MIDWAY, Utah – Every year when the calendar turns to a new year, it always means college ski season is around the corner.
And this year, the wait is less than most, as the Colorado Buffaloes’ Nordic teams kick off their 2022 season on New Years Day 2 Sunday at the Utah Invitational. The Utah Invitational collegiate results will be taken from the US National Championships here in Soldier Hollow Sunday through Thursday.
Preview of the Women’s Nordic Team
Turners (3): Anna maria dietze, Ivy Eski, Weronika Kaleta.
New arrivals (3): Hanna abrahamsson, Karolina kaleta, Kili Lehmkuhl
The Nordic women’s team is relatively young, with one junior (Dietze), two runners-up (Eski, Weronika Kaleta), and three new freshmen at Abrahamsson, Karolina kaleta, and Lehmkuhl.
Dietze, as the only top class, leads the way with 23 race starts, including 12 top 10s and six top fives in his career. Weronika Kaleta came out strong in his debut season with eight top 10 performances in 11 races completed. Both climbed the podium once.
“We have Anna-Maria and Weronika back from last year,†Weinberger said. “They were both a little sick in the fall. I think as the season goes on they will get better and better.”
The squad will not be complete at the start of the season either, but by the end of the season could be a force. Dietze and the two Kaleta sisters missed some training time in the fall due to illness.
Weronika and Karolina kaleta, like Dietze, has also skied in Europe, both competing at the World Cups in Davos and Dresden. The two will return to Boulder just in time to travel to Utah with the team. Lehmkuhl will also travel with the team to Utah for his first collegiate meeting.
“Kili is a young junior, she had a good training fall,†Weinberger said. “Hanna appears to be a good athlete, we’ll see how she performs at altitude, but I’m expecting good things. Karolina was battling the disease, just getting back in shape and it may take a few runs to get here in her normal state. groove.”
Men’s Nordic team preview
Turners (5): Magnus boee, Wyatt gebhardt, Oyvind Haugan, Ryan jackson, Will koch
New arrivals (3): Alexandre maurer, Fredrik nilsen, Noah without wheels
The men’s Nordic team is bigger than most seasons and tends to be young, with eight skiers including five underclass, including three freshmen. But the overall strength of the men’s team could be the strength of the program for 2022.
Junior Magnus boee returns after enjoying the best season in men’s Nordic history and equaling a 60-year record by winning 10 races during the season, including the RMISA and NCAA individual championships. He was named National Skier of the Year and RMISA MVP in both disciplines.
“Magnus has been the leader of the team and all the guys are following him pretty closely,†Weinberger said. “I think he will have another good season.”
The other seven skiers include three who have skied at the NCAA Championships for the buffs. Ryan jackson, who originally came to CU with one season of eligibility but entering his third season, skied for the Buffs in 2020 at the NCAAs and CU’s two sophomores, Oyvind Haugan and Will koch, won All-America honors last season in the NCAA.
Senior Wyatt gebhardt and first year students Alexandre maurer, Fredrik nilsen and Noah without wheels complete the team. Getbhardt has started 30 career races for the Buffs with six career top 10s. Maurer and Nilsen will provide depth and face off to score for the Buffs as Wheeless redshirts the 2022 season.
“We had a great fall training for the guys, they were able to stay healthy and train through the fall,†Weinberger said. “Some of the newcomers haven’t skied much at altitude yet so we’ll see how they fare, but overall I’m happy to see how we stack up against other varsity skiers.”
Utah invitation preview
Who: Teams from RMISA, Alaska Anchorage, Alaska Fairbanks, Colorado, Colorado Mountain, Denver, Montana State, Utah, Westminster, and Wyoming.
What: The Utah Invitational, with results drawn from the Nordic American National Championships.
When: The Utah meeting will take place from January 2 to 25. The Nordic portion will use the races on January 2 (Freestyle Springs) and January 6 (10 / 15K Classical) while the Classic Sprint race on January 7 will serve as an additional RMISA qualifier. The alpine portion of the competition will take place on January 24th and 25th.
Or: Soldier Hollow Resort in Midway, Utah.
Buff outlook: For the Utah competition in particular, the Buffs will be a bit understaffed on both the men’s and women’s sides. On the men’s side, Haugan will miss the competition due to NCAA rules while Jackson will compete in the Canadian Olympic qualifying races.
On the women’s side, only three Buffs will compete in Utah with Abrahamsson, Dietze and Eski for various reasons. Eski will miss at least the first two games due to injury, Abrahamsson will miss two of the three races in Utah due to NCAA rules and Dietze will miss the Utah game while skiing in Europe.
“We’ll be a little light in Utah, but we should be closer to full power by Montana State,†Weinberger said.
The Utah Invitational being part of the United States Nationals throws a few other wrinkles into the mix as well. Firstly, almost all college teams in the three regions will have some representation in the competition, so it almost serves as a type of pre-national competition. However, the official RMISA results will only take into account skiers from RMISA schools and not from other schools.
It also adds an extra wrinkle for Koch and Maurer, who are trying to qualify for the World Junior Championships. If they make the U.S. team for this competition, they will miss the RMISA Championships in late February but would still be eligible for the NCAA Championships as long as they meet the NCAA qualifying standards prior to the regional competition.
