Buffs Have Successful First Day Of 2025 Season

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The defending national champion Colorado Buffaloes ski team got its title defense underway Thursday with the 10K freestyle races at the UAA Invitational kicking things off. The races are a part of the 2025 U.S. National Cross Country Ski Championships hosted here at Kincaid Park.

The Buffaloes sit in third place with 151 points and as has been the case in recent memory, are in a tight battle with both Utah (first place, 172 points) and Denver (second, 162). The three teams were especially tight after the men's race, which Denver won with 88 points and all three teams within three points with Utah (86) and Colorado (85) just behind.

"Overall it was a good day," CU head coach Jana Weinberger said. "The guys especially had a very good performance. We will have room for improvement almost everywhere, but for the first day, I thought we did well."

Hugo Hinckfuss matched his career best and had his third career podium appearance in third place in the men's 10K freestyle race with Will Koch just behind in fifth place. Hinckfuss was one of just three RMISA skiers that completed each 5K lap in under 11 minutes and he was just 1.4 seconds out of second place.

Luka Riley, who missed most of the 2024 season after competing in just three races due illness, came back in fine fashion with his career-best finish of ninth place, for his first career top 10 performance, bettering an 11th place finish early in the 2023 season.

Newcomer Eemil Juntunen and sophomore Trey Jones finished 12th and 18th, respectively, to give the Buffs five of the top 18 finishers in the race. Alexander Mauer finished 29th.

"Hugo matched the best finish of his career," Weinberger said. "Will has been battling illness so I think he can even get higher and Luka did great. He looked good all fall, I kind of thought he could do well, and he certainly did. Eemil for his first race did well, just a little off Luka."

In the women's race, incoming transfer Tilde Baangman led the way for the Buffaloes in fourth place, and likely would've been higher had she not had an encounter with a Moose on the course. She was just under five seconds off the podium in her first race as a Buffalo.

"There was a mama moose and a baby moose, and there were several other athletes, but right when Tilde skied by, the mama moose became protective," Weinberger said. The race officials were trying to distract the moose and she got more agitated. I think she could've finished on the podium. She passed me with 2K left and was just two seconds off Kendall (Kramer from UAA, who finished second)."

"Tilde is also still getting back to full strength," Weinberger continued. "She is still day to day with a shoulder issue, but today was pretty low risk and low impact being an interval start. We'll see how she's feeling but is still day to day."

Karolina Kaleta joined her in 10th place for her 10th career top 10 finish. Elena Grissom finished 23rd, Hanna Abrahamsson 24th and Kili Lehmkuhl 29th for the Buffs. Abrahamsson is still recovering from illness.

"Hanna is still coming back from sickness, she started slow last year too and still finished strong," Weinberger said. "I thought Karo had a pretty good race, picking up where she finished last year."

WHAT IT MEANS
It's hard to take a lot from the first race of a season, especially when the races has hundreds of competitors at an event like the US National Championships. Still, it certainly looks like, at least on the Nordic side, that the Buffs, Utes and Pioneers will all be locked in a season long battle. It is of note that the Buffs were without Johannes Flaaten on the men's side and both Astri Lunde and Sophie Spalding on the women's side. Flaaten skied for the Buffs at the NCAA Championships last year and Lunde is ranked just behind Baangman and Abrahamsson in terms of FIS points on the Buffs' women's Nordic squad.

UP NEXT
Thursday marked the first day of the US National Championships with races taking place through January 7. The Buffs will return to action Saturday in the classic sprint races, but they will not count for college racing. Sunday's 20K mass start classic races will, however, also be a part of the UAA Invitational. Racing concludes Tuesday with the freestyle sprint races.

TEAM NOTES
•   Colorado scored 151 points on the day, 85 in the men's race and 66 in the women's.
•   CU's 85 points on the men's side were courtesy of Hinckfuss (34), Koch (29) and Riley (22).
•   CUs' 66 points on the women's side came in from Baangman (31), Kaleta (21) and Grissom (14).

MEN'S NORDIC NOTES

Hinckfuss finished third out of the RMISA finishers in a time of 21:39.4, and he was just 1.4 seconds behind second place (Walker Hall of Utah). He had the third-fastest first lap (10:45.5) and second-fastest final 5K lap (10:53.8) and was one of just three skiers to go under 11 minutes in both laps. It's his third career podium, all third place finishes, his second freestyle podium and first podium at the 10K distance for freestyle. He now has three podiums, six top 5 and 10 top 10 performances in 18 finished races in his career.
Koch's fifth place finish is the 12th top 5 of his career and seventh in freestyle races. He now has 32 top 10 finishes in his career in what was his 40th finished race on Thursday.
Riley picked up his career best ninth place finish, his first career top 10, in his 12th career start. He started just three races last year and didn't finish higher than 21st in those races. He's his fifth career top 20 finish.
Juntunen picked up a 12th place finish in his first career collegiate race.
Jones picked up his fourth top 20 finish in his seventh finished race. The sophomore missed five race starts last year while competing at the Junior World Championships.

WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES

Baangman finished fourth in her first race as a Buffalo after transferring from Montana State. This is her third year on the RMISA circuit and it's hard 14th career top five performance in those college races and 23rd top 10 in 26 career races.
Kaleta finished 10th to pick up her 10th career top 10 performance. She ended last season on a tear and finished in the top 12 in each of her last four races. She now has 22 top 20 finishes in 25 career races.
Grissom finished 23rd, Abrahamsson 24th and Lehmkuhl 29th for the Buffaloes.

TEAM STANDINGS (Thru 2 of 8 Races): 1. Utah 172; 2. Denver 162; 3. Colorado 151; 4. Alaska Fairbanks 123; 5. Alaska Anchorage 118; 6. Montana State 116.

MEN'S 10K FREESTYLE (38 collegiate finishers): 1. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 21:24.2; 2. Walker Hall, UU, 21:38.0; 3. Hugo Hinckfuss, CU, 21:39.4; 4. Brian Bushey, UU, 21:59.3; 5. Will Koch, CU, 22:09.3; 6. Matt Seline, UAA, 22:10.3; 7. Krystof Zatioukal, DU, 22:20.1; 8. Elijah Weeing, DU, 22:22.0; 9. Luka Riley, CU, 22:23.8; 10. Florian Knopf, DU, 22:25.1. Other CU Finishers: 12. Eemil Juntunen, 22:28.6; 18. Trey Jones, 22:48.8; 29. Alexander Maurer, 23:41.5.

WOMEN'S 10K FREESTYLE (33 collegiate finishers): 1. Kate Oldham, MSU, 24:29.8; 2. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 24:41.0; 3. Erica Laven, UU, 24:58.3; 4. Tilde Baangman, CU, 25:02.9; 5. Maja Moland, DU, 25:12.4; 6. Selma Nevin, UU, 25:48.7; 7. Nina Schamberger, UU, 25:57.7; 8. Eve-Ondine Duchaufour, DU, 26:04.7; 9. Lea Wenaas, DU, 26:10.5; 10. Karolina Kaleta, CU, 26:10.9. Other CU Finishers: 23. Elena Grissom, 27:30.8; 24. Hanna Abrahamsson, 27:32.4; 29. Kili Lehmkuhl, 29:26.9.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Hanna Abrahamsson

Tilde Baangman

Johannes Flaaten

Elena Grissom

Hugo Hinckfuss

Trey Jones

Karolina Kaleta

Will Koch

Kili Lehmkuhl

Astri Lunde

Alexander Maurer

Luka Riley

Sophie Spalding