Boee, Koch Pick Up Top 10s To Open 2024

Tuesday, January 2

Midway, Utah

9 AM Women/12 PM Men

Colorado

10K Classic

January 02, 2024 | Skiing

Results (PDF)

By: Curtis Snyder, Associate AD/Athletic Communications

MIDWAY, Utah – The Colorado Buffaloes put together some positive results to open the 2024 season despite being a little short-handed on the women's side, as the Westminster Invitational got underway taking RMISA results from the 10K Classic race here at the 2024 U.S. Cross Country Ski National Championships and the Buffs sit in sixth place after the first day.

Fifth-year Magnus Boee finished fifth place to lead the Buffaloes in the season opener with senior Will Koch two spots back in seventh and freshman Johannes Flaaten finishing 11th despite a bad starting position.

"Johannes' points aren't where they should be from last year," Head Coach Jana Weinberger said. "He did fairly well with what he was working with, he had to pass 50-60 people along the way. By the time they update points, we will have six overall races before the end of next week, so I anticipate his points improving soon."

For Boee, it's his 42^nd top 10 performance, which sets a new CU record for men's Nordic skiers, and it's also his 34^th career top five finish, putting him into a tie with Mads Stroem for second-most at CU. Sophomore Hugo Hickfuss (15^th), Trey Jones (20^th) and Luka Riley (21^st) also all had solid races. Alexander Maurer didn't finish the race.

On the women's side, the short-handed Buffs were led by junior Hanna Abrahamsson, who finished 15th. She has battled illness and injuries all fall and finally looks to be getting back to full strength. Senior Weronika Kaleta sat out Tuesday's race but will be back Thursday for the freestyle sprint races and fifth-year Anna-Maria Dietze and junior Karolina Kaleta are still in Europe before returning next week ahead of the Utah Invitational.

"We had to rely on our younger skiers today on the women's side," Weinberger said. "Wera will start racing Thursday, Karolina and Anna-Maria will be back next week and Hanna has been injured and sick, so I think given that she had a good race. She will get better every race and we should be back to full strength soon."

Sophomore Elena Grissom (25th) and freshman Sophie Spalding (27th) also scored for the team and junior Kili Lehmkuhl (30th) rounded out the CU skiers.

In the team standings, the Buffs are in sixth place but just 14 points out of third and have a good opportunity Thursday to make up some ground, as the Buffs boast some strong sprinters ahead of the freestyle sprint races. The Buffs will then stay in Utah for an extended trip as the US Nationals continue with two more races,

UP NEXT
The season continues Thursday after a day off Wednesday with the freestyle sprit races. CU will remain in Utah for the next 12 days through the end of the Utah Invitational. After Thursday's races, which will also count toward the Westminster Invitational, the US Nationals will have two more races, the 10/20K freestyle mass start on Friday and then classic sprit races on Sunday, Jan. 7. Teams will stay for the Utah races on Jan. 12-13. The classic sprint races will count as an RMISA qualifier, but the mass start freestyle races will not.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Buffs never like to be in sixth place, but a closer look lead to a good outlook for the team in 2024. On the women's side, if the team get and stay healthy and to full strength, there's no reason to think they can't get back to where they were in 2023 when comprised one of the best teams in the country. On the men's side, Boee and Koch's performances have become expected and Flaaten's performance despite starting in a bad position is a good sign. Weinberger expects the team to have a better day Thursday and then as the Buffs return to full strength for the Utah Invitational, we'll have a clearer picture of what to expect the rest of the season.

TEAM NOTES
The Buffs scored 118 points on the day, 74 in the men's race and 44 in the women's. Boee lead the way in the men's race scoring 29 points followed by Koch (25) and Flaaten (20). In the women's race, Abrahamsson (17) was followed by Grissom (14) and Sterling (13). CU is just 14 points out of third place and 40 points behind second place Denver through two of eight races in the Westminster Invitational.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Boee's fifth place finish is the 34th top 5 and 42nd top 10 finish of his career. He now holds the men's Nordic record for most top 10 finishes in a career, breaking a tie with Rune Oedegaard. He is now seventh in CU history overall and fourth among men's skiers for top 10 finishes. For top five finishes, he's now tied for second most among men's Nordic skiers matching the total of Mads Stroem (34) and behind just Oedegaard (39).
Koch finished in seventh place among RMISA skiers, hist 20th career top 10 performance in his 29th career race and he now has 28 top 20 performances in those 29 races.
Flaaten's move through the field was impressive. He started 213th and passed the 18 skiers ahead of him, not to mention the others on different loops of the race, before and had the 24th overall fastest time in the race, 11th among RMISA skiers. Of the skiers that finished in the top 40 of the overall race, the next highest starting position was 87th.

TEAM STANDINGS (through 2 of 8 races): 1. Utah 183; 2. Denver 158; 3. Alaska Fairbanks 132; 4. Montana State 127; 5. Alaska Anchorage 124; 6. Colorado 118; 7. Wyoming 66.

WOMEN'S 10K CLASSIC (40 RMISA finishers): 1. Tilde Baangman, MSU, 27:13.3; 2. Sydney Palmer-Leger, UU, 27:32.5; 3. Karianne Dengerud, UU, 27:54.7; 4. Astrid Stav, UAA, 28:10.8; 5. Hanna Ray, DU, 28:18.2. CU Finishers: 15. Hanna Abrahamsson, 29:31.3; 25. Elena Grissom, 31:15.5; 27. Sophie Spalding, 31:19.5; 30. Kili Lehmkuhl, 32:30.6. Did Not Start: Weronika Kaleta.

MEN'S 10K CLASSIC (38 RMISA finishers): 1. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 23:50.8; 2. Joe Davies, UU, 23:53.1; 3. Christopher Kalev, UAF, 24:16.1; 4. Florian Knopf, DU, 24:19.0; 5. Magnus Boee, CU, 24:21.5. Other CU Finishers: 7. Will Koch, 24:35.7; 11. Johannes Flaaten, 25:12.3; 15. Hugo Hinckfuss, 25:33.1; 20. Trey Jones, 26:14.4; 21. Luka Riley, 26:15.5. Did Not Finish: Alexander Maurer.