LAKE PLADIC, N.Y.—Colorado out-dueled Utah and held off a charge from Denver to win the 2015 NCAA Skiing Championship Saturday here at Whiteface Mountain. Denver was aided by high finishes in both slalom races including a win from Monica Huebner.
Huebner’s win on the women’s side coupled with Vermont’s Dominique Garand’s win in the men’s race meant the eight individual champions came from seven different schools, and none from the national champion.
When it was all said and done, Colorado racked up 506 points, beating Denver by 27 (478) and Utah by 34 (471). Vermont’s great day boosted it past New Mexico (402) as four of the top five schools in the standings were from the RMISA and all six RMISA squads finished in the top nine with Montana State seventh with 259 points and Alaska Anchorage took ninth with 204 points.
The championship is the 20th for the Buffaloes, 19 NCAA and one AIAW. The Buffs have won the last three NCAA Championships held in the east, adding this to a win in 2011 in Stowe, Vt., and in 2013 in Middlebury, Vt. The Buffs also won for the second straight championship held in Lake Placid as they won the 1982 men’s championship in the final season before the sport went coed.
Coach Richard Rokos now has eight NCAA Championships, which is more than all but three other schools have ever won. He passed Bill Marolt for the most NCAA Championships in CU history and moves into a tie with legendary Utah coach Pat Miller for the second most NCAA championships ever. Former DU legend Willy Schaeffer leads the way with 13 titles as the only coach ahead of Rokos and Miller.
The day began with the slimmest of margins as the Buffs led the Utes by just seven points. CU outscored Utah by three points in the men’s slalom race to take a 10 point lead into the final event. But it was Denver making the most noise, finishing 2-3-4 in the men’s race to add 102 points and shave a 98 point lead over the Buffs down to 45 points.
But the Buffs safely skied all 12 runs on the day and juniors Thea Grosvold and Jessica Honkonen both earned top 10s to secure the victory. The Buffs outscored Utah by 24 in the women’s race, 68-44, while Denver finished 1-3 and scored 86 points.
Vermont’s Dominique Garand won the race in a time of 1:55.03, just .17 ahead of Denver’s Trevor Philp (1:55.20), who edged out teammates Espen Lysdahl (1:55.68) and Sebastian Brigovic (1:56.58) for second place. Vermont’s Taylor Wunsch mean all five first-team All-Americans came from either Denver or Vermont.
The second team All-Americans were led by Montana State’s David Neuhauser in sixth place, Utah’s Andy Trow in seventh, Alaska Anchorage’s Sean Alexander in eighth, New Hampshire’s Philippe Rivet in ninth and Middlebury’s Robert Cone in 10th.
In the race for the team title, CU had Henrik Gunnarsson finish 12th, Adam Zika 13th and Kasper Hietanen 19th. Behind Trow in seventh, Utah had Joergen Brath in 15th and Endre Bjertness took 26th.
The Buffs held a 15 point lead in the race over Utah after the first run but the Utes whittled that away to three points, meaning the women’s race saw the top teams tighten up significantly and CU held a 10 point lead over the Utes and 45 over the Pioneers.
In the women’s race, it was again Vermont and Denver battling it out for medalist honors, UVM finishing 2-5-10 to DU’s 1-3-19, winning the race by a single point, 87-86. Colorado scored 68 points with finishes of sixth from Thea Grosvold, seventh from Jessica Honkonen and 15th from Brooke Wales Granstrom. Utah’s Ana Kobal finished 12th, Kristiina Rove 17th and Chloe Fausa in 24th.
Huebner won the race by turning a .76 deficit into a .25 lead by winning the second run and topping Kristiina Riis-Johannessen by 1.01 seconds in that second run for the victory. Huebner’s winning time was 1:56.52 while Riis-Johannessen took second in 1:56.77. Kristine Huagen from Denver was third in 1:57.19, Colby College’s Mardene Haskell in fourth in 1:57.44 and the Catamounts’s Elli Terwiel in fifth in 1:57.99.
Those five were named first-team All-Americans. CU’s Grosvold and Honkonen were joined by New Mexico’s Mateja Robnik eighth, Middlebury’s Mary Sackbauer ninth and Vermont’s Laurence St. Germaine 10th to round out the second-team All Americans.
The 2015 season is now complete. Colorado will host the 2016 NCAA Championships in Steamboat Springs.
| Date | Race |
|---|---|
| Mar. 11 | Women's 5K Freestyle |
| Mar. 11 | Men's 10K Freestyle |
| Mar. 12 | Women's Giant Slalom |
| Mar. 12 | Men's Giant Slalom |
| Mar. 13 | Women's 15K Classical |
| Mar. 13 | Men's 20K Classical |
| Mar. 14 | Women's Slalom |
| Mar. 14 | Men's Slalom |