Friday, February 21
Girdwood, Alaska
1:25 PM Women / 2:10 PM Men
Colorado
vs
Slalom
Photo by: Matan Coll, CU Athletics
Buffs Comeback To Win UAA Invitational
February 21, 2025 | Skiing
Wahlqvist Win, Bigatel and Fausa Top 5s Power Buffs To Comeback
ANCHORAGE & GIRDWOOD, Alaska – In third place with one race remaining, the Buffs used a 106-point men's slalom race led by Filip Wahlqvist's seventh straight win to surge past Utah and Denver to claim the 2025 UAA Invitational title at Ayleska Resort.
With the teams split in different meets, Tilde Baangman finished second and all six scoring Buffs finished in the top 11 of the 7.5K classic races at Kincaid Park and the Buffs remain in second place at the 76th Annual RMISA Championships.
Wahlqvist continued his hot streak, completing a perfect regular season in men's slalom with his fifth win this season, and it's his seventh straight dating back over a calendar year and his ninth career win. He matched the CU second record of five slalom wins set by David Ketterer in 2017 and he already has the career and consecutive records.
The Nordic portion of the race was conducted just after the new year at the RMISA Championships, and at that point, CU was in third place, 40 behind Utah and 47 behind Denver. Wednesday's GS races counted toward the UAA meet and the Buffs were able to move past Denver and trimmed Utah's lead by 11.5 points down to 28.5.
The women's alpine team opened the day and Magdalena Luczak, racing in her first slalom race of the season, finished fourth while Louison Accambray took seventh and Ashley Campbell 10th, giving the Buffs 77 points, picking up 24 points on Utah but falling back to third, a single point behind Denver. The three teams were within 4.5 points of each other after the seventh of eight races in the meet.
Behind Wahlqvist, Justin Bigatel took second in that same race and Louis Fausa fifth, giving the Buffs a 106 points out of a maximum of 111 in the current scoring system. The Buffs surged past both rivals and finished winning the race by 26 points and finishing 21.5 points up on Utah and 71 ahead of Denver.
Earlier in the day, the Nordic teams opened the RMISA Championships and in a tight race, Baangman took second place for the fourth time this season, just 7.5 seconds behind Utah's Celine Mayer. Hanna Abrahamsson took eighth and Astri Lunde ninth for the Buffaloes to pick up 82 points for the team.
In the men's race, three Buffs finished between sixth and 11th place with Johannes Flatten leading the way in sixth place, Eemil Johansson eighth and Luka Riley 11th to score 70 points. CU is 61 back of Utah at the midpoint and 41 ahead of Denver in third place.
UP NEXT: The second half of the RMISA Championships will take place Saturday with the slalom races at Alyeska Resort and the 20K freestyle races at Kincaid Park. Saturday is the final shot for the Buffs to improve NCAA qualification and seeding ahead of the NCAA Championships, where only 12 Buffs will compete to defend the Buffs National Championships.
WHAT IT MEANS: It's always fun to win a meet, and to do so in a comeback fashion like Friday makes it even sweeter. With the Buffs winning two meets throughout the season, the confidence that they can do it again at the NCAA Championships increases. The NCAA qualification picture is clearer after Friday, but Saturday will still be important to improve seeding as much as possible.
TEAM NOTES:
• The Buffs scored 183 points on the day, outscoring all other teams by 40 or more points and moved from third place to win the 2025 UAA Invitational.
• CU scored 77 points in the women's race, third most in the field with Luczak scoring 31 points, Accambray 25 points and Campbell 21.
• CU scored 106 points in the men's race with Wahlqvist scoring 40 points, Bigatel 37 and Fausa 29.
• CU scored the most alpine points (370), the most alpine men's points (202) and the most alpine women's points (168), while also scoring the most men's points (375), the most GS points (187) and the most slalom points (183).
• In the RMSIA Championships, CU scored 152 points on the day, third most in the field. CU is 61 points behind Utah with 298 points to the Utes 359. Denver is 41 points behind Colorado with 257 points.
• In the 7.5K women's classic race, the Buffs scored 82 points, second most, with Baangman scoring 37 points, Abrahamsson 25 and Lunde 23.
• In the 7.5K men's classic race, the Buffs scored 70 points, third most, and were led by Flaaten and his 27 points with Juntunen 23 points and Riley 20.
WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES
• Baangman finished second, her fifth straight runner-up finish. She has seven races finished this season, all in the top 5 with five podiums, all runners-up. In 30 career finishes, she has 29 top 10, 20 top 5 and 16 podium appearances.
• Abrahamsson finished eighth, her 34th career top 10 finish, 20th in classic races. She has now started 46 career races and on top of her 34 top 10s, she has 44 top 20s.
• Lunde finished ninth, her seventh straight top 10 to open her career.
• Sophie Spalding finished 18th, her fifth career top 20 finish.
• Elena Grissom finished 23rd, Kili Lehmkuhl 26th and Karolina Kaleta 27th for the Buffaloes.
MEN'S NORDIC NOTES
• Flaaten finished sixth, his 13th career top 10 finish and seventh in classic races. It's his fifth top 10 of the season and eight top 13 finish in nine races this season.
• Juntunen finished eighth, his fourth straight top 10 finish, the first four of his career. He has finished between sixth and 10th in each of the last four races and in the top 15 in 10 of 11 races this season.
• Riley finished 11th, his 13th career top 20 finish, nine of which have come this season. He matched the third best finish of the season.
• Hugo Hinckfuss finished 13th, his 17th career top 20 finish and 10th in classic races. He has finished in the top 20 in 10 of 12 career classic races.
• Trey Jones finished 19th, his ninth career top 20 and fifth in classic races.
• Alexander Maurer finished 30th for the Buffaloes.
WOMEN'S ALPINE NOTES
• Luczak finished fourth, her ninth straight top 5 finish and 11th of her career, fourth in slalom.
• Accambray finished seventh, her ninth top 10 of the season and her career. She has finished in the top 10 in four slalom races this season.
• Campbell finished 10th, her fourth career top 10 finish, all this season. Three of her four top 10s are in slalom.
• Katie Fleckenstein, Elena Exenberger and Cathinka Lunde all did not finish the race.
MEN'S ALPINE NOTES
• Wahlqvist finished first, his fifth slalom win of the season, matching the CU single season record for men's slalom victories. It's his seventh straight and ninth in his career, both CU records. In 11 slalom finishes, he has won nine and as 10 podiums and all 11 in the top 5. He has nine career wins, 12 podiums and 18 top 5s.
• Bigatel finished second, the best finish of his career and first career top 5 and podium. He had previous finished his other eight races between sixth and 16th places.
• Fausa finished fifth, his 15th career top 5 finish, fourth in slalom. He has five top 5 finishes and eight top 10s this season.
• Jack Reich finished 24th and Jacob Dilling didn't finish the race.
UAA INVITATIONAL TEAM RESULTS (FINAL): 1. Colorado 664; 2. Utah 642.5; 3. Denver 593; 4. Alaska Anchorage and Montana State, 447; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 231; 7. Nevada 191.5; 8. Westminster 166; 9. Colorado Mountain 131.
RMISA CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM RESULTS (Thru 4 of 8 Races): 1. Utah 359; 2. Colorado 298; 3. Denver 257; 4. Montana State 233; 5. Alaska Anchorage 220; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 139; 7. Westminster 128; 8. Nevada 77; 9. Colorado Mountain 56.
WOMEN'S 7.5K CLASSIC (35 collegiate finishers): 1. Celine Mayer, UU, 22:23.4; 2. Tilde Baangman, CU, 22:30.9; 3. Erica Laven, UU, 22:42.9; 4. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 22:44.6; 5. Tabitha Williams, UAF, 23:23.6; 6. Eve-Ondine Duchaufour, DU, 23:26.5; 7. Lea Wenaas, DU, 23:31.0; 8. Hanna Abrahamsson, CU, 23:36.9; 9. Astri Lunde, CU, 23:43.6; 10. Anna Pryce, MSU, 23:44.5. Other CU Finishers: 18. Sophie Spalding, 24:24.6; 23. Elena Grissom, 25:13.2; 26. Kili Lehmkuhl, 25:31.7; 27. Karolina Kaleta, 25:37.5.
MEN'S 7.5K CLASSIC (38 collegiate finishers): 1. Zachary Jayne, UU, 20:17.6; 2. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 20:22.3; 3. Florian Knopf, DU, 20:29.3; 4. Cole Flowers, UAF, 20:30.1; 5. Murphy Kimball, UAA, 20:44.4; 6. Johannes Flaaten, CU, 20:45.0; 7. Carl Rune, UU, 20:45.7; 8. Eemil Juntunen, CU, 20:49.0; 9. Brian Bushey, UU, 20:50.9; 10. Derek Dueling, UAA, 20:55.5. Other CU Finishers: 11. Luka Riley, 20:55.8; 13. Hugo Hinckfuss, 21:01.3; 19. Trey Jones, 21:23.7; 30. Alexander Maurer, 22:23.8.
WOMEN'S SLALOM RESULTS (25 collegiate finishers): 1. Sara Rask, DU, 1:33.51; 2. Ella Bromee, UAA, 1:34.90; 3. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:35.15; 4. Magdalena Luczak, CU, 1:35.53; 5. Mia Hunt, DU, 1:35.54; 6. Tea Kisesl, MSU, 1:35.64; 7. Louison Accambray, CU, 1:35.87; 8. Carmen Nielssen, UAA, 1:36.37; 9. Guro Hestad Vognile, WU, 1:36.45; 10. Ashley Campbell, CU, 1:36.66. Did Not Start First Run: Cathinka Lunder. Did Not Finish First Run: Elena Exenberger. Did Not Finish Second Run: Katie Fleckenstein.
MEN'S SLALOM RESULTS (28 collegiate finishers): 1. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 1:29.22; 2. Justin Bigatel, CU, 1:29.58; 3. Johs Herland, UU, 1:29.67; 4. Iver Naess, NEV, 1:30.07; 5. Louis Fausa, CU, 1:30.10; 6. Jan Ronner, UAA, 1:30.20; 7. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:30.25; 8. Thomas Hoffman, DU and Jeger Haljoerhus, NEV, 1:30.54; 10. Raphael Lessard, UU, 1:30.56. Other CU Finishers: 24. Jack Reich, 1:33.10. Did Not Finish First Run: Jacob Dilling.
With the teams split in different meets, Tilde Baangman finished second and all six scoring Buffs finished in the top 11 of the 7.5K classic races at Kincaid Park and the Buffs remain in second place at the 76th Annual RMISA Championships.
Wahlqvist continued his hot streak, completing a perfect regular season in men's slalom with his fifth win this season, and it's his seventh straight dating back over a calendar year and his ninth career win. He matched the CU second record of five slalom wins set by David Ketterer in 2017 and he already has the career and consecutive records.
The Nordic portion of the race was conducted just after the new year at the RMISA Championships, and at that point, CU was in third place, 40 behind Utah and 47 behind Denver. Wednesday's GS races counted toward the UAA meet and the Buffs were able to move past Denver and trimmed Utah's lead by 11.5 points down to 28.5.
The women's alpine team opened the day and Magdalena Luczak, racing in her first slalom race of the season, finished fourth while Louison Accambray took seventh and Ashley Campbell 10th, giving the Buffs 77 points, picking up 24 points on Utah but falling back to third, a single point behind Denver. The three teams were within 4.5 points of each other after the seventh of eight races in the meet.
Behind Wahlqvist, Justin Bigatel took second in that same race and Louis Fausa fifth, giving the Buffs a 106 points out of a maximum of 111 in the current scoring system. The Buffs surged past both rivals and finished winning the race by 26 points and finishing 21.5 points up on Utah and 71 ahead of Denver.
Earlier in the day, the Nordic teams opened the RMISA Championships and in a tight race, Baangman took second place for the fourth time this season, just 7.5 seconds behind Utah's Celine Mayer. Hanna Abrahamsson took eighth and Astri Lunde ninth for the Buffaloes to pick up 82 points for the team.
In the men's race, three Buffs finished between sixth and 11th place with Johannes Flatten leading the way in sixth place, Eemil Johansson eighth and Luka Riley 11th to score 70 points. CU is 61 back of Utah at the midpoint and 41 ahead of Denver in third place.
UP NEXT: The second half of the RMISA Championships will take place Saturday with the slalom races at Alyeska Resort and the 20K freestyle races at Kincaid Park. Saturday is the final shot for the Buffs to improve NCAA qualification and seeding ahead of the NCAA Championships, where only 12 Buffs will compete to defend the Buffs National Championships.
WHAT IT MEANS: It's always fun to win a meet, and to do so in a comeback fashion like Friday makes it even sweeter. With the Buffs winning two meets throughout the season, the confidence that they can do it again at the NCAA Championships increases. The NCAA qualification picture is clearer after Friday, but Saturday will still be important to improve seeding as much as possible.
TEAM NOTES:
• The Buffs scored 183 points on the day, outscoring all other teams by 40 or more points and moved from third place to win the 2025 UAA Invitational.
• CU scored 77 points in the women's race, third most in the field with Luczak scoring 31 points, Accambray 25 points and Campbell 21.
• CU scored 106 points in the men's race with Wahlqvist scoring 40 points, Bigatel 37 and Fausa 29.
• CU scored the most alpine points (370), the most alpine men's points (202) and the most alpine women's points (168), while also scoring the most men's points (375), the most GS points (187) and the most slalom points (183).
• In the RMSIA Championships, CU scored 152 points on the day, third most in the field. CU is 61 points behind Utah with 298 points to the Utes 359. Denver is 41 points behind Colorado with 257 points.
• In the 7.5K women's classic race, the Buffs scored 82 points, second most, with Baangman scoring 37 points, Abrahamsson 25 and Lunde 23.
• In the 7.5K men's classic race, the Buffs scored 70 points, third most, and were led by Flaaten and his 27 points with Juntunen 23 points and Riley 20.
WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES
• Baangman finished second, her fifth straight runner-up finish. She has seven races finished this season, all in the top 5 with five podiums, all runners-up. In 30 career finishes, she has 29 top 10, 20 top 5 and 16 podium appearances.
• Abrahamsson finished eighth, her 34th career top 10 finish, 20th in classic races. She has now started 46 career races and on top of her 34 top 10s, she has 44 top 20s.
• Lunde finished ninth, her seventh straight top 10 to open her career.
• Sophie Spalding finished 18th, her fifth career top 20 finish.
• Elena Grissom finished 23rd, Kili Lehmkuhl 26th and Karolina Kaleta 27th for the Buffaloes.
MEN'S NORDIC NOTES
• Flaaten finished sixth, his 13th career top 10 finish and seventh in classic races. It's his fifth top 10 of the season and eight top 13 finish in nine races this season.
• Juntunen finished eighth, his fourth straight top 10 finish, the first four of his career. He has finished between sixth and 10th in each of the last four races and in the top 15 in 10 of 11 races this season.
• Riley finished 11th, his 13th career top 20 finish, nine of which have come this season. He matched the third best finish of the season.
• Hugo Hinckfuss finished 13th, his 17th career top 20 finish and 10th in classic races. He has finished in the top 20 in 10 of 12 career classic races.
• Trey Jones finished 19th, his ninth career top 20 and fifth in classic races.
• Alexander Maurer finished 30th for the Buffaloes.
WOMEN'S ALPINE NOTES
• Luczak finished fourth, her ninth straight top 5 finish and 11th of her career, fourth in slalom.
• Accambray finished seventh, her ninth top 10 of the season and her career. She has finished in the top 10 in four slalom races this season.
• Campbell finished 10th, her fourth career top 10 finish, all this season. Three of her four top 10s are in slalom.
• Katie Fleckenstein, Elena Exenberger and Cathinka Lunde all did not finish the race.
MEN'S ALPINE NOTES
• Wahlqvist finished first, his fifth slalom win of the season, matching the CU single season record for men's slalom victories. It's his seventh straight and ninth in his career, both CU records. In 11 slalom finishes, he has won nine and as 10 podiums and all 11 in the top 5. He has nine career wins, 12 podiums and 18 top 5s.
• Bigatel finished second, the best finish of his career and first career top 5 and podium. He had previous finished his other eight races between sixth and 16th places.
• Fausa finished fifth, his 15th career top 5 finish, fourth in slalom. He has five top 5 finishes and eight top 10s this season.
• Jack Reich finished 24th and Jacob Dilling didn't finish the race.
UAA INVITATIONAL TEAM RESULTS (FINAL): 1. Colorado 664; 2. Utah 642.5; 3. Denver 593; 4. Alaska Anchorage and Montana State, 447; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 231; 7. Nevada 191.5; 8. Westminster 166; 9. Colorado Mountain 131.
RMISA CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM RESULTS (Thru 4 of 8 Races): 1. Utah 359; 2. Colorado 298; 3. Denver 257; 4. Montana State 233; 5. Alaska Anchorage 220; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 139; 7. Westminster 128; 8. Nevada 77; 9. Colorado Mountain 56.
WOMEN'S 7.5K CLASSIC (35 collegiate finishers): 1. Celine Mayer, UU, 22:23.4; 2. Tilde Baangman, CU, 22:30.9; 3. Erica Laven, UU, 22:42.9; 4. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 22:44.6; 5. Tabitha Williams, UAF, 23:23.6; 6. Eve-Ondine Duchaufour, DU, 23:26.5; 7. Lea Wenaas, DU, 23:31.0; 8. Hanna Abrahamsson, CU, 23:36.9; 9. Astri Lunde, CU, 23:43.6; 10. Anna Pryce, MSU, 23:44.5. Other CU Finishers: 18. Sophie Spalding, 24:24.6; 23. Elena Grissom, 25:13.2; 26. Kili Lehmkuhl, 25:31.7; 27. Karolina Kaleta, 25:37.5.
MEN'S 7.5K CLASSIC (38 collegiate finishers): 1. Zachary Jayne, UU, 20:17.6; 2. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 20:22.3; 3. Florian Knopf, DU, 20:29.3; 4. Cole Flowers, UAF, 20:30.1; 5. Murphy Kimball, UAA, 20:44.4; 6. Johannes Flaaten, CU, 20:45.0; 7. Carl Rune, UU, 20:45.7; 8. Eemil Juntunen, CU, 20:49.0; 9. Brian Bushey, UU, 20:50.9; 10. Derek Dueling, UAA, 20:55.5. Other CU Finishers: 11. Luka Riley, 20:55.8; 13. Hugo Hinckfuss, 21:01.3; 19. Trey Jones, 21:23.7; 30. Alexander Maurer, 22:23.8.
WOMEN'S SLALOM RESULTS (25 collegiate finishers): 1. Sara Rask, DU, 1:33.51; 2. Ella Bromee, UAA, 1:34.90; 3. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:35.15; 4. Magdalena Luczak, CU, 1:35.53; 5. Mia Hunt, DU, 1:35.54; 6. Tea Kisesl, MSU, 1:35.64; 7. Louison Accambray, CU, 1:35.87; 8. Carmen Nielssen, UAA, 1:36.37; 9. Guro Hestad Vognile, WU, 1:36.45; 10. Ashley Campbell, CU, 1:36.66. Did Not Start First Run: Cathinka Lunder. Did Not Finish First Run: Elena Exenberger. Did Not Finish Second Run: Katie Fleckenstein.
MEN'S SLALOM RESULTS (28 collegiate finishers): 1. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 1:29.22; 2. Justin Bigatel, CU, 1:29.58; 3. Johs Herland, UU, 1:29.67; 4. Iver Naess, NEV, 1:30.07; 5. Louis Fausa, CU, 1:30.10; 6. Jan Ronner, UAA, 1:30.20; 7. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:30.25; 8. Thomas Hoffman, DU and Jeger Haljoerhus, NEV, 1:30.54; 10. Raphael Lessard, UU, 1:30.56. Other CU Finishers: 24. Jack Reich, 1:33.10. Did Not Finish First Run: Jacob Dilling.
Players Mentioned
NORDIC
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ SkiingColorado Ski: Why CU?
Friday, June 27
Colorado Ski: 2025 Facility Tour
Tuesday, June 10
Colorado Ski: 2024-25 Banquet
Tuesday, April 22
2024 Ski Team Season Recap
Tuesday, April 30