Lunde Hits Podium In First College Race, Buffs Second

MIDWAY, Utah – Colorado's Astri Lunde took second place in her first collegiate race and combined with fourth place finishes from Will Koch and Tilde Baangman, the trio propelled the ski team into second place here Saturday at the 2024 Utah Invitational at Soldier Hollow.

Colorado sits in second place with 162 points, 33 back of host Utah (195) and five points ahead of Denver (157). CU took a 16-point lead over the Pioneers after the women's race but DU bounced back, cutting 11 points off that CU lead in the men's race. Utah won both races with 101 points in the men's race and 94 in the women's.

Lunde, who missed the UAA Invitational, made her collegiate debut and did so in style, having the second-fastest second lap in the field to secure second place. Baangman was just behind her in fourth place while Hanna Abrahamsson took 15th, edging out Karolina Kaleta in 16th as the Buffs third team scorer.

Koch led the men with his third straight top five finish to start the 2025 season. Like Lunde, Koch had the second-fastest second lap and was able to move up from sixth to fourth and also closed the gap on second and third place. Johannes Flaaten, like Lunde making his season debut for the Buffs, picked up a top 10 in eighth place and CU's third scorer was Eemil Juntunen in 13th place. Alexander Maurer (16th) and Luka Riley (17th) picked up top 20 and gave the Buffs five men in the top 17 of the race.

UP NEXT: Colorado will close out the Nordic portion of the Utah meet Sunday with the 15K freestyle races, which will be a mass start. The Nordic teams will then head to Montana for the MSU Invitational next weekend. Alpine teams are still off until early February, which will kick back up with this same swing of the Montana State and Utah invitationals.

WHAT IT MEANS: Lunde and Flaaten's performances provide additional depth for the Nordic team and both should compete for a top three spot by season's end at the NCAA Championships. Lunde looks to be a podium threat and joins Baangman in that role while Abrahamsson has proven she is over the course of her career. Flaaten gives the Buffs a fourth skier to hit the top 10 this season and all seven have finished 17th or higher in a race already.

TEAM NOTES:
•   The Buffs scored 162 points, the best Nordic outing of the season, ahead of 151 and 143 point performances at Alaska, and the previous classic team result was 143 points, so the Buffs improved 19 points over the first meet of the season.
•   The women's team scored 86 points, good for second place, behind Lunde (37), Baangman (31) and Abrahamsson (18).
•   The men's team scored 76 points, good for third place, with Koch (31), Flaaten (25) and Juntunen (20) scoring for the team.

WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES
•   Lunde finished second in her first collegiate race, the best since now senior Abrahamsson finished second in her first race in 2022, which just happened to be the classic race at the Utah Invitational, though that one was a 10K mass start that was part of the US National Championships.
•   Baangman took fourth place, her second top five finish to open her CU career after taking fifth in the 10K freestyle race at the UAA Invitational. In her career, she now has 15 career top five finishes, seven in classic.
•   Abrahamsson finished 15th and now has 36 top 20 finishes in 38 career races.
•   Kaleta finished 16th and now has 24 top 20 finishes in 27 career races.
•   Elena Grissom finished 24th, Sophie Spalding 29th and Kili Lehmkuhl 31st for the Buffaloes.

MEN'S NORDIC NOTES
•   Koch finished fourth for his third straight top five finish to open 2025 and fifth straight top five dating back to last year's NCAA Championships. He now has 14 career top five finishes and seven in classic races.
•   Flaaten finished eighth in his first race of the season, and it's his ninth top 10 of his career. He hasn't finished lower that 15th in any college race and has taken 11th or better in 13 of his 14 starts.
•   Juntunen finished 13th, his third straight top 15 finish. He has finished 12th twice and now 13th once to open his career.
•   Maurer finished 16th for his second straight top 20 and 24th of his career, 14 of which have taken place in classic races.
•   Riley finished 17th continuing his impressive start to the 2025 season, his third straight top 20 after missing most of last season. He now has seven career top 20 finishes, four in classic races.
• Trey Jones finished 29th. He was in 17th place after the first lap just behind both Maurer and Riley but struggled a bit in his second run through the 3.75K course.

TEAM SCORES (Thru 2 of 8 races): 1. Utah 195; 2. Colorado 162; 3. Dener 157.5; 4. Alaska Fairbanks 114.5; 5. Alaska Anchorage 112; 6. Montana State 101.

WOMEN'S 7.5K CLASSIC (35 collegiate finishers): 1. Erica Laven, UU, 22:54.1; 2. Astri Lunde, CU, 23:11.9; 3. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 23:15.0; 4. Tilde Baangman, CU, 23:39.4; 5. Celine Mayer, UU, 23:41.1; 6. Lea Wenaas, DU, 23:50.8; 7. Neva Gerard, UU, 23:53.0; 8. Selma Nevin, UU, 24:01.5; 9. Katey House, MSU, 24:04.9; 10. Maja Moland, DU, 24:10.0. Other CU Finishers: 15. Hanna Abrahamsson, 24:23.1; 16. Karolina Kaleta, 24:25.4; 24. Elena Grissom, 24:52.5; 29. Sophie Spalding, 25:13.9; 31. Kili Lehmkuhl, 26:33.8.

MEN'S 7.5K CLASSIC (31 collegiate finishers): 1. Walker Hall, UU, 19:45.9; 2. Florian Knopf, DU, 19:54.8; 3. Joe Davies, UU, 19:57.7; 4. Will Koch, CU, 20:03.1; 5. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 20:16.9; 6. Brian Bushey, UU, 20:22.2; 7. Zachary Jayne, UU, 20:35.6; 8. Johannes Flaaten, CU, 21:08.5; 9. Derek Deulling, UAA, 21:10.0; 10. Benjamin Dohlby, UAF and Micah Steinberg, DU, 21:20.2. Other CU Finishers: 13. Eemil Juntunen, 21:27.5; 16. Alexander Maurer, 21:32.6; 17. Luka Riley, 21:33.4; 29. Trey Jones, 22:35.3.

Lunde Hits Podium In First College Race, Buffs Second

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Hanna Abrahamsson

Tilde Baangman

Johannes Flaaten

Elena Grissom

Trey Jones

Eemil Juntunen

Karolina Kaleta

Will Koch

Kili Lehmkuhl

Astri Lunde

Alexander Maurer

Luka Riley

Sophie Spalding