Baangman, Koch & Lunde Top 5 As Buffs Third At MSU

BOZEMAN – Colorado's Tilde Baangman finished second, Will Koch third and Astri Lunde fifth, propelling the Buffaloes to third place at the 2025 Montana State Invitational with 20K freestyle races taking place Friday at Crosscut Mountain.

Snowy conditions ruled the day as the race officials had to groom late Thursday night and again on Friday morning with at least four inches falling after sunrise before the races began at 10 a.m.

"It was the kind of race where if you're a strong skier and had the right skis, it worked to your advantage," coach Jana Weinberger said. "For those that didn't ski as well, it may have been more about the skis than the ability."

With the two top five finishes on the women's side, the Buffs finished second in that race with 85 points and after picking up 69 points in the men's race, sat in third but in a fight with Denver, as just four points separate the two rivals. The CU women and DU men equalled each other out, both teams scoring 85 points. The DU women outpaced the CU men by four points for the advantage. Utah leads with 209 points while DU (158) and CU (154) fight for second place.

Baangman had a solid race during which she battled with Utah's Selma Nevin throughout. The two were essentially tied at the midpoint of the race and stayed together through the third lap. Baangman then finished the final lap 23 seconds faster to take second place. Lunde was also in a battle with DU's Lea Wenaas and that battle went down to the wire with Lunde pulling away by less than a second to pick up the top five finish. Hanna Abrahamsson finished 14th as CU's final team scorer just ahead of Elena Grissom in 15th.

In the men's race, Will Koch was consistent, having the third fastest time in each of the four 5K laps among the collegiate skiers, and finished in third about 30 seconds behind second and about a minute ahead of fourth. He was CU's only top 10 finisher as Johannes Flaaten finished 13th and Trey Jones 20th as CU's other two team scorers.

UP NEXT: Colorado will remain in Bozeman the next two days to close out a lengthy road trip that also included last week's Utah Invitational. The races are part of US Super Tour races and Saturday's freestyle sprint races will not count as a collegiate race, but Sunday's 7.5K classic interval start races will.

WHAT IT MEANS: despite finishing behind Utah and Denver, there are good signs for the Nordic teams. Baangman continues to impress and ski well despite being banged up and Lunde is finishing along the top skiers still just a few days and weeks in college. Abrahamsson has proven throughout her career that she will rise to the top by the end of the season. Koch is securely qualified as he will embark to U23 World Championships after Sundays race along with Trey Jones. Hugo Hinckfuss will return for the Alaska series ahead of NCAA Championships so the Buffs will not be at full strength until the NCAA Championships.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs scored 154 points on the day and sit in third place but just four points behind Denver (158).
The women's team scored 85 points, 37 from Baangman, 29 from Lunde and 19 from Abrahamsson.
The men scored 69 points with 34 from Koch, 20 from Flaaten and 15 from Jones.

WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES:

Baangman finished second, her 12th career podium and 16th career top 5 finish. In freestyle races, it's her sixth career podium and ninth career top five. She now has three top five finishes in three races in her CU career.
Lunde finished fifth, her second top five in three races early in her CU career, and she's finished in the top 6 in all three races.
Abrahamsson finished 14th, her 38th career top 20 finish in 40 career starts.
Grissom finished 15th for her 13th career top 20 finish.
Sophie Spalding finished 21st, Kili Lehmkuhl 23rd and Karolina Kaleta did not finish.

MEN'S NORDIC NOTES:

Koch finished third, earning his second podium of the season. He has seven straight top five finishes and 21 straight top 10 finishes dating back to the 2023 season.
Flaaten finished 13th, his 16th straight top 15 finish to begin his career. He's now finished eighth, 11th and 13th in three races this season.
Jones finished 20th, his third top 20 finish of the season.
Eemil Juntunen finished 23rd, Luka Riley finished 27th and Alexander Maurer finished 28th for the Buffaloes.

TEAM STANDINGS (Thru 2 of 8 races): 1. Utah 209; 2. Denver 158; 3. Colorado 154; 4. Alaska Anchorage 125; 5. Montana State 101; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 68.

WOMEN'S 20K FREESTYLE (28 Collegiate Finishers): 1. Erica Laven, UU; 2. Tilde Baangman, CU; 3. Selma Nevin, UU; 4. Nina Schamberger, UAA; 5. Astri Lunde, CU; 6. Lea Wenaas, DU; 7. E.O. Duchaofour, DU; 8. Katey Houser, MSU; 9. Neve Gerard, UU; 10. Astrid Stav, UAA. Other CU Finishers: 14. Hanna Abrahamsson; 15. Elena Grissom; 21. Sophie Spalding; 23. Kili Lehmkuhl. Did Not Finish: Karolina Kaleta.

MEN'S 20K FREESTYLE (33 Collegiate Finishers): 1. Joe Davies, UU; 2. Brian Bushey, UU; 3. Will Koch, CU; Elijah Weeing, DU; 5. Florian Knopf, DU; 6. Zachary Jayne, UU; 7. Krystof Zatliukal, DU; 8. Lucas Wilmer, UU; 9. Derek Deuling, UAA; 10. Andreas Kirkeng, DU. Other CU Finishers: 13. Johannes Flaaten; 20. Trey Jones; 23. Eemil Juntunen; 27. Luka Riley; 28. Alexander Maurer.

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Players Mentioned

Hanna Abrahamsson

Tilde Baangman

Johannes Flaaten

Elena Grissom

Hugo Hinckfuss

Trey Jones

Eemil Juntunen

Karolina Kaleta

Will Koch

Kili Lehmkuhl

Astri Lunde

Alexander Maurer

Luka Riley

Sophie Spalding