Buffs Take Second At RMISA Championships

ANCHORAGE & GIRDWOOD, Alaska—A busy week that included 16 races came to an end Saturday as the 76th Annual RMISA Championships concluded. The Buffs finished second in the final team standings, with freestyle races taking place at Kincaid Park and slalom races at Alyeska Resort.

The Buffs, who came back to win the UAA Invitational Friday, finished second in the RMISA Championships on Saturday, scoring 606 points as a team, 77 behind champion Utah (683) and 42 up on third-place Denver (564). More importantly, the Buffs will qualify a full team for the NCAA Championship, just 11 days away at Dartmouth.

The day started with the men's 20K freestyle race, and the Buffs had an impressive outing with 87 points, second most in the field. Hugo Hinckfuss took second, Johannes Flaaten fifth, and Luka Riley 10th. Hinckfuss' performance was especially clutch as it was just his second freestyle finish of the season, and NCAA qualification is based on the two best finishes throughout the season for each skier. Flaaten also had his second-best freestyle finish of the season, improving his points.

In the women's 20K freestyle, Astri Lunde led the Buffaloes in fourth place, with Tilde Baangman finishing ninth and Hanna Abrahamsson 17th to score for the team. The Buffs scored 69 points, third most, but further entrenched themselves in second place in the overall standings. Lunde picked up a few qualification points with her second-best freestyle finish of the season.

Over in Girdwood at Alyeska Resort, the alpine teams were competing for the fourth straight day, the second straight day of slalom racing, and Louison Accambray took fourth place and Magdalena Luczak sixth to lead the Buffaloes, while Katie Fleckenstein finished 15th as the third team scorer. Luczak, who hadn't skied in a college race this season until this Alaska series, was especially clutch, and after winning both GS races to earn the maximum about of qualification points, she also moved into the top 10 for slalom with two top six performances. Accambray matched her second-best slalom finish in fourth but guaranteed herself into the top seed at the NCAA Championships by tiebreaker.

In the men's slalom race, Justin Bigatel hit the podium in third place, and Louis Fausa was just behind in fourth. Jack Reich was the final team scorer in 24th place.

Filip Wahlqvist had a little misfortune by not finishing his first run, ending a streak of seven straight wins in slalom, including all five races in the 2025 regular season. He became the first skier in CU history with a perfect season in a discipline with more than four races and the first men's alpine skier to ever have a perfect regular season in any discipline.

Mikaela Tommy was the most recent skier to do so, winning all three GS races she competed in during the 2019 regular season. Prior to that, Joanne Reid was the last skier to have a perfect season with four races in 2013 in freestyle action.

UP NEXT: All that remains are the NCAA Championships, so the season is over for more than half of the team, as the maximum number allowed to compete are three in each discipline and gender for a total of 12 skiers. Dartmouth hosts this year's championship from March 3-6.

WHAT IT MEANS: While the goal is to win championships and the Buffs did not successfully defend their RMISA Championship, the Buffs did win two meets on the season, the Denver and Alaska Anchorage Invitationals. The end goal is always the NCAA Championship and the Buffs significantly improved their qualification and seeding throughout the 16 races here in Alaska. The teams will determine which skiers will compete at Dartmouth this weekend and the field will be released by the NCAA on Tuesday.

TEAM NOTES:
•   The Buffs finished second in the meet with 606 points, 77 behind Utah (683) and 42 up on Denver (564).
•   The Buffs have now finished first or second at the RMISA Championships in back-to-back seasons for the first time since a 14-year stretch of doing so from 2006-19.
•   In the four races on the day, the Buffs scored 308 points, 16 back of Utah and one head of Denver.
•   CU scored 87 points in the men's freestyle race with Hinckfuss scoring 37, Flaaten 29 and Riley 21 points.
•   CU scored 69 points in the women's freestyle race with Lunde scoring 31, Baangman 22 and Abrahamsson 16 points.
•   CU scored 75 points in the women's slalom race with Accambray scoring 31, Luczak 27 and Fleckenstein 17 points.
•   CU scored 77 points in the men's slalom race with Bigatel scoring 34, Fausa 31 and Reich 12 points.

PERFECT REGULAR SEASONS
•   Filip Wahlqvist, Men's Slalom, 2025 (5 races)
•   Mikaela Tommy, Women's Giant Slalom, 2019 (3 races)
•   Joanne Reid, Women's Freestyle, 2013 (4 races)
•   Maria Grevsgaard, Women's Classic, 2008 (4 races)
•   Maria Grevsgaard, Women's Classic, 2007 (4 races)
•   Katerina Hanusova, Women's Freestyle, 2000 (2 races)
•   Ove-Erik Tronvoll, Men's Classic, 1999 (3 races)
•   Line Selnes, Women's Freestyle (4 races) and Women's Classic (4 races), 1998
•   Anette Skjolden, Women's Classic, 1993 (3 races)
•   Kristen Petty, Women's Cross Country, 1987 (3 races)
•   Clark Matis, Men's Cross Country, 1969 (4 races)
•   Frank Brown, Skimeister, 1957 (4 competitions)

NCAA QUALIFICATION
•   NCAA qualification points are earned for each race during the season. A skier's top two results will be used for the calculation. The RMISA is allotted 17 skiers in each gender and discipline at the NCAA Championships, and each team is limited to a maximum of three skiers. Every skier up until the No. 17 seed is considered an NCAA qualifier and if a team has more than three, they can choose between the three who will represent the team.
•   Men's Alpine Qualifiers: Justin Bigatel, Jacob Dilling, Louis Fausa, Etienne Mazellier, Filip Wahlqvist
•   Women's Alpine Qualifiers: Louison Accambray, Ashley Campbell, Magdalena Luczak, Hannah Saethereng
•   Men's Nordic Qualifiers: Hugo Hinckfuss, Will Koch, Trey Jones, Eemil Juntunen, Alexander Maurer, Luka Riley
•   Women's Nordic Qualifiers: Hanna Abrahamsson, Tilde Baangman, Karolina Kaleta, Astri Lunde, Elena Grissom

WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES
•   Lunde finished fourth, her eighth straight top 10 finish to open her career, and it's just the second one outside the top 5.
•   Baangman finished ninth, her 30th career top 10 in just 31 career races.
•   Abrahamsson finished 17th, her 45th career top 20 finish in 47 starts.
•   Elena Grissom finished 22nd, Karolina Kaleta 24th, Sophie Spalding 25th and Kili Lehmkuhl 28th.

MEN'S NORDIC NOTES
•   Hinckfuss finished second, the highest finish of his career and fourth career podium appearance. It was a much needed result for Hinckfuss, who needed a solid result to secure his NCAA qualification number.
•   Johannes Flaaten finished fifth for his third straight top 10 and fifth in the last six races. He has six top 10 performances this season, including five in the last six races.
•   Luka Riley finished 10th, continuing an impressive season that includes four top 10 performances, the first four of his career, and his 10th top 20 this season, out of 14 in his career.
•   Eemil Juntunen finished 13th, his 11th top 20 finish in 12 starts this year.
•   Trey Jones finished 20th, his fourth top 20 finish in the two Alaska meets and he now has eight top 20s this season and 10 in his career.
•   Alexander Maurer finished 28th for the Buffaloes.

WOMEN'S ALPINE NOTES
•   Accambray finished fourth, Her 10th straight top 10 to open her career.
•   Luczak finished sixth, her 13th career finish outside the top 5.
•   Fleckenstein finished 15th, her seventh career top 20, and sixth of the season.
•   Elena Exenberger didn't finish the first run and Ashley Campbell didn't finish the second run.

MEN'S ALPINE NOTES
•   Bigatel finished third for his second straight podium for the season and
•   Fausa finished fourth, his 16th career top five finish.
•   Jack Reich finished 24th, Jacob Dilling was disqualified in the second run and Wahlqvist didn't finish his first run.

RMISA CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM RESULTS (FINAL): 1. Utah 683; 2. Colorado 606; 3. Denver 564; 4. Alaska Anchorage 421; 5. Montana State 420; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 307; 7. Westminster 200; 8. Nevada 172; 9. Colorado Mountain 130.

MEN'S 20K FREESTYLE (33 collegiate finishers): 1. Philipp Moosmayer, UAF, 51:00.1; 2. Hugo Hinckfuss, CU, 51:00.3; Benjamin Dohlby, UAF, 51:00.4; 4. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 51:03.6; 5. Johannes Flaaten, CU, 51:08.2; 6. Zachary Jayne, UU, 51:08.7; 7. Lucas Wilmot, UU, 51:12.3; 8. Peter Hinds, UAA, 51:15.1; 9. Derek Dueling, UAA, 51:16.6; 10. Luka Riley, CU, 51:17.6. Other CU Finishers: 13. Eemil Juntunen, 51:24.9; 20. Trey Jones, 53:08.3.

WOMEN'S 20K FREESTYLE (28 collegiate finishers): 1. Erica Laven, UU, 55:27.9; 2. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 55:28.3; 3. Lea Wenaas, DU, 57:04.0; 4. Astri Lunde, CU, 57:04.3; 5. Katey Houser, MSU, 57:11.2; 6. Tabitha Williams, UAF, 57:19.2; 7. Selma Nevin, UU, 57:23.5; 8. Celine Mayer, UU, 57:39.1; 9. Tilde Baangman, CU, 58:53.9; 10. Nev3 Gerard, 59:16.9. Other CU Finishers: 17. Hanna Abrahamsson, 1:00:37.2; 22. Elena Grissom, 1:02:25.7; 24. Karolina Kaleta, CU, 1:04:11.5; 25. Sophie Spalding, 1:04:34.9; 28. Kili Lehmkuhl, 1:08:30.7.

WOMEN'S SLALOM RESULTS (22 collegiate finishers): 1. Sara Rask, DU, 1:37.65; 2. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:37.68; 3. Tea Kiesel, MSU, 1:39.23; 4. Louison Accambray, CU, 1:39.54; 5. Mia Hunt, DU, 1:39.75; 6. Magdalena Luczak, CU, 1:40.17; 7. Claire Timmermann, UU, 1:40.68; 8. Guro Hestad Vognild, WU, 1:41.26; 9. Carmen Nielssen, UAA, 1:42.58; 10. Evelina Fredricsson, UU, 1:42.87. Other CU Finisher: Katie Fleckenstein, 1:44.19. Did Not Finish First Run: Elena Exenberger. Did Not Finish Second Run: Ashley Campbell.

MEN'S SLALOM RESULTS (33 collegiate finishers): 1. Thomas Hoffman, DU, 1:30.02; 2. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:30.04; 3. Justin Bigatel, CU, 1:30.50; 4. Louis Fausa, CU, 1:30.56; 5. Iver Naess, NEV, 1:30.70; 6. Raphael Lessard, UU, 1:30.66; 7. Jan Ronner, UAA, 1:30.67; 8. Loic Chable, 1:30.70; 9. Jeger Halbjoerhus, NEV, 1:30.77; 10. Jamie Casselman, MSU, 1:30.96; Other CU Finishers: 24 Jack Reich, 1:33.07. Disqualified Second Run: Jacob Dilling. Did Not Finish First Run: Filip Wahlqvist.

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Players Mentioned

Hanna Abrahamsson

Louison Accambray

Tilde Baangman

Justin Bigatel

Ashley Campbell

Jacob Dilling

Elena Exenberger

Louis Fausa

Johannes Flaaten

Katie Fleckenstein

Elena Grissom

Hugo Hinckfuss

Trey Jones

Eemil Juntunen

Karolina Kaleta

Will Koch

Kili Lehmkuhl

Magdalena Luczak

Astri Lunde

Alexander Maurer

Etienne Mazellier

Jack Reich

Luka Riley

Hannah Saethereng

Sophie Spalding

Filip Wahlqvist