Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Head to RMISA Championships
February 22, 2017 | Skiing
CU seeks a 28th RMISA Chamionship this weekend at Beaver Creek (alpine) and Minturn (Nordic)
BOULDER -Â The Colorado Buffaloes are off to the 2017 RMISA Championships/NCAA West Regionals hosted by the University of Denver this weekend in Beaver Creek (alpine) and Minturn (Nordic).Â
The skiing opens Friday, Feb. 24 with the men's and women's giant slalom. Saturday sees both disciplines in action with the men's and women's slalom in alpine and the women's 5K and men's 10K classical events in Nordic; the women's interval starts beginning at 10 a.m. and the men at 11 a.m. The Nordic teams continue on Sunday, March 11, with the women's 15K and men's 20K freestyle races. The men start first on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. followed by the women's race at 11 a.m.
BUFFALO BITS...
• The Buffaloes seek a 28th RMISA Championship. CU has won more RMISA Championships than any other college or university in the west region, which dates back to 1950. Since the introduction of the NCAA Skiing National Championship in 1954, schools from the RMISA have captured 58 of the 70 team titles (including co-titles and AIAW).
• In four of the last six seasons that CU won the RMISA/NCAA West Regional Championship (2006, '11, '13 and '15), the Buffs went on to win the NCAA Championship. The two seasons it won regionals but not the NCAA title (2008 and '10), CU finished runner-up at the NCAA Championships.
• Richard Rokos is in his 27th season as the University of Colorado head coach and 30th overall at the school. In his head coaching career he has led the Buffs to eight NCAA Championships (2015, '13, '11, '06, '99, '98, '95, '91), 13 RMISA/NCAA West Regional Championships (2015, '13, '11, '10, '08, '06, '02, '00, '99, '95, '94, '93, '91) and coached 38 individual NCAA Champions and 227 All-Americans.
• CU has won 10 individual races this season and had the top mixed gender relay team at the Seawolf Invitational on Feb. 8. The 11 first-place finishes by the Buffs in advance of the RMISA Championships are the most since also having 11 back in 2012.Â
• Four Buffaloes won the first races of their careers this season. Freshman David Ketterer has four wins (all in slalom races), junior Petra Hyncicova has three event victories while senior Jesse Knori and sophomores Ola Johansen and Petter Reistad both won one race this year.
• Colorado won its first two meets of the season, marking the sixth time in head coach Richard Rokos' 27-year career that CU won its first two meets of the season. In the previous five seasons it occurred (1995, 1999, 2011, 2013, 2015), Colorado went on to win the National Championship.
• The Buffs have had six skiers selected as the RMISA Skier of the Week, matching the 2015 season for the most in any of the previous five years. The most honorees ever in one season since the RMISA started announcing skiers of the week back in 2005 was the eight honored in 2011.
• Colorado's 670 points earned while winning the Montana State Invitational this year is the highest team point total of any school in any meet this season. Since the current 40-point weighted format was adopted in 2014, that point total is the fourth-highest of any regular season meet in this scoring format and the Buffs own three of the top four highest totals (Denver's 737 points in the 2014 MSU invite is the highest).Â
ALPINE NOTESÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Men's Alpine Team On a Two-Year Roll  Â
CU's men's alpine team has earned the most points in seven of the eight regular season meets over the last two years. Â This season CU's men's team earned 654 total points and had five individual event winners in the 10 races. The one meet that the Buffs did not come away with the most points among all men's alpine teams was in the Seawolf Invitational (finished second). The Buffs had the top two point earners in the RMISA MVP standings with freshman David Ketterer winning it and Max Luukko finishing second. This is a second consecutive season that a Buff has won the RMISA MVP award on the men's alpine side. Ola Johansen won it in 2015, also as a freshman, and the last Buff before him to win it was as freshman as well with Andreas Haug in 2011.
Ketterer Eyes Record  Â
CU freshman David Ketterer has won four of the five slalom races this season on the NCAA circuit. His four wins in the slalom have tied the known CU record for slalom victories in a season. John Skajem was the first to win four slalom races, doing so in both the 1986 and 1987 seasons. Skajem holds the school men's alpine record for most overall victories in a season with seven - he won four slalom and three giant slalom races in 1986.Â
Ketterer has made quite the impact in his freshman season. In addition to his success on the collegiate circuit where he garnered RMISA MVP honors, he is also the current points leader this season in the slalom standings in the NorAm Cup. Ketterer has won three NorAM Cup slalom races and holds a 156-point advantage. He is the first active CU skier under 27-year head coach Richard Rokos to win a NorAm Cup event. Ketterer has also raced on an even bigger stage this year, as he represented his home country of Germany at the FIS World Cup in Austria, racing in the men's slalom on Jan. 22 and Jan. 24. He did not place in the top 25 in either event, but nonetheless gained valuable experience and exposure on one the sports largest stages.
Trulsrud Anchors Women's Team  Â
Sophomore Tonje Trulsrud, who finished second in the RMISA MVP Points Standings, looks to find the form she opened the year with. Truslrud reached the podium in each of her first four races of the season with two second-place finishes and two third-place. She is also looking to find the top of the podium as she has yet to win a race this year. There has only been one indivudual event winner on the women's alpine side at the RMISA Championships in the last seven seasons and that came in 2015 when Jessica Honkonen won the slalom race at regionals held in Alaska that year. Overall in Trulsrud's career, she has finished inside the top 10 in 17 of 21 career races she has finished with eight podium appearances. Her two career race victories both came last season in giant slalom events (at the MSU and CU Invitationals).
Luukko Most Consistent in RMISA In Past Two Seasons  Â
Sophomore Max Luukko has earned more points in the regular season than any other RMISA skier over the last two seasons. He has scored a total of 600 points (299 in 2016 and 301 in 2017) and has placed in the top 10 in 17 of the 20 regular season races. If you count in the RMISA and NCAA Championships from last season, Luukko has finished inside the top 10 in 19-of-24 career races with eight career podium appearances. Last year at the RMISA Championships he won the slalom race and finished third in the giant slalom, one of two meets in his career he has reached the podium in both events.Â
Did You Know?  Â
That Ola Johansen and Max Luukko have eight total podium (finishing inside the top three) appearances apiece over the last two seasons. That is tied for the most on the men's alpine side. On the women's side, Tonje Trulsrud's nine podiums is just one off the lead for the most in the last two seasons.
At Her Best In the Championships  Â
Senior Katie Hostetler in each of her two previous seasons recorded her best finish at the RMISA Championships. In 2016 as a junior, she placed 14th in the women's slalom for the first top 15 finish of her career. Her 18th-place finish in the giant slalom at the 2015 RMISA Championships her sophomore year is also the best finish of her career in a giant slalom event. She enters her fourth RMISA Champions skiing the best she has all season. In the last collegiate meet she posted her top slalom finish of the season (16th in the UAA Invite) and in a FIS Race at Winter Park last weekend she placed fifth in the giant slalom and 10th in the slalom.
NORDIC NOTESÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Best Regular Season Since 2013 for Women's Nordic Team  Â
CU's women's Nordic team led the regular season standings with 632 points, a 108-point advantage over Utah sitting in second place. The women's team won three of its four meets this season and has four individual race victories entering the RMISA Championships. In each of the previous three seasons, CU did not have a single event winner. This is the most success for the women's Nordic team since 2013 when the Buffalo women recorded the most points of any team in all six meets on the season and had 11 individual event winners that year. Nine of those were by Joanne Reid that year (five freestyle, four classic), which is the third-most wins all-time at Colorado for a single-season. Reid that year won the classic race at the RMISA Championships. The last Buff to win a freestyle race at regionals was Eliska Hajkova in 2011 when Utah hosted.
Hyncicova Breaks Through In 2017Â Â Â
Junior Petra Hyncicova had 12 top five finishes with four podiums appearances in her first two seasons as a Buff, including a runner-up finish in the freestyle 5K at the 2016 NCAA Championships. This year she has been able to reach the top of the podium and won three of the four races she competed in (she missed the UAA and Seawolf Invitationals due to injury). The one race that she competed in this season and did not win - the classic sprint at the Utah Invitational - she finished in second. Despite missing the last three races of the season (also did not compete in the mixed gender relay at the Seawolf Invitational), she finished seventh in the RMISA MVP Point Standings.
Reistad Leads Men's Nordic Team  Â
Sophomore Petter Reistad came out as a freshman in 2016 and finished inside the top 10 in all 11 races he competed in, including a second-place finish in the 20K classic race at the RMISA Championships. This season he has led the men's team and finished second in the RMISA in the MVP Points Standings. He found the podium four times this season and picked up his first career victory, coming in the 20K classic at the MSU Invitational. For his career now he has finished inside the top 10 in all 18 races with seven on the podium.Â
Rolandsen Makes Her Mark in Sophomore Season  Â
Christina Rolandsen as a freshman in 2016 had her best finish of the year at the RMISA Championships, placing sixth in the classic race and 13th in the freestyle. She's built off that this season and was CU's highest finisher on the RMISA MVP Points list coming in third. Rolandsen finished ninth or better in all seven races this year and reached the podium three times. Her best finish was in the 5K classic at the UAA Invite, placing second behind teammate Jesse Knori. With another 5K classic race coming up at regionals this weekend, the Buffs have to be excited about their chances in that race on Saturday.
Stroem Looks to Keep Streak Alive at RMISA Championships  Â
Senior Mads Stroem has won both the classic and freestyle races at each of the past two RMISA Championships. Â He now needs just one more race victory to tie his former teammate Rune Oedegaard for the most by a Buff at the RMISA/NCAA West Regional Championships since 1990. Oedegaard won five regional events (three classic races and two freestyle) in his career that spanned from 2012-15. Bjorn Svensson also won four at regionals between the 1990-93 seasons.Â
Stroem, the 2016 USCSCA National Skier of the Year, has been working his way back to his elite level since having his appendix removed on Jan. 7. Stroem in 35 career races has reached the podium 26 times and his 14 overall event victories is tied with Oedegaard for the fourth most in school history for all Buffs (men's and women's, Nordic or alpine).
Knori and Hyncicova Compete at 2017 FIS Nordic Junior and U23 World Ski Championships  Â
Senior Jesse Knori and Petra Hyncicova both competed in the FIS Nordic U23 World Ski Championships held Jan. 31-Feb. 4 at Solder Hollow Resort in Midway, Utah. Knori was skiing for the U23 United States Ski Team while Hyncicova for the Czech Republic National Team. The duo raced in the classic sprint race on Jan. 31, the 10K freestyle on Feb. 2 and the 15K skiathlon on Feb. 4. Knori's best race was in the classic sprints, coming in 15th with a time of 3:51.5. She finished 30th in the Skiathlon at 22:34.7 and was 32nd in the freestyle race, finishing in 28:50.4. Hyncicova's best finish was 17th in the 10K freestyle last Thursday, finishing in a time of 27:40.3. She also placed 22nd in the Skiathlon with a time of 22:03.5 and was 20th in the classic sprint at 3:52.4.
Potyk Finishes Strong  Â
Freshman Andrew Potyk had his two best showings in his last races before the RMISA Championships. He recorded his first top 20 finishes of the season at the UAA Invitational back on Feb. 11-12, placing 17th in the 20K freestyle race and was 18th in the 10K classic.
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The skiing opens Friday, Feb. 24 with the men's and women's giant slalom. Saturday sees both disciplines in action with the men's and women's slalom in alpine and the women's 5K and men's 10K classical events in Nordic; the women's interval starts beginning at 10 a.m. and the men at 11 a.m. The Nordic teams continue on Sunday, March 11, with the women's 15K and men's 20K freestyle races. The men start first on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. followed by the women's race at 11 a.m.
BUFFALO BITS...
• The Buffaloes seek a 28th RMISA Championship. CU has won more RMISA Championships than any other college or university in the west region, which dates back to 1950. Since the introduction of the NCAA Skiing National Championship in 1954, schools from the RMISA have captured 58 of the 70 team titles (including co-titles and AIAW).
• In four of the last six seasons that CU won the RMISA/NCAA West Regional Championship (2006, '11, '13 and '15), the Buffs went on to win the NCAA Championship. The two seasons it won regionals but not the NCAA title (2008 and '10), CU finished runner-up at the NCAA Championships.
• Richard Rokos is in his 27th season as the University of Colorado head coach and 30th overall at the school. In his head coaching career he has led the Buffs to eight NCAA Championships (2015, '13, '11, '06, '99, '98, '95, '91), 13 RMISA/NCAA West Regional Championships (2015, '13, '11, '10, '08, '06, '02, '00, '99, '95, '94, '93, '91) and coached 38 individual NCAA Champions and 227 All-Americans.
• CU has won 10 individual races this season and had the top mixed gender relay team at the Seawolf Invitational on Feb. 8. The 11 first-place finishes by the Buffs in advance of the RMISA Championships are the most since also having 11 back in 2012.Â
• Four Buffaloes won the first races of their careers this season. Freshman David Ketterer has four wins (all in slalom races), junior Petra Hyncicova has three event victories while senior Jesse Knori and sophomores Ola Johansen and Petter Reistad both won one race this year.
• Colorado won its first two meets of the season, marking the sixth time in head coach Richard Rokos' 27-year career that CU won its first two meets of the season. In the previous five seasons it occurred (1995, 1999, 2011, 2013, 2015), Colorado went on to win the National Championship.
• The Buffs have had six skiers selected as the RMISA Skier of the Week, matching the 2015 season for the most in any of the previous five years. The most honorees ever in one season since the RMISA started announcing skiers of the week back in 2005 was the eight honored in 2011.
• Colorado's 670 points earned while winning the Montana State Invitational this year is the highest team point total of any school in any meet this season. Since the current 40-point weighted format was adopted in 2014, that point total is the fourth-highest of any regular season meet in this scoring format and the Buffs own three of the top four highest totals (Denver's 737 points in the 2014 MSU invite is the highest).Â
ALPINE NOTESÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Men's Alpine Team On a Two-Year Roll  Â
CU's men's alpine team has earned the most points in seven of the eight regular season meets over the last two years. Â This season CU's men's team earned 654 total points and had five individual event winners in the 10 races. The one meet that the Buffs did not come away with the most points among all men's alpine teams was in the Seawolf Invitational (finished second). The Buffs had the top two point earners in the RMISA MVP standings with freshman David Ketterer winning it and Max Luukko finishing second. This is a second consecutive season that a Buff has won the RMISA MVP award on the men's alpine side. Ola Johansen won it in 2015, also as a freshman, and the last Buff before him to win it was as freshman as well with Andreas Haug in 2011.
Ketterer Eyes Record  Â
CU freshman David Ketterer has won four of the five slalom races this season on the NCAA circuit. His four wins in the slalom have tied the known CU record for slalom victories in a season. John Skajem was the first to win four slalom races, doing so in both the 1986 and 1987 seasons. Skajem holds the school men's alpine record for most overall victories in a season with seven - he won four slalom and three giant slalom races in 1986.Â
Ketterer has made quite the impact in his freshman season. In addition to his success on the collegiate circuit where he garnered RMISA MVP honors, he is also the current points leader this season in the slalom standings in the NorAm Cup. Ketterer has won three NorAM Cup slalom races and holds a 156-point advantage. He is the first active CU skier under 27-year head coach Richard Rokos to win a NorAm Cup event. Ketterer has also raced on an even bigger stage this year, as he represented his home country of Germany at the FIS World Cup in Austria, racing in the men's slalom on Jan. 22 and Jan. 24. He did not place in the top 25 in either event, but nonetheless gained valuable experience and exposure on one the sports largest stages.
Trulsrud Anchors Women's Team  Â
Sophomore Tonje Trulsrud, who finished second in the RMISA MVP Points Standings, looks to find the form she opened the year with. Truslrud reached the podium in each of her first four races of the season with two second-place finishes and two third-place. She is also looking to find the top of the podium as she has yet to win a race this year. There has only been one indivudual event winner on the women's alpine side at the RMISA Championships in the last seven seasons and that came in 2015 when Jessica Honkonen won the slalom race at regionals held in Alaska that year. Overall in Trulsrud's career, she has finished inside the top 10 in 17 of 21 career races she has finished with eight podium appearances. Her two career race victories both came last season in giant slalom events (at the MSU and CU Invitationals).
Luukko Most Consistent in RMISA In Past Two Seasons  Â
Sophomore Max Luukko has earned more points in the regular season than any other RMISA skier over the last two seasons. He has scored a total of 600 points (299 in 2016 and 301 in 2017) and has placed in the top 10 in 17 of the 20 regular season races. If you count in the RMISA and NCAA Championships from last season, Luukko has finished inside the top 10 in 19-of-24 career races with eight career podium appearances. Last year at the RMISA Championships he won the slalom race and finished third in the giant slalom, one of two meets in his career he has reached the podium in both events.Â
Did You Know?  Â
That Ola Johansen and Max Luukko have eight total podium (finishing inside the top three) appearances apiece over the last two seasons. That is tied for the most on the men's alpine side. On the women's side, Tonje Trulsrud's nine podiums is just one off the lead for the most in the last two seasons.
At Her Best In the Championships  Â
Senior Katie Hostetler in each of her two previous seasons recorded her best finish at the RMISA Championships. In 2016 as a junior, she placed 14th in the women's slalom for the first top 15 finish of her career. Her 18th-place finish in the giant slalom at the 2015 RMISA Championships her sophomore year is also the best finish of her career in a giant slalom event. She enters her fourth RMISA Champions skiing the best she has all season. In the last collegiate meet she posted her top slalom finish of the season (16th in the UAA Invite) and in a FIS Race at Winter Park last weekend she placed fifth in the giant slalom and 10th in the slalom.
NORDIC NOTESÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Best Regular Season Since 2013 for Women's Nordic Team  Â
CU's women's Nordic team led the regular season standings with 632 points, a 108-point advantage over Utah sitting in second place. The women's team won three of its four meets this season and has four individual race victories entering the RMISA Championships. In each of the previous three seasons, CU did not have a single event winner. This is the most success for the women's Nordic team since 2013 when the Buffalo women recorded the most points of any team in all six meets on the season and had 11 individual event winners that year. Nine of those were by Joanne Reid that year (five freestyle, four classic), which is the third-most wins all-time at Colorado for a single-season. Reid that year won the classic race at the RMISA Championships. The last Buff to win a freestyle race at regionals was Eliska Hajkova in 2011 when Utah hosted.
Hyncicova Breaks Through In 2017Â Â Â
Junior Petra Hyncicova had 12 top five finishes with four podiums appearances in her first two seasons as a Buff, including a runner-up finish in the freestyle 5K at the 2016 NCAA Championships. This year she has been able to reach the top of the podium and won three of the four races she competed in (she missed the UAA and Seawolf Invitationals due to injury). The one race that she competed in this season and did not win - the classic sprint at the Utah Invitational - she finished in second. Despite missing the last three races of the season (also did not compete in the mixed gender relay at the Seawolf Invitational), she finished seventh in the RMISA MVP Point Standings.
Reistad Leads Men's Nordic Team  Â
Sophomore Petter Reistad came out as a freshman in 2016 and finished inside the top 10 in all 11 races he competed in, including a second-place finish in the 20K classic race at the RMISA Championships. This season he has led the men's team and finished second in the RMISA in the MVP Points Standings. He found the podium four times this season and picked up his first career victory, coming in the 20K classic at the MSU Invitational. For his career now he has finished inside the top 10 in all 18 races with seven on the podium.Â
Rolandsen Makes Her Mark in Sophomore Season  Â
Christina Rolandsen as a freshman in 2016 had her best finish of the year at the RMISA Championships, placing sixth in the classic race and 13th in the freestyle. She's built off that this season and was CU's highest finisher on the RMISA MVP Points list coming in third. Rolandsen finished ninth or better in all seven races this year and reached the podium three times. Her best finish was in the 5K classic at the UAA Invite, placing second behind teammate Jesse Knori. With another 5K classic race coming up at regionals this weekend, the Buffs have to be excited about their chances in that race on Saturday.
Stroem Looks to Keep Streak Alive at RMISA Championships  Â
Senior Mads Stroem has won both the classic and freestyle races at each of the past two RMISA Championships. Â He now needs just one more race victory to tie his former teammate Rune Oedegaard for the most by a Buff at the RMISA/NCAA West Regional Championships since 1990. Oedegaard won five regional events (three classic races and two freestyle) in his career that spanned from 2012-15. Bjorn Svensson also won four at regionals between the 1990-93 seasons.Â
Stroem, the 2016 USCSCA National Skier of the Year, has been working his way back to his elite level since having his appendix removed on Jan. 7. Stroem in 35 career races has reached the podium 26 times and his 14 overall event victories is tied with Oedegaard for the fourth most in school history for all Buffs (men's and women's, Nordic or alpine).
Knori and Hyncicova Compete at 2017 FIS Nordic Junior and U23 World Ski Championships  Â
Senior Jesse Knori and Petra Hyncicova both competed in the FIS Nordic U23 World Ski Championships held Jan. 31-Feb. 4 at Solder Hollow Resort in Midway, Utah. Knori was skiing for the U23 United States Ski Team while Hyncicova for the Czech Republic National Team. The duo raced in the classic sprint race on Jan. 31, the 10K freestyle on Feb. 2 and the 15K skiathlon on Feb. 4. Knori's best race was in the classic sprints, coming in 15th with a time of 3:51.5. She finished 30th in the Skiathlon at 22:34.7 and was 32nd in the freestyle race, finishing in 28:50.4. Hyncicova's best finish was 17th in the 10K freestyle last Thursday, finishing in a time of 27:40.3. She also placed 22nd in the Skiathlon with a time of 22:03.5 and was 20th in the classic sprint at 3:52.4.
Potyk Finishes Strong  Â
Freshman Andrew Potyk had his two best showings in his last races before the RMISA Championships. He recorded his first top 20 finishes of the season at the UAA Invitational back on Feb. 11-12, placing 17th in the 20K freestyle race and was 18th in the 10K classic.
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