Buffs Qualify Full Team For NCAA Championships

BOULDER – The Colorado Buffaloes have qualified a full 12-skier team for the NCAA Championships, which the school will host at Steamboat Springs March 6-9, and this year's squad is a mixture of experienced veterans and newcomers.

Potentially one of the harder years to pick the team, especially on the alpine side, the Buffs team will consist of Etienne Mazellier, Ryder Sarchett and Filip Wahlqvist for men's alpine, Denise Dingsleder, Magdalena Luczak and Julia Toiviainen for women's alpine, Magnus Boee, Johannes Flaaten and Will Koch for men's Nordic and Hanna Abrahamsson, Anna-Maria Dietze and Weronika Kaleta for women's Nordic.

The alpine teams consist of six skiers who did not compete for the Buffs last season at the NCAA Championships, but all three of the women have competed at NCAAs before. The men's team is consisted of three freshmen. Five of the six Nordic skiers have a combined 15 appearances entering this year's championship and have a combined 19 All-America honors between them.

Luczak competed two years ago for CU and won the individual GS Championships, and Dingsleder and Toiviainen have both competed at multiple NCAAs with Westminster earlier in their careers. All three are All-Americans and have a combined six All-America honors at the NCAA Championships, including four first-team nods.

The men's alpine team consists of three freshmen, but three who have competed the most consistently for the Buffaloes throughout the season. Wahlqvist is headed to Steamboat as the top overall seed in men's alpine and will have a top seeding position in both races. Mazellier has been consistent, finishing each of his last nine races and none lower than 15th with five top 10 and three top five finishes in that time. Sarchett missed some time while winning a junior world championship, and in college has five top 15 finishes in six races with a top five finish in each discipline, including one win. He will also be making his World Cup debut this weekend in Aspen. The trio have collectively finished 27 of 31 races on the season.

The Nordic teams, on the other hand, have a great deal of NCAA experience for the Buffaloes, with five of the ski having skied at NCAAs each of the last two seasons and a Boee and Dietze will be competing in their fifth NCAA Championship.

Abrahamsson, Dietze and Kaleta will represent the Buffs as a trio for the third time and this will be Kaleta's fourth appearance and Dietze's fifth. All three have been All-Americans and have a collective nine All-America honors between them including four first-team honors.

Like those three, Boee and Koch have been staples on the men's side and this will be their fourth appearance together. The two have a combined 10 All-America honors and Boee is a two-time NCAA individual champion. Flaaten is the newcomer of the group and has put together an impressive season finishing in the top 15 in all 11 races so far and in the top eight of the last seven races with three top five performances.

BY THE NUMBERS:

This season, these 12 skiers have finished a combined 108 of 115 races with 79 top 10 performances and 49 top five performances including 25 podium appearances and 10 race wins.
In their careers, the dozen has finished 339 of 360 races with 255 top 10 performances and 155 top five finishes including 90 podium performances and 35 race wins.
Seven of the 12 have won races this season and nine of the 12 have won a college race in their careers. Ten of the 12 have hit the podium this season and all have at least one top five finish on the season.
Finishing is important, especially in alpine, and these six alpine skiers have finished 52 of 59 races on the season while the Nordic skiers have finished all 56 of their races on the season.
This season, the alpine skiers have won seven of the 10 races for the Buffaloes, or 70%, but career wise, the Nordic skiers have won 20 of the 35 races, or 57%.
Each of the eight skiers who have skied at NCAA Championships previously have turned in All-America performances, which are top five for first team and six through 10 for second team. The 12 skiers have a combined 25 All-America honors, including 12 first team honors and three individual national championships.

Players Mentioned

Hanna Abrahamsson

Magnus Boee

Anna-Maria Dietze

Denise Dingsleder

Johannes Flaaten

Weronika Kaleta

Will Koch

Magdalena Luczak

Etienne Mazellier

Ryder Sarchett

Julia Toiviainen

Filip Wahlqvist

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