Wednesday, March 8
Lake Placid, N.Y.
All Day
Colorado
vs
Giant Slalom
Buffs Lead NCAA Championships After First Day
March 08, 2023 | Skiing
Forejtek Wins Men’s GS, Fausa Second; Hammergaard Fifth In Women’s Race
LAKE PLACID, N.Y.—Filip Forejtek won the men's giant slalom Individual National Championship and Louis Fausa and Emma Hammergaard also earned first-team All-American honors as the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team sits in the lead of the 70th Annual NCAA Ski Championships after the first day here Wednesday at Whiteface Mountain.
Forejtek became just the third skier in NCAA history to repeat as the men's GS champion and is the first in CU history to accomplish the feat. He picked up his sixth career win and sixth All-American honor, including his fourth first-team honor.
"He's been an outstanding performer for five years and he has the ability to perform on demand," CU alpine coach Chad Wolk said. "This year, he's had a little bit of a roller coaster season with traveling to Europe and going to World Championships and then coming back and meeting different qualification pieces, but we rested him, we fine-tuned him and we got him into a place where he knew he could perform."
Fausa finished second behind Forejtek, picking up the best finish of his career and third career podium, all coming in the last few weeks as he finished third in a slalom and GS race in Alaska. Last season, Fausa was fifth after the first GS run but then his ski fell off in the second run and he didn't finish.
"I am so happy for him," Wolk said. "And I think it's only the beginning for what he can do in the rest of his career and on Friday."
The duo's 1-2 finish is the first at an NCAA Championship in two years, as Cass Gray and Stef Fleckenstein finished 1-2 in the women's GS race two years ago. The duo becomes the first 1-2 finisher in men's alpine at the NCAA Championships since 1987 when John Skajem and John Walsh went 1-2 in the men's GS race.
Hammergaard earned her first All-America honor and thus her best finish at the NCAA Championships. It's her fourth career top five finish, three of which have come this season.
"Emma is amazing," Wolk said. "When she decides to focus, great things can happen. Did she want more today? Yeah, I think she thought she could have been top three and she could have very easily but it's still her best performance and I'm so incredibly proud of her."
The Buffs last held a lead at the NCAA Championships after the second day in 2018. The last first-day lead came in 2015 here at Lake Placid when the Buffs lead after the first and third days en route to winning its most recent National Championship.
"I think it was a complete team effort today and it's been building for a while that we can do this as a team," Wolk said. "Every adversity that's come our way this year has just made us stronger as a group, and we're leaning into that and really not trying to do anything different."
Forejtek picked up a perfect 40 points for his win and Fausa scored 37 for second place. Jacob Dilling, who has been battling a back injury the last few weeks, struggled in the first run with the 22nd fastest time, but he then scorched the field with the second-fastest second run to move up into a tie for 13th place.
On the women's side, Hammergaard scored 29 points for her fifth place finish and Elena Exenberger had a fantastic second run to move up from 22nd to 17th to score 14 points. Kaitlyn Harsch sat 29th after the first run and her first two splits in her second run looked impressive, but she made a mistake with just a few gates left, but importantly held on to finish the run.
The Buffs picked up 139.5 points and lead by 22 points over Denver (117.5) and 23.5 over Denver (115). The RMISA dominated the day with the top five teams in the standings with Montana State (108) and Westminster (97) rounding out the top five. St. Michael's led the east with 95 points in sixth place as traditional eastern powers Vermont (67) and Dartmouth (61) struggled.
WHAT IT MEANS
The Buffs had one of their better alpine days in recent memory, especially given the fact it happened at the NCAA Championships, but the work is not done. The Buffs have put themselves in fantastic position and it's always a great day when you're leading the NCAA Championships, but it only matters who leads after Saturday, so the Nordic Buffs need to take Wednesday's momentum into Thursday to continue to strive for the National Championship.
UP NEXT
The Nordic teams are up next with the 10K men's and 5K women's freestyle races Thursday at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. The men's race will kick things off at 8 a.m. MT (10 a.m. local time) with the women following at 10 a.m. MT (Noon local). The race will be an interval start.
TEAM NOTES
Chad Wolk
On The First Day– "I think it was a complete team effort today and it's been building for a while that we can do this as a team. Every adversity that's come our way this year has just made us stronger as a group, and we're leaning into that and really not trying to do anything different. We're just trying to free ourselves to be able to be the best us we can be, each and every person. Can everyone do a little better? Yeah. But as a team, we did really well today and that's exciting. And it's only part of the way done and we're looking forward to the next."
On Filip's Repeat As GS Champion – "He's been an outstanding performer for five years and he has the ability to perform on demand. This year, he's had a little bit of a roller coaster season with traveling to Europe and going to World Championships and then coming back and meeting different qualification pieces, but we rested him, we fine-tuned him and we got him into a place where he knew he could perform. And once you do the work, then the results happen."
On Louis Rebounding From Last Season – "I am so happy for him. I am so happy for him to be able to finish the deal. It's been a question mark, but similarly, he's grown up a lot in the last two years in terms of maturing and what adult decisions get you and this is good proof. And I think it's only the beginning for what he can do in the rest of his career and on Friday."
On Emma's First-Team All-American – "Emma is amazing. She is an emotional being and we know that about her, but when she decides to focus it, great things can happen. Did she want more today? Yeah, I think she thought she could have been on top three and she could have very easily but it's still her best performance and I'm so incredibly proud of her."
On The Team Aspect – "We came into this wanting to compete and competing doesn't have anything to do with results. It's about competing with yourself and what the hill says you can do and what the snow says you can do and then performing on demand. And both of them, Jacob's been struggling with some back issues for a couple of weeks now and he's been progressing over the last week nicely and I think that he made a few too many mistakes in the first run. Then he locked in and said I'm gonna make up ground on the field and he did just that. And Ellie, she's been having a difficult time getting herself fired up for the first run this season, but she's had some spectacular second runs and I'm a big believer in growth.
"And each of these moments is an opportunity for everyone to grow. It gives me an opportunity to learn about the athletes and try to help guide them to what it takes for them to perform. And I'm hoping we're getting closer and closer with Ellie and I know Jacob has it in him. And Kaitlyn, GS has been an up and down year, Kaitlyn Harsch and her splits on that second run were very, very fast. And I was really sad for her and at the same time so happy that she fought it out. Because you never know, it might come down to those couple points that she scored by staying in. And those could be the points that matter. And so every single person moved up on the second run or stayed the same on you're first and second. That's impressive and that shows they know themselves and what to do to perform."
Louis Fausa
"It's amazing. I've actually never even been an All-American so it's quite the performance. Even cooler to be on the podium with Filip. It's what we dreamed off. We talked about it last year; unfortunately I lost my ski then, but yeah, this is an amazing feeling. The overall team effort means al lot, that's pretty much everything. We're stoked, it's a good team performance."
Filip Forejtek
"It feels better today (than last year) because Louis got second, so it's two Buffs on the podium. Plus in general the team performance was really good today. So it feels much better. It feels amazing to give the Nordies the lead. That's the best feeling. This was our goal, so we made the first team. It's cool that I'm just the third skier to repeat as GS cahmpion, but as I said before, the most important thing today is that we performed well as a team."
Emma Hammergaard
"Today was good. I'm happy with two solid runs to put together. It feels great to be a first-team All-American, this is my first honor, so it feels really good. The guys going 1-2 is amazing, I'm so happy for them and they're just pulling it together when it matters the most. That's awesome. I think we had an awesome day. I think everyone did the best they could. Yeah, it's a great day."
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM RESULTS (Thru 2 of 8 races)—1. Colorado 139.5; 2. Denver 117.5; 3. Utah 115; 4. Montana State 108; 5. Westminster 97; 6. St. Michael's 95; 7. Vermont 67; 8. Dartmouth 61; 9. Middlebury 51; 10. Plymouth State 50; 11. New Hampshire 49; 12. Colby 26; 13. Nevada 8; 14. Alaska Anchorage 7; 15. St. Lawrence 3; 16. Harvard 2.
WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (29 collegiate finishers)— 1. Madison Hoffman, UU, 2:10.66; 2. Sara Rask, DU, 2:11.90; 3. Justine Lamontagne, MSU, 2:12.49; 4. Hannah Saethereng, WMC, 2:13.04; 5. Emma Hammergaard, CU, 2:13.42; 6. Allie Resnick, DAR, 2:13.74; 7. Nora Brand, DU, 2:13.90; 8. Helene Kristoffersen, SMC, 2:13.96; 9. Lynda Riddell, CBC, 2:15.34; 10. Kathryn Parker, UU, 2:15.56. Other CU Finishers: 17. Elena Exenberger, CU, 2:16.86; 29. Kaitlyn Harsch, 2:20.55.
MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (29 collegiate finishers)— 1. Filip Forejtek, CU, 2:07.16; 2. Louis Fausa, CU, 2:07.54; 3. Riley Seger, MSU, 2:07.61; 4. Joachim Lindstol, UVM, 2:08.07; 5. Oscar Zimmer, DAR, 2:08.11; 6. Simen Strand, SMC, 2:08.18; 7. Gustav Vollo, UU, 2:08.22; 8. Eirik Kveno, SMC, 2:08.23; 9. Gray Flanagan, SMC, 2:08.31; 10. Cooper Cornelius, DU, 2:08.37. Other CU Finisher: t-13. Jacob Dilling, 2:08.62.
Forejtek became just the third skier in NCAA history to repeat as the men's GS champion and is the first in CU history to accomplish the feat. He picked up his sixth career win and sixth All-American honor, including his fourth first-team honor.
"He's been an outstanding performer for five years and he has the ability to perform on demand," CU alpine coach Chad Wolk said. "This year, he's had a little bit of a roller coaster season with traveling to Europe and going to World Championships and then coming back and meeting different qualification pieces, but we rested him, we fine-tuned him and we got him into a place where he knew he could perform."
Fausa finished second behind Forejtek, picking up the best finish of his career and third career podium, all coming in the last few weeks as he finished third in a slalom and GS race in Alaska. Last season, Fausa was fifth after the first GS run but then his ski fell off in the second run and he didn't finish.
"I am so happy for him," Wolk said. "And I think it's only the beginning for what he can do in the rest of his career and on Friday."
The duo's 1-2 finish is the first at an NCAA Championship in two years, as Cass Gray and Stef Fleckenstein finished 1-2 in the women's GS race two years ago. The duo becomes the first 1-2 finisher in men's alpine at the NCAA Championships since 1987 when John Skajem and John Walsh went 1-2 in the men's GS race.
Hammergaard earned her first All-America honor and thus her best finish at the NCAA Championships. It's her fourth career top five finish, three of which have come this season.
"Emma is amazing," Wolk said. "When she decides to focus, great things can happen. Did she want more today? Yeah, I think she thought she could have been top three and she could have very easily but it's still her best performance and I'm so incredibly proud of her."
The Buffs last held a lead at the NCAA Championships after the second day in 2018. The last first-day lead came in 2015 here at Lake Placid when the Buffs lead after the first and third days en route to winning its most recent National Championship.
"I think it was a complete team effort today and it's been building for a while that we can do this as a team," Wolk said. "Every adversity that's come our way this year has just made us stronger as a group, and we're leaning into that and really not trying to do anything different."
Forejtek picked up a perfect 40 points for his win and Fausa scored 37 for second place. Jacob Dilling, who has been battling a back injury the last few weeks, struggled in the first run with the 22nd fastest time, but he then scorched the field with the second-fastest second run to move up into a tie for 13th place.
On the women's side, Hammergaard scored 29 points for her fifth place finish and Elena Exenberger had a fantastic second run to move up from 22nd to 17th to score 14 points. Kaitlyn Harsch sat 29th after the first run and her first two splits in her second run looked impressive, but she made a mistake with just a few gates left, but importantly held on to finish the run.
The Buffs picked up 139.5 points and lead by 22 points over Denver (117.5) and 23.5 over Denver (115). The RMISA dominated the day with the top five teams in the standings with Montana State (108) and Westminster (97) rounding out the top five. St. Michael's led the east with 95 points in sixth place as traditional eastern powers Vermont (67) and Dartmouth (61) struggled.
WHAT IT MEANS
The Buffs had one of their better alpine days in recent memory, especially given the fact it happened at the NCAA Championships, but the work is not done. The Buffs have put themselves in fantastic position and it's always a great day when you're leading the NCAA Championships, but it only matters who leads after Saturday, so the Nordic Buffs need to take Wednesday's momentum into Thursday to continue to strive for the National Championship.
UP NEXT
The Nordic teams are up next with the 10K men's and 5K women's freestyle races Thursday at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. The men's race will kick things off at 8 a.m. MT (10 a.m. local time) with the women following at 10 a.m. MT (Noon local). The race will be an interval start.
TEAM NOTES
- The Buffs lead the NCAA Championships for the first time since the leading at the midpoint of the 2018 NCAA Championships. The last time the Buffs had a first day lead was in 2015 when CU won the title here in Lake Placid.
- Forejtek (40), Fausa (37) and Dilling (17.5) combined to score 94.5 points, 22.5 more than second place St. Michael's and 36.5 ahead of Montana State.
- Hammeraard scored 29 points, Exenberger 14 and Harsch two for the women's team, which scored 45 points as a team and sat in fifth place behind Utah (73), Denver (68), Westminster (66) and Montana State (50).
- Colorado's lead at the NCAA Championship is the first since the midpoint of the 2018 championship, when the Buffs help a nine point advantage over eventual champion Denver.
- This is just CU's fifth time leading the NCAA Championships after the first day of competition dating back to 1991. CU lead in 1999, 2008, 2011 and 2015 previously. CU won titles in 1999, 2011 and 2015 and finished second in 2008.
- Forejtek won his second individual national championship, becoming the 25th skier in CU history to accomplish that feat.
- He is the first CU skier to win the men's GS race in back-to-back seasons and just the third in NCAA history to accomplish the feat.
- He is the sixth skier in NCAA history to win the men's GS race twice in a career, and first at CU.
- It is CU's 103rd overall individual national championship, the 101st NCAA individual title, 73rd by a men's skier, 49th by an alpine skier and is CU's 17th giant slalom crown.
- Three Buffs picked up All-America honors, Forejtek, Fausa and Hammergaard, and all three earned first-team honors.
- CU is the only team on the first day to pick up three first-team honors and only St. Michael's from the EISA had more overall with four.
- Forejtek picked up his sixth career honor and fourth first-team nod.
- Fausa and Hammergaard picked up their first career All-America honor.
- CU now has 537 All-America honors from 208 different skiers. The Buffs have 305 men's honors from 121 skiers and 232 women's honors from 87 skiers.
- CU now has 311 first-team honors from 153 different skiers, including 177 first-team honors on the men's side from 88 different skiers and 134 women's first-team honors from 64 skiers.
- CU now has 53 men's GS All-America honors and 53 women's GS All-America honors, giving the program 106 in all.
- Hammergaard finished fifth in the women's race, her fourth career top five finish, three of which have come this season. She has finished in the top eight in all but one race she finished this season. She finished her 40th career race (out of 51 starts) and now has 37 top 20, 23 top 10 and four top five performances. This season she has finished nine of 12 races with eight in the top eight.
- Exenberger finished 17th and has finished in the top 20 in each of her nine finished races this season. She has finished in the top 17 in eight straight finishes.
- Harsch finished 29th and had her 44th career finish in her 54th career race.
- Forejtek won his second individual championship, his sixth career race win. He has now finished 40 of 56 career races with 39 top 20, 35 top 10, 29 top five, 22 podium appearances on top of his sixth win. He had finished five of nine races this season, all in the top seven with four podium appearances and two wins.
- Fausa matched his career best GS finish, which game in his last GS race in Alaska. He has finished on the podium in three straight races, also taking third in a slalom race in Alaska. He has now finished 26 of 36 career races with 20 top 20, 14 top 10, six top five and three podium appearances. This season he has finished nine of 11 races, all in the top 14 with seven top 10, four top five and three podium appearances.
- Dilling battled through a back injury he suffered a few weeks ago and had the second-fastest second run in the field to move up from 22nd into a tie for 13th in the run. He has finished all 22 of his career races with 20 top 20 performances, including all eight this season, seven in the top 20.
Chad Wolk
On The First Day– "I think it was a complete team effort today and it's been building for a while that we can do this as a team. Every adversity that's come our way this year has just made us stronger as a group, and we're leaning into that and really not trying to do anything different. We're just trying to free ourselves to be able to be the best us we can be, each and every person. Can everyone do a little better? Yeah. But as a team, we did really well today and that's exciting. And it's only part of the way done and we're looking forward to the next."
On Filip's Repeat As GS Champion – "He's been an outstanding performer for five years and he has the ability to perform on demand. This year, he's had a little bit of a roller coaster season with traveling to Europe and going to World Championships and then coming back and meeting different qualification pieces, but we rested him, we fine-tuned him and we got him into a place where he knew he could perform. And once you do the work, then the results happen."
On Louis Rebounding From Last Season – "I am so happy for him. I am so happy for him to be able to finish the deal. It's been a question mark, but similarly, he's grown up a lot in the last two years in terms of maturing and what adult decisions get you and this is good proof. And I think it's only the beginning for what he can do in the rest of his career and on Friday."
On Emma's First-Team All-American – "Emma is amazing. She is an emotional being and we know that about her, but when she decides to focus it, great things can happen. Did she want more today? Yeah, I think she thought she could have been on top three and she could have very easily but it's still her best performance and I'm so incredibly proud of her."
On The Team Aspect – "We came into this wanting to compete and competing doesn't have anything to do with results. It's about competing with yourself and what the hill says you can do and what the snow says you can do and then performing on demand. And both of them, Jacob's been struggling with some back issues for a couple of weeks now and he's been progressing over the last week nicely and I think that he made a few too many mistakes in the first run. Then he locked in and said I'm gonna make up ground on the field and he did just that. And Ellie, she's been having a difficult time getting herself fired up for the first run this season, but she's had some spectacular second runs and I'm a big believer in growth.
"And each of these moments is an opportunity for everyone to grow. It gives me an opportunity to learn about the athletes and try to help guide them to what it takes for them to perform. And I'm hoping we're getting closer and closer with Ellie and I know Jacob has it in him. And Kaitlyn, GS has been an up and down year, Kaitlyn Harsch and her splits on that second run were very, very fast. And I was really sad for her and at the same time so happy that she fought it out. Because you never know, it might come down to those couple points that she scored by staying in. And those could be the points that matter. And so every single person moved up on the second run or stayed the same on you're first and second. That's impressive and that shows they know themselves and what to do to perform."
Louis Fausa
"It's amazing. I've actually never even been an All-American so it's quite the performance. Even cooler to be on the podium with Filip. It's what we dreamed off. We talked about it last year; unfortunately I lost my ski then, but yeah, this is an amazing feeling. The overall team effort means al lot, that's pretty much everything. We're stoked, it's a good team performance."
Filip Forejtek
"It feels better today (than last year) because Louis got second, so it's two Buffs on the podium. Plus in general the team performance was really good today. So it feels much better. It feels amazing to give the Nordies the lead. That's the best feeling. This was our goal, so we made the first team. It's cool that I'm just the third skier to repeat as GS cahmpion, but as I said before, the most important thing today is that we performed well as a team."
Emma Hammergaard
"Today was good. I'm happy with two solid runs to put together. It feels great to be a first-team All-American, this is my first honor, so it feels really good. The guys going 1-2 is amazing, I'm so happy for them and they're just pulling it together when it matters the most. That's awesome. I think we had an awesome day. I think everyone did the best they could. Yeah, it's a great day."
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM RESULTS (Thru 2 of 8 races)—1. Colorado 139.5; 2. Denver 117.5; 3. Utah 115; 4. Montana State 108; 5. Westminster 97; 6. St. Michael's 95; 7. Vermont 67; 8. Dartmouth 61; 9. Middlebury 51; 10. Plymouth State 50; 11. New Hampshire 49; 12. Colby 26; 13. Nevada 8; 14. Alaska Anchorage 7; 15. St. Lawrence 3; 16. Harvard 2.
WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (29 collegiate finishers)— 1. Madison Hoffman, UU, 2:10.66; 2. Sara Rask, DU, 2:11.90; 3. Justine Lamontagne, MSU, 2:12.49; 4. Hannah Saethereng, WMC, 2:13.04; 5. Emma Hammergaard, CU, 2:13.42; 6. Allie Resnick, DAR, 2:13.74; 7. Nora Brand, DU, 2:13.90; 8. Helene Kristoffersen, SMC, 2:13.96; 9. Lynda Riddell, CBC, 2:15.34; 10. Kathryn Parker, UU, 2:15.56. Other CU Finishers: 17. Elena Exenberger, CU, 2:16.86; 29. Kaitlyn Harsch, 2:20.55.
MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (29 collegiate finishers)— 1. Filip Forejtek, CU, 2:07.16; 2. Louis Fausa, CU, 2:07.54; 3. Riley Seger, MSU, 2:07.61; 4. Joachim Lindstol, UVM, 2:08.07; 5. Oscar Zimmer, DAR, 2:08.11; 6. Simen Strand, SMC, 2:08.18; 7. Gustav Vollo, UU, 2:08.22; 8. Eirik Kveno, SMC, 2:08.23; 9. Gray Flanagan, SMC, 2:08.31; 10. Cooper Cornelius, DU, 2:08.37. Other CU Finisher: t-13. Jacob Dilling, 2:08.62.
Players Mentioned
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