Colorado Claims RMISA Championship

Sunday, February 25, 2024 • by Curtis Snyder, RMISA

BOZEMAN, Mont.—The Colorado Buffaloes used solid performances in both 20K classic races to claim the 75th Annual 2024 RMISA Championships as competition concluded Sunday at Crosscut Mountain Sports Center.

With a 46.5 lead entering the day, the men's 20K classic race was indicative of the team standings with Utah (88), Colorado (79) and Denver (77) each scoring 75-plus points, joined by Alaska Fairbanks' score of 74. The lead briefly cut to 37.5 by the Utes, the Buffs then placed three in the top five of the women's race to secure the title. Montana State finished 1-2 to score 95 points followed by Colorado's score of 94 and no other team scored 60.

Winning RMSIA Individual Championships were Denver's Andreas Kirkeng and Montana State's Tilde Baangman, fitting as both have been outstanding this season and both were named Nordic MVPs in both disciplines. Baangman won her fourth race of the season and Kirkeng his sixth.

Kirkeng was followed by Joe Davies in second place, finishing a solid weekend after he won the freestyle race the day before, and UAF's Mike Ophoff was third. Colorado's Magnus Boee was fourth and Utah's Tom Mancini rounded out the top five.

Behind Baangman in the women's race was teammate Kate Oldham, who won Saturday's freestyle race, and then Colorado's Anna-Maria Dietze, Hanna Abrahamsson and Weronika Kaleta rounded out the top five.

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.