Dietze, Luczak Win, Buffs Lead Own Invitational At Midpoint

Friday, February 2

M-10 AM / W-11 AM

Colorado

7.5K Freestyle

Photo by: Ashton Scott

Dietze, Luczak Win, Buffs Lead Own Invitational At Midpoint

February 02, 2024 | Skiing

Results

By: Curtis Snyder, Associate AD/Athletic Communications

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – Fueled by wins from Anna-Maria Dietze and Magdalena Luczak and 13 total top 10 performances, the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team is in the lead after the first day and midpoint of its own Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational Friday here at Mt. Werner and Howelsen Hill.

With the 7.5K freestyle races at Howelsen Hill and giant slalom races at Mt. Werner, Friday's schedule is one of the few times this season that both alpine and Nordic teams are in action on the same day. The Buffs responded with their best day of the season to date while also at one of their home venues and the site of this season's NCAA Championship by placing at least three skiers in the top 10 in each of the four races.

When the snow settled and the team scores were tallied, CU finished the day with 350.5 points, 23.5 ahead of second place Denver and 65 ahead of Utah. Montana State (89.5 back) and Alaska Anchorage (140.5 back) round out the top five.

"Today was a very good day for the Buffs," Coach Jana Weinberger said. "For Nordic, four in the top six for the guys is always a great result. Anna-Maria's win is huge, and two others in the top 10. The alpine teams were also impressive, and Magda's win is huge. Overall, that's a great result for us today and good preparation for NCAA's. The athletes know the courses better now and where they lost some time and where they can pick up time. This is definitely a confidence boost and they know they can race well on these courses."

With the men's first giant slalom run underway at Mt. Werner, the men's 7.5K freestyle race was first on tap at Howelsen Hill, and the Buffs wasted no time as the Buffaloes stampeded to a third, fourth, fifth and sixth place finish in the race. Hugo Hinckfuss picked up his first career podium in third place and his first career top 5 freestyle finish. Magnus Boee was just behind Hinckfuss in fourth to pick up his 36th career top five finish, moving into the top five in CU history. Will Koch was fifth, his third straight top five and fourth of the season and Johannes Flaaten was sixth, the best finish of his young career.

Dietze's win in the women's 7.5 freestyle race is the second of her career, and second straight freestyle win on this course, as her first career win was last season in the 10K freestyle race at Howelsen Hill. She won by an impressive 17.9 seconds over Utah's Sydney Palmer-Leger, who was another 17 seconds up on third place. Weronika Kaleta was eighth and Hanna Abrahamsson 10th, and those two were just 6.8 seconds apart and both were less than 30 seconds off the podium as 28.9 second separated third through 10th places.

At Mt. Werner, the men's field was in the midst of the second run and all three team scorers wound up in a tie, including Louis Fausa and Etienne Mazellier both tying for fourth while Filip Wahlqvist tied for eighth with Utah's Gustav Voello. Fausa and Mazellier got to the same two-run time in dramatically different fashions as Fausa sat in second place after the first run and Mazellier in 16th. Fausa slipped a little in his second run while Mazellier had the fastest run in the field to move up 12 spots.

In the afternoon, the women's GS took center stage and Luczak was special. She had the fastest first run in the field and held a 57-hundredths lead over Utah's Madison Hoffman. Luczak needed most of that cushion in the second run as Hoffman threw down the fastest run and the two finished just four-hundredths of a second apart, flipping positions from Thursday's GS qualifier here on the same hill.

Emma Hammergaard finished sixth, picking up her second straight top 10 and picking up valuable qualification points, and Denise Dingsleder was eighth as the Buffs third team scorer.

While CU had three or more skiers in each of the four races, several other Buffs also picked up top 20 finishes with Julia Toiviainen (12th), Ashley Campbell (14th) and Caroline Jones (18th) giving CU six of the top 18 skiers in the women's GS race. Jack Reich (17th) and Jacob Dilling (20th) gave CU five men's alpine skiers in the top 20. Alexander Maurer also finished 14th in the men's Nordic race, giving CU 19 total top 20s on the day.

UP NEXT: The CU Invitational will conclude Saturday with the 20K classic mass start and slalom races all taking place at Howelsen Hill. The Nordic action gets underway at 10 a.m. with the women's race followed by the men at 11:30. Over at the alpine hill, the women's slalom first run will start at 1:30 p.m. followed by the men's first run at 2:30 p.m. There will then be a break and the second runs will happen under the lights with the women's second run at 6 p.m. and men's at 7 p.m.

Weather could be a factor Saturday with 3-5 inches of snow expected overnight and another 3-5 inches falling throughout the day.

WHAT IT MEANS: We've been waiting for a day where it all came together for the Buffs, and that certainly happened Friday in the first day of the CU Invitational. The good news, as it were, is there's still room for improvement. Dietze and Luczak are the fourth and fifth skiers to win a race this season, but five other skiers on this roster have won college races and six more beyond that have proven they're capable with podium appearances in their career. This team is deep and the hardest decision for Weinberger and alpine coach Ian Lochhead will be which Buffs represent the team at the NCAA Championships in five weeks. Friday proved the Buffs can hang with any team but also that both Denver and Utah should feel the same way, and Saturday will be an exciting day. Factor in eastern powers that will visit Steamboat in March and it's gearing up to be one of the most competitive NCAA Championships in recent memory.

Team Notes

Anna-Maria Dietze and Magdalena Luczak picked up the 688th and 689th race win in CU history. They are the fourth and fifth skiers to win races this season and both won their second career race.
Colorado scored 350.5 points on the day, picking up 94 points in men's freestyle, 90 in women's GS, 84 in women's freestyle and 82.5 in men's GS.
Colorado won both the women's freestyle and women's giant slalom races as a team, even though they scored more points in the men's freestyle race than both of those two.
CU is leading the women's standings with 174 points, five over Utah and are second in the men's standings with 176.5, 18.5 behind Denver.
CU picked up 178 points between the two freestyle points and 172.5 points between the two GS races, most both in the field.

Women's Nordic Notes

Anna-Maria Dietze picked up her second career win, also winning the freestyle race last year at the CU Invitational on the same course. She picked up her third top 10 of the season and it's her second top five freestyle finish of the season. In 45 career starts, she now has six podiums and 17 top five finishes to go with her two victories. Five of her six podiums and 11 of her 17 career top five finishes are also in freestyle.
Weronika Kaleta finished eighth for her 22nd career top 10 finish in 30 starts, and she's finished 12 of her 16 career freestyle wins in the top 10, as well.
Hanna Abrahamsson finished 10th for her second straight top 10. Recovering from injuries, prior to this season she had never finished outside the top seven, and she's returning to form with her first top 10 freestyle result of the season. She has finished 11 of 13 freestyle races in the top 10 and 24 of 28 career races overall.
Karolina Kaleta finished 13th, her first top 20 of the season and ninth career top 20 freestyle finish in 10 career races, and she now has 17 overall top 20s in 19 career races.

Men's Nordic Notes

Hugo Hinckfuss finished on the podium for the first time in his career with a third place finish, and it also signifies his third top 10 of the season. He has started 14 career races and it's his third time in the top five and first podium appearance, and his first top five freestyle finish.
Magnus Boee finished fourth, his 36th carer top five performance in his 53rd race start, and his 16th career top five in freestyle races out of 27 races. Boee's 36th top five moves him into a tie for fifth all-time at CU, into a tie for third among men's skiers and he sits in second place for men's Nordic skiers.
Will Koch finished fifth, his third straight top five and fourth in five races this season. In his career, it's his eighth top five performance in 34 starts and fifth in 17 freestyle races.
Johannes Flaaten finished sixth, the best finish of his young career and he has now finished in the top 10 in two straight races, taking eighth in the final race of the Utah series in the 10K classic race. He has finished all six of his career races in the top 15 and five of six in the top 11.
Alexander Maurer finished 14th, matching his career best freestyle finish which he's done twice previously, including at last season's CU Invitational. He now has 10 career top 20 finishes in 22 races.

Women's Alpine Notes

Magdalena Luczak picked up her second career victory, both in GS races, the other win giving her the individual NCAA Championship at the 2022 NCAA Championships. She has now finished in the top five of all four of her career GS races on the college circuit, winning two with a third podium, which was second place in Friday's GS qualifier.
Emma Hammergaard finished sixth, her second straight top 10 after not finishing any races in the Utah series. She now has 14 career top 10s in GS races and 26 overall top 10 finishes in 43 finishes and 58 starts.
Denise Dingsleder finished eighth, her third top 10 GS finish of the season. In her career, it's her 22nd career top 10 finish, 12thin GS races.
Julia Toiviainen finished 12th, her 21st career top 20 in GS in 21 career finishes and 41st overall top 20 in 41 finished races out of 45 starts.
Ashley Campbell finished 14th, her third top 20 finish of her season and career. It's her second top 20 finish in GS.
Caroline Jones finished 18th, her third straight top 20 finish in GS races, taking 18th, 19th and 20th in those three races. She has 13 top 20s in GS in her career and 31 top 20s overall.

Men's Alpine Notes

Louis Fausa finished fourth, his second straight top five and third top 10 of the season, all in GS. It marks his 10th career top 10 finish, seven of which have come in GS races.
Etienne Mazellier tied with Louis Fausa in fourth place, his first career top five finish and second top 10, both in the last two races the last two days. He has steadily improved throughout the season finishing 16th, 13th, 10th and fourth in his four finished races. He won his first run, taking the best time in the second run and moving up from 16th to a tie for fourth in the field.
Filip Wahlqvist finished eighth for the Buffaloes, returning to the top 10 after one race in 12th on Thursday. He has five top 10s in his six races this season.
Jacob Dilling finished 20th as he continues to recover from injuries sustained in Utah. He now has 23 career top 20 finishes in 25 finished races, including 12 in 13 GS races.
Jack Reich finished 17th, his fifth career top 20 and fourth in GS. It's the second-highest finish of his career in college races.

TEAM STANDINGS (Thru 4 of 8 Races): 1. Colorado 350.5; 2. Denver 327; 3. Utah 285.5; 4. Montana State 261; 5. Alaska Anchorage 210; 6. Westminster 111; 7. Alaska Fairbanks 110; 8 Nevada 62; 9. Colorado Mountain 44.

MEN'S 7.5K FREESTYLE (30 Collegiate Finishers): 1. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 19:35.2; 2. Florian Knopf, DU, 19:43.4; 3. Hugo Hinckfuss, CU, 19:54.4; 4. Magnus Boee, CU, 19:57.2; 5. Will Koch, CU, 19:58.4. Other CU Finishers: 6. Johannes Flaaten, 20:03.3; 14. Alexander Maurer, 20:54.2.

WOMEN'S 7.5K FREESTYLE (35 Collegiate Finishers): 1. Anna-Maria Dietze, CU, 22:36.1; 2. Sydney Palmer-Leger, UU, 22:54.0; 3. Tilde Baangman, MSU, 23:11.7; 4. Astrid Stav, UAA, 23:15.9; 5. Hanna Ray, DU, 23:21.4. Other CU Finishers: 8. Weronika Kaleta, 23:32.8; 10. Hanna Abrahamsson, 23:39.6; 13. Karolina Kaleta, 24:12.5; 23. Sophie Spalding, 25:17.1; 27. Kili Lehmkuhl, 25:32.2; 30. Elena Grissom, 25:55.6.

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (42 Collegiate Finishers): 1. Cooper Cornelius, DU, 1:55.51; 2. Trey Seymour, DU, 1:56.30; 3. Leon Nikic, UAA, 1:56.38; 4. Etienne Mazellier and Louis Fausa, CU, 1:56.46. Other CU Finishers: 8. Filip Wahlqvist, 1:57.07; 17. Jack Reich, 1:57.47; 20. Jacob Dilling, 1:57.69; 38. Chase Seymour, 2:02.82.

WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (31 Collegiate Finishers): 1. Magdalena Luczak, CU, 1:51.02; 2. Madison Hoffman, UU, 1:51.06; 3. Sara Rask, DU, 1:51.12; 4. Justine Lamontagne, MSU, 1:51.88; 5. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:52.26. Other CU Finishers: 6. Emma Hammergaard, 1:52.45; 8. Denise Dingsleder, 1:52.70; 12. Julia Toiviainen, 1:53.25; 14. Ashley Campbell, 1:53.46; 18. Caroline Jones, 1:53.80; 24. Elena Exenberger, 1:54.91. Did Not Finish Second Run: Cleo Braun.