Buffs Remain Third At MSU Invitational

BOZEMAN – Colorado's Tilde Baangman and Astri Lunde went 2-3 in the women's race and Will Koch paced the men in fifth place as Colorado briefly moved into second place but finished the day back in third at the conclusion of the Nordic races as part of the Montana State Invitational Sunday at Crosscut Mountain.

The 7.5K classic races were an interval start and the women began the day and CU was impressive, winning the women's race on the strength of Baangman's second place finish with Lunde joining her on the podium in third place. Hanna Abrahamsson was 11th place as the third team scorer for the women's team.

With 92 points, the Buffs had the most points in the field and through three races (including Friday's men's and women's 20K freestyle races), CU moved past Denver into second place with 246 points. Utah continued to lead with 294 and DU was third, 10 points back of CU with 236 points.

DU responded by winning the men's race on the strength of a 1-2 finish and pushed back past the Buffs as Koch was the only CU skier in the top 12 of the race. The men did place four in the top 15 with Johannes Flaaten, Luka Riley and Eemil Juntunen finishing in 13th through 15th positions.

With all scores calculated, Utah finished in the lead at the end of the Nordic portion of the meet with 380 points and DU was second with 338 ahead of Colorado (314). Alaska Anchorage (264), host Montana State (200) and Alaska Fairbanks (148) close out the team scoring.

UP NEXT: In one of the most unique scheduling scenarios in RMISA history, four of the five regular season meets have begun but not finished and all sit at their midpoint. The Nordic teams are 60 percent done with the regular season and the alpine teams just 20 percent. Over a week stretch to open February, three of those four meets will finish with this MSU Invitational being the first one with alpine events taking place Feb. 3-4. Then Feb. 8-9 will see the conclusion of both the Denver and Utah Invitationals, with Nordic events happening for the DU meet and alpine happening for the Utah meet.

WHAT IT MEANS: Now 60 percent of the way through the regular season on the Nordic side, the Buffs are in good shape in terms of NCAA qualifying, which is the primary goal of the regular season races. Baangman and Lunde are third and fourth on the women's list while Karolina Kaleta (14th) and Abrahamsson (16th) are safely qualified and Elena Grissom is in good shape in 21st. On the men's side, Koch is in fifth place with Flaaten (11th), Riley (13th) and Juntunen (15th) seemingly safely qualified. Hinckfuss is currently 18th but has just one finish in both disciplines, both top 5's, and he should be back for four races in Alaska and if he has another top 5 in each disciplines should move himself safely into the top 10.

TEAM NOTES:

The Buffs scored 160 points on the day and sit in third place, 66 behind Utah (380) and 24 behind Denver (338).
The women's team scored 92 points, topping Utah (85) and Denver (78) with Baangman (37), Lunde (34) and Abrahamsson (21) doing the scoring.
The men scored 68 points, fourth most among team scores, with Koch leading the way with 29 points while Flaaten (20) and Riley (19) also scoring for the team.

WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES:

Baangman finished second, her 13th career podium and 17th career top 5 finish. In classic races, it's her seventh career podium and eighth career top five. She now has four top five finishes in four races in her CU career including two straight second place finishes.
Lunde finished third her fourth straight top six finish to open her CU career, and it's her second podium finish.
Abrahamsson finished 11th, her 39th career top 20 finish in 41 career starts. It's her second best finish of the season behind a 10th place finish in the first classic race of the year in early January.
Grissom finished 17th for her 14th career top 20 finish.
Kaleta finished 18th, her 26th career top 20 finish in 29 career finished races.
Sophie Spalding finished 24th and Kili Lehmkuhl 26th for the Buffs.

MEN'S NORDIC NOTES:

Koch finished fifth, his eighth straight top five finish and 22nd straight top 10 finish dating back to the 2023 season.
Flaaten finished 13th for the second straight race, his 17th straight to p15 finish to begin his career.
Riley finished 14th for his ninth top 20 of his career and fifth of the season in six races. It's his third best finish of the season after opening the year with two top 10s in Alaska.
Juntunen finished 15th for his fifth top 15 finish in his first six college races. He has finished between 12th and 15th in those five top 15 finishes.
Alexander Mauer finished 21st and Trey Jones did not start the race.

TEAM STANDINGS (Thru 4 of 8 races): 1. Utah 380; 2. Denver 338; 3. Colorado 314; 4. Alaska Anchorage 264; 5. Montana State 200; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 148.

WOMEN'S 7.5K CLASSIC (30 Collegiate Finishers): 1. Erica Laven, UU; 2. Tilde Baangman, CU; 3. Astri Lunde, CU; 4. Beth Granstrom, UAA; 5. Maja Moland, DU; 6. Lea Wenaas, DU; 7. Selma Nevin, UU; 8. Anna Pryce, MSU; 9. Anna Stewart, DU; 10. Eve-Ondine Duchaufour, DU. Other CU Finishers: 11. Hanna Abrahamsson; 17. Elena Grissom; 18. Karolina Kaleta; 24. Sophie Spalding; 26. Kili Lehmkuhl.

MEN'S 7.5K CLASSIC (32 Collegiate Finishers): 1. Andreas Kirkeng, DU; 2. Florian Knopf, DU; 3. Joe Davies, UU; 4. Brian Bushey, UU; 5. Will Koch, CU; 6. Derek Deuling, UAA; 7. Elijah Weeing, DU; 8. Erling Bjoernstad, UAA; 9. Krystof Zatloukal, DU; 10. Corbin Carpenter, UAA. Other CU Finishers: 13. Johannes Flaaten; 14. Luka Riley; 15. Eemil Juntunen; 21. Alexander Maurer. Did Not Start: Trey Jones.

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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