Koch, Dietze Impress In Utah Invite Freestyle Races

Friday, January 12

Midway, Utah

10 AM Men / 11:15 AM Women

Colorado

7.5K Freestyle

Photo by: Ryan Gallant, Utah Athletics

January 12, 2024 | Skiing

Results

By: Curtis Snyder, Associate AD/Athletic Communications

MIDWAY, Utah – Senior Will Koch and fifth-year Anna-Maria Dietze both impressed with third and fourth place finishes, respectively, as the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team got action underway at the Utah Invitational here Friday at Soldier Hollow.

Despite tough conditions with fresh snow falling along with wind, the Buffs were nothing if not consistent, scoring 72 points in the men's race and 71 in the women's for 143 points, good for fourth place but just five points out of second. Utah leads with 187 points while Alaska Fairbanks (148) and Denver (145) essentially shifted roles in the two races to finish a few points ahead of the Buffs. UAF scored 99 points in men's race and DU 91 in the women's race. Behind the Buffs are Alaska Anchorage (116), Montana State (103) and Wyoming (66) in that order.

In the women's race, Dietze was impressive with her fourth-place finish coming less than 48 hours after arriving in Utah from Europe. She picked up where she left off last season when she had nine top five finishes, and she now has 16 career such finishes. Weronika Kaleta picked up another top 10 in ninth place, her 20th career top 10 finish and she has now finished in the top 10 in every race since the end of her sophomore season in 2022. Hanna Abrahamsson took 14th, her best finish of the season, as she continues to improve from illness and injury. She keeps her top 20 streak alive as she has finished in the top 20 in each of her 26 career races.

"The conditions were really tough today with a lot of snow and wind," CU coach Jana Weinberger said. "The women did well, it's good to have Anna-Maria back, Wera had a good race and Hanna seems to be coming back to form."

On the men's side, Koch's third place finish is his second podium in the last three starts and fifth of his career. He was fifth at the first split and move up to second at the second split and missed out on a win by just 6.2 seconds. Flaaten had to start first and set the pace, not to mention deal with more snow than those behind him, and after a slow start he improved each split, moving up from 22nd to 15th and finally 11th. He now has three 11th place finishes and four straight top 15 finishes to start his career. Magnus Boee finished an uncharacteristic 15th place but hit a milestone with his 50th career top 20 finish in 51 career races.

"On the men's side, Will was close to a win, he lost a little in the end, but a podium is great," Weinberger said. "Johannes started a little slow, he's still getting used to the altitude and Magnus struggled with the conditions today but I expect him to be better tomorrow."

UP NEXT
The Buffs close out the Nordic portion of the Utah Invitational Saturday with the 10K Classic pursuit races, and thus over two weeks of racing at Soldier Hollow. Saturday will be an interval start race, each skier starts in the order they finished Friday and however many seconds behind the winner they were, they start and the and first to cross the finish line wins. With more snow expected, Weinberger believes it's not as much of an advantage to start early in the field as it normally would be. Alpine teams open their 2024 season on Wednesday with four days of racing to close out both the Westminster and Utah Invitationals.

WHAT IT MEANS
It's always good to be at full strength, and the Buffs made a step toward that goal with the return of Anna-Maria Dietze and Karolina Kaleta and all 14 Buffs racing. But for a few mishaps that can be easily pushed on the conditions, the Buffs would be solidly in second place and the goal not only for Saturday but for the remainder of the season is to stay on that trajectory.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs were nothing if not consistent, picking up team points for third, 11th and 17th on the men's side for 72 points and fourth, ninth and 14th on the women's side for 71 points, and while they sit in fourth place with 143 points, they are just five points out of second place.

WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES

Anna-Maria Dietze wasted no time as less than 48 hours after arriving in Utah from Europe, she took fourth place for her 16th career top five finish. Since the start of the 2023 season, she has nine top five finishes in her last 11 races.
Weronika Kaleta kept her streak of top 10 finishes alive as she has finished in the top 10 of every race since the end of her sophomore season in 2022. It's the 20th top 10 finish of her career.
Hanna Abrahamsson had her best finish of the year as she slowly looks to regain her form, and her 14th place finish keeps alive her streaks of 26 top 20 finishes in 26 career races.
Karolina Kaleta finished 22nd place and was on pace for a mid-teens finish for the first half of the race before falling back a few spots over the final part of the race.

MEN'S NORDIC NOTES

Koch picked up his second podium of the season and his ninth straight top 10 finish. He now has five podium appearances in his career, and two in the last three races also winning the freestyle sprint race at US Nationals, which doubled as the Westminster Invitational.
Flaaten again had a bad starting position, going out first in the race and battling new snow that was falling, he moved up from 22nd after the first split to 15th after the second and then to 11th at the final gun. He has finished in the top 15 in all four of his college races to date and 11th in three of those four races.
Boee had an uncharacteristic 15th place finish but hit another milestone with his 50th career top 20 finish in 51 career races started.

TEAM STANDINGS (Thru 2 of 8 Races): 1. Utah 187, 2. Alaska Fairbanks 148; 3. Denver 145; 4. Colorado 142; 5. Alaska Anchorage 116; 6. Montana State 103; 7. Wyoming 66.

MEN'S 7.5K FREESTYLE (42 collegiate finishers): 1. Brian Bushey, UU, 18:48.1; 2. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 18:50.1; 3. Will Koch, 18:54.3; 4. Joe Davies, UU, 19:00.2; 5. Florian Knopf, DU, 19:04.0. Other CU Finishers: 11. Johannes Flaaten, 19:32.3; 17. Magnus Boee, 19:58.9; 21. Hugo Hinckfuss, 20:14.5; 22. Luka Riley, 20:18.2; 31. Trey Jones, 20:56.6.

WOMEN'S 7.5K FREESTYLE (42 collegiate finishers): 1. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 21:56.7; 2. Sydney Palmer-Leger, UU, 22:11.9; 3. Rosie Fordham, UAF, 22:23.4; 4. Anna-Maria Dietze, CU, 22:26.1; 5. Nina Schamberger, UU, 22:29.4. Other CU Finishers: 9. Weronika Kaleta, 22:54.3; 14. Hanna Abrahamsson, 23:22.0; 22. Karolina Kaleta, 23:56.2; 32. Elena Grissom, 24:37.6; 33. Sophie Spalding, 24:58.6; 35. Kili Lehmkuhl, 25:08.6.