BOZEMAN and BIG SKY, Mont.—With the middle half of the 75th Annual RMISA Championship taking place Saturday, the Colorado Buffaloes moved into the lead at Big Sky Resort and Crosscut Mountain Sports Center.
The women's slalom first run and the women's 7.5K freestyle races took place at the same time, and at Crosscut it was the host Montana State that took command of that race, as Kate Oldham won and teammate Tilde Baangman took second. It was then a pair of Alaska Fairbanks skiers in the next two spots with Kendall Kramer taking third and Rosie Fordham fourth. Colorado's Anna-Maria Dietze founded out the top 10.
The Bobcats and Nanooks dominated the team standings while Colorado, on the strength of three in the top 11, finished third, ahead of both Denver and Utah in the team standings race, taking the lead by a single point through three events, 238-237 over DU.
The Utes then dominated the men's 7.5K freestyle race, which finished just before the second run of the women's slalom race to be counted as the fourth race of the meet. Joe Davies won with Tom Mancini third and Brian Bushey fifth, racking up 103 points for the Utes. Colorado picked up the other two top five spots with Magnus Boee in second and Johannes Flaaten in fourth. Will Koch was 10th as the Buffs scored 90 points.
Colorado opened up a 28 point lead over Denver, 328-300, and Utah closed the gap on both and stood third with 298 points.
Meanwhile over at Big Sky, the women's slalom race finished, and while Utah's Kaja Norbye won with Denver's Sara Rask second, the Buffs won the race as a team with three in the top eight. Westminster's Carlotta Marcora was third with CU's Julia Toiviainen and UAA's Carmen Nielssen rounding out the top five.
Four teams scored within nine points of each other, led by Colorado with 79, and Utah just 2.5 points back with 76.5. Westmisnter scored 72.5 and Denver had 70. Utah overtook Denver for second place by just 4.5 points with Colorado 26.5 points ahead of the Utes, 401-374.5-370.
Those three schools continued to battle in the men's slalom race and Colorado's Filip Wahlqvist won with teammate Ryder Sarchett in fourth. Denver's Thomas Hoffman was second, Utah's Wilhelm Normannseth was third and UAA's Jan Ronner rounded out the top five.
Colorado's two in the top five did the trick, and CU won the race with 91 points, 14 up on Utah (77) with Westminster scoring 70. Denver's Christian Soevik held the first run lead but unfortunately skied out on his second run or the Pioneers would've been right there with Utah and Denver.
But as it ended up, Colorado finished the day scoring 334 points in the four race while Utah was second with 304.5 and Denver third with 256.
With alpine action now complete, the RMISA Championships will close out on Sunday with the 20K classic races at Crosscut. Colorado holds a 46.5 point lead over Utah and 71 over Denver entering the final set of races.
RMISA CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM STANDINGS: (Thru 6-of-8 Races): 1. Colorado 498; 2. Utah 451.5; 3. Denver 427; 4. Montana State 378.5; 5. Alaska Anchorage 312; 6. Westminster 256.5; 7. Alaska Fairbanks 129; 8. Nevada 128.5; 9. Colorado Mountain 125.
WOMEN'S 7.5K FREESTYLE (35 Collegiate Finishers): 1. Kate Oldham, MSU, 20:54.2; 2. Tilde Baangman, MSU, 20:55.8; 3. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 21:11.2; 4. Rosie Fordham, UAF, 21:22.6; 5. Anna-Maria Dietze, CU, 21:23.1. Other CU Finishers: 7. Weronika Kaleta, 21:42.3; 11. Karolina Kaleta, 22:10.7; 13. Hanna Abrahamsson, 22:20.6; 25. Elena Grissom, 23:30.2; 26. Sophie Spalding, 23:39.3; 28. Kili Lehmkuhl, 23:48.8.
MEN'S 7.5K FREESTYLE (34 Collegiate Finishers): 1. Joe Davies, UU, 18:40.3; 2. Magnus Boee, CU, 18:40.6; 3. Tom Mancini, UU, 18:58.3; 4. Johannes Flaaten, CU, 19:11.1; 5. Brian Bushey, UU, 19:11.7. Other CU Finishers: 10. Will Koch, 19:29.3; 16. Alexander Maurer, 20:28.3; 27. Hugo Hinckfuss, 21:19.8; 29. Trey Jones, 21:26.7.
WOMEN'S SLALOM (30 Collegiate Finishers): 1. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:41.68; 2. Sara Rask, DU, 1:41.79; 3. Carlotta Marcora, WMC, 1:41.82; 4. Julia Toiviainen, CU, 1:42.24; 5. Carmen Nielssen, UAA, 1:42.37. Other CU Finishers: 7. Caroline Jones, 1:42.47; 8. Denise Dingsleder, 1:42.63; 16. Elena Exenberger, 1:43.50; 19. Emma Hammergaard, 1:43.79; 20. Ashley Campbell, 1:44.07; 29. Katie Fleckenstein, 1:49.09.
MEN'S SLALOM (42 Collegiate Finishers): 1. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 1:35.12; 2. Thomas Hoffman, DU, 1:36.12; 3. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:36.20; 4. Ryder Sarchett, CU, 1:36.29; 5. Jan Ronner, UAA, 1:36.32.
| Date | Race |
|---|---|
| Feb. 23 | Women's Giant Slalom |
| Feb. 23 | Men's Giant Slalom |
| Feb. 24 | Women's 7.5K Freestyle |
| Feb. 24 | Women's Slalom |
| Feb. 24 | Men's 7.5K Freestyle |
| Feb. 24 | Men's Slalom |
| Feb. 25 | Women's 20K Classical |
| Feb. 25 | Men's 20K Classical |