Dilling, Luczak Win GS Races At UAA Invitational

GIRDWOOD, Alaska – Colorado's Jacob Dilling and Magdalena Luczak swept the GS races at Alyeska Resort Wednesday and the Buffaloes moved into second place at the UAA Invitational with three-quarters of the racing now complete in the meet.

The continuation of a meet that began seven weeks ago when the Nordic portion was pulled from results at the U.S. National Championships, the Buffs moved past Denver and closed the gap on Utah with an impressive 187 points on the day. CU now has 481 points, 28.5 behind Utah (509.5) and now 30.5 points up on Denver (450.5).

On an extremely emotional day, Dilling won on the one-year anniversary of his father's passing. It was his second career win, and first in over two years, while he also captured his seventh career podium appearance and fifth in GS races, including two this season.

Luczak's victory is her sixth career win, fourth in GS races, and in her collegiate season debut, she now has four straight wins dating back over a year. In her sixth career GS race, she has won four of them and she has six wins in just 12 collegiate starts in her career.

On the men's side, the Buffs won the race with 96 points with Filip Wahlqvist finishing fifth and Justin Bigatel sixth. On the women's side, CU was second with 91 points and after Luczak, Louison Accambray was fourth and Ashley Campbell 11th scoring for the team.

UP NEXT: CU will take part in another GS race on Thursday, this one opening the 2025 RMISA Championships. Friday the UAA Invitational will conclude with slalom races, and Saturday will see another slalom race for the RMISA meet. Nordic teams race on Friday and Saturday in the RMISA Championships at Kincaid Park.

WHAT IT MEANS: Magdalena Luczak is back! Skiing in her first college race of the season, she picked up where she left off last season with her sixth career victory, fourth in GS and fourth in a row. She needs all four races in Alaska to fully qualify for NCAAs and Wednesday was a great start. Dilling's win proves that some wins are bigger than others and gives the CU men's alpine team eight wins in nine races this season and he's the fourth skier to win a men's alpine race this season. The depth of the alpine teams continues to impress, and CU is in a great position to make a run at the UAA meet Friday and get the RMISA meet off to a solid start Thursday.

TEAM NOTES:
•   CU scored 187 points in the two GS races, most in the field, winning the men's race with 96 points and finishing second in the women's race with 91 points.
•   The Buffs outscored DU 187-107.5 on the day and moved past the Pioneers into second place with 481 points, 30.5 ahead of DU's total of 450.5.
•   CU outscored Utah by 11.5 points, moving to within 28.5 points with the slalom races remaining on Friday.
•   Dilling is the fourth men's alpine skier to win a race this season and CU has won eight of the nine alpine races this season, including five straight. Wahlqvist has won all four slalom races this season and Louis Fausa won two GS races, Etienne Mazellier has won one and now Dilling added another.
•   Luczak is the second women's alpine skier to win a race this season behind Accambray's three GS wins. CU has won four of five GS races this season and three straight.
•   Between men's and women's alpine, CU has won 12 of the 18 races this season.
•   The CU men scored 96 points with Dilling (40), Wahlqvist (29) and Bigatel (27) scoring for the team.
•   The CU women scored 91 points with Luczak (40), Accambray (31) and Campbell (20) scoring for the team.

MEN'S ALPINE NOTES:
•   Dilling won, his second career win and first since Feb. 8, 2023, in over two years. He now has seven podiums and 10 top 5 finishes in 38 finished races.
•   Wahlqvist was fifth, his 17th career top 5 finish in 22 starts. He has finished in the top 8 in 21 of 22 career races and has finished 16 straight races, all in the top 8. In GS races, he has seven career top 5s in 12 races.
•   Bigatel was sixth matching his season and career best and giving him four top 10s on the season, two each in GS and slalom action.
•   Fausa was 18th and has finished seven straight races, all in the top 20 and has 11 straight top 20 finish.
•   Jack Reich finished 24th to close out the Buffs skiers.

WOMEN'S ALPINE NOTES:
•   Luczak won, her sixth career win, fourth in GS and fourth straight dating back over a year to Feb. 5, 2024. She has won five of her last six college races. In just 12 college starts, she has six wins, eight podiums and nine top fives, also winning four of six GS races she's competed in with five podiums and all six in the top 5.
•   Accambray was fourth and she has finished in the top four in every race since her collegiate debut when she took eighth in a slalom qualifier. She has nine college starts with three wins, five podiums and seven top 10 performances.
•   Campbell was 11th, and in the races she's finished this season she has done to in the top 15. This is the second top 10 in a GS race.
•   Elena Exenberger was 16th, her 28th career top 20 finish, third of the season in three finished races.
•   Katie Fleckenstein finished 21st and Cathinka Lunder didn't finish her race.

UAA INVITATIONAL STANDINGS (Thru 6 of 8 races): 1. Utah 509.6; 2. Colorado 481; 3. Denver 450.5; 4. Montana State 340; 5. Alaska Anchorage 320; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 231; 7. Westminster 93; 8. Nevada 91; 9. Colorado Mountain 73.

WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (30 collegiate finishers): 1. Magdalena Luczak, CU, 1:29.46; 2. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:30.30; 3. Claire Timmermann, UU, 1:30.46; 4. Louison Accambray, CU, 1:30.50; 5. Elise Hitter, WU, 1:31.07; 6. Mia Hunt, DU, 1:31.11; 7. Kaila Lafreniere, UU, 1:31.46; 8. Guro Hestad Vognild, WU, 1:31.94; 9. Tea Kissel, MSU, 1:32.24; 10. Giulia Tintorri, WU, 1:32.68. Other CU Finishers: 11. Ashley Campbell, 1:32.71; 16. Elena Exenberger, 1:33.38; 21. Katie Fleckenstein, 1:35.07. Did Not Finish First Run: Cathinka Lunder.

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (32 collegiate finishers): 1. Jacob Dilling, CU, 1:31.42; 2. Jamie Casselman, MSU, 1:31.93; 3. Petro Motterini, DU and Simon Strand, UU, 1:32.55; 5. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 1:32.56; 6. Justin Bigatel, CU, 1:32.74; 7. Johs Herland, UU, 1:32.77; 8. Gianluca Boehm, MSU, 1:32.84; 9. Sindre Myklebust, UU, 1:32.90; 10. Raphael Lessard, UU, 1:33.02. Other CU Finishers: 18. Louis Fausa, 1:34.20; 24. Jack Reich, 1:34.90.

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Players Mentioned

Louison Accambray

Justin Bigatel

Ashley Campbell

Jacob Dilling

Elena Exenberger

Louis Fausa

Katie Fleckenstein

Magdalena Luczak

Cathinka Lunder

Etienne Mazellier

Jack Reich

Filip Wahlqvist