. Nora Brand, DU, 1:50.34; 3. Sara Rask, DU, 1:50.36; 4. Ella Bromee, UAA, 1:50.75; 5. Kristiane Bekkestad, MSU, 1:51.51; 6. Justine Lamontagne, MSU, 1:51.59; 7. Evelina Fredricsson, WMC, 1:51.61; 8. Emma Hammergaard, CU, 1:52.14; 9. Justine Clement, UVM, 1:52.44; 10. Denise Dingsleder, WMC, 1:52.69. Other CU Finishers: 17. Elena Exenberger, 1:53.50; 21. Kaitlyn Harsch, 1:53.69.
Players Mentioned
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