Buffs Win RMISA Championship

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Colorado placed seven skiers in the top eight of the 20K classic races and the Buffaloes won the program's first RMISA Championship since 2017 Sunday at Crosscut Mountain Sports Center.

Already regular season champions, the Buffs put a cap on the overall title by winning the meet in impressive fashion, scoring 671 points through the eight races and topping second place Utah by 81.5 points and third place Denver by 112 points as the three schools dominating the standings this season. The 81.5 point victory is the Buffs largest win at the RMISA Championships since the 2010 season.

It's the first title since 2017 for the Buffs, who now have 29 RMISA Championships in program history, 36 including regular season championships. This is also the Buffs 16th title in the coed era since 1983, matching Utah's total. The Utes had won the previous three and four of the last six RMSIA Championships.

Entering the day with a 47.5 point lead over Utah, the men's team hit the course first and did what they had to do. Led by Magnus Boee's fourth place finish, followed by Will Koch in seventh and Johannes Flaaten in eighth, the Buffs essentially held serve, outscored by nine points by the Utes and outscoring DU by two.

The women's team then threw down the gauntlet and behind two Montana State skiers, the Buffs finished 3, 4, 5 to outscore both the Pioneers and Utes by almost 50 points to secure the title. Anna-Maria Dietze finished third, Hanna Abrahamsson fourth and Weronika Kaleta fifth.

For good measure, the Buffs placed five in the top 14 of each race, with Karolina Kaleta finishing eighth in the women's race followed by Sophie Spalding in 14th, and Hugo Hinckfuss finishing 13th and Alexander Maurer 14th on the men's side.

UP NEXT: The Buffs host the NCAA Championships March 6-9 in Steamboat Springs. Team selections will be made public Tuesday and the Buffs will head to Steamboat next weekend ahead of the championships.

WHAT IT MEANS: Two down, one to go. The Buffs of course always want to win championships, and this team has won both available championships this season, first the regular season RMISA Championship based on the four regular season meets, then the overall RMISA Championship in Montana the last few days. The primary goal, however, is the NCAA Championships, and aside from winning the meet, the Buffs secured qualifying a full team for the NCAA Championships and for the most part improved their seeding for the eight races in Steamboat. Still, with teams only brining a maximum of 12 skiers to the NCAA Championships, the dynamics change and both Utah and Denver are also serious contenders from the RMISA as are several teams from the east.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs scored 671 points, second most this season by a half-point and the fifth most in a meet under the current scoring system dating back to the 2014 season. In those 63 meets, CU only scored more in the 2015 Utah Invitational (694.5), 2016 New Mexico Invitational (676), the 2017 RMISA Championships (672) and this year's Colorado Invitational (671.5). It's the most points in the postseason wince the 2017 league championships by one point.
This is the 29th RMISA Championship for the Buffs, also winning 11 men's titles in 1959, '60, '62, '63, '69, '72, '73, '74, '75, '76, '79, two women's titles in 1978, '79, and this is the 16th coed title with the others in 1986, '91, '93, '94, '95, '99, 2000, '02, '06, '08, '10, '11, '13, '15, and '17.
CU's 29 titles between men's women's and coed titles is eight more than any other team in the RMISA with Utah second with 21 and Denver third with 19. Including seven regular season titles, CU had 36 overall RMISA Championships, six more than Utah's total of 30 and Denver is third with 21.
This is the 12th meet the Buffs have won at Montana State and first since the 2019 season. CU now has four more wins at the MSU meet than any other school. The Buffs also won the MSU meet in 1982, '99, 2000, '07, '08, '10, '11, '13, '17, '18 and '19.

MEN'S NORDIC NOTES:

Boee finished fourth, his fourth straight top five appearance and 39th of his career. In 56 career races he now also has 48 top 10 finishes, the most in CU history since skiers stopped skiing both alpine and Nordic in the 1960s. He now has 22 top five finishes and 26 top 10 finishes in 28 career classic races.
Koch finished seventh, his 14th straight top 10 finish dating back to 2023 DU Invitational and he now has 17 in his last 18 races since the start of the 2023 season.
Flaaten finished eighth, his seventh straight top 10 finish and 11th top 15 finish in 11 career races. He has finished in the top eight in each of the last seven and in the top 11 in 10 of 11 races.
Hinckfuss reentered the top 20 with a 13th place finish, his 14th career top 20 in 17 finished races and eighth in 10 races this season.
Maurer finished 14th, his 21st career top 10 finish, his 10th in 11 races this season and eighth straight.

WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES:

Dietze finished third, her eighth career podium and third in classic races. She has started 48 career races with 47 top 20, 31 top 10 and now 20 top five finishes with those eight podiums which include two wins.
Abrahamsson finished fourth her 22nd career top five finish in 33 finished races. She now has 28 career top 10 finishes to go with her 22 top fives, which include 12 podiums and two wins.
Weronika Kaleta finished fifth, her 16th straight top 10 finish. She now has 10 career top five finishes, including four this season, and 27 career top 10s in 33 finished races. She has finished in the top 10 every race the last two seasons.
Karolina Kaleta finished eighth, her ninth career top 10 finish and fourth in classic races. She has finished in the top 12 in each of her last four races and in the top 13 in five races on the season.
Sophie Spalding finished 14th, the best finish of her young career and second appearance in the top 20, both of which have come in classic races.

RMISA TEAM STANDINGS (FINAL): 1. Colorado 671; 2. Utah 589.5; 3. Denver 559; 4. Montana State 523.5; 5. Alaska Anchorage 420; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 262; 7. Westminster 256.5; 8. Nevada 128.5; 9. Colorado Mountain 125.

MEN'S 20K CLASSIC (32 Collegiate Finishers): 1. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 55:09.2; 2. Joe Davies, UU, 55:48.9; 3. Mike Ophoff, UAF, 56:06.3; 4. Magnus Boee, CU, 56:23.7; 5. Tom Mancini, UU, 56:46.5. Other CU Finishers: 7. Will Koch, 56:58.8; 8. Johannes Flaaten, 57:11.7; 13. Hugo Hinckfuss, 58:34.5; Alexander Maurer, 58:36.7; 26. Trey Jones, 1:01:45.2.

WOMEN'S 20K CLASSIC (28 Collegiate Finishers): 1. Tilde Baangman, MSU, 1:15:00.0; 2. Kate Oldham, MSU, 1:15:10.5; 3. Anna-Maria Dietze, CU, 1:15:11.5; 4. Hanna Abrahamsson, CU, 1:15:12.4; 5. Weronika Kaleta, CU, 1:15:16.2. Other CU Finishers: 8. Karolina Kaleta, 1:15:27.9; 14. Sophie Spalding, 1:16:55.9; 25. Elena Grissom, 1:19:59.1; 26. Kili Lehmkuhl, 1:20:02.1.

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Players Mentioned

Hanna Abrahamsson

Magnus Boee

Anna-Maria Dietze

Johannes Flaaten

Elena Grissom

Hugo Hinckfuss

Trey Jones

Karolina Kaleta

Weronika Kaleta

Will Koch

Kili Lehmkuhl

Alexander Maurer

Sophie Spalding