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Louison Accambray
Photo by: Ryan Gallant, Utah Athletics

Buffs Win DU Invitational, Surge To Second At Utah

February 09, 2025 | Skiing

Two Wins, Six Podiums Highlight Day Where 19 Buffs Finished In The Top 16

MINTURN, Colo. & PARK CITY, Utah – A school record, first career win and most dominating performance in a meet in at least the last quarter century highlighted another dominating day for the Colorado Buffaloes Ski team, which put the wraps on the Denver Invitational and surged into second place at the Utah Invitational Sunday here at Maloit Park and Utah Olympic Park. 

The Buffs were aided by two wins from Louison Accambray and Etienne Mazellier in the giant slalom races, three more second place finishes from Johannes Flaaten and Tilde Baangman in the 10K freestyle races and Louis Fausa in GS, giving the CU men's alpine team a 1-2 finish, were coupled with 13 total top 10 performances while all 19 Buffs that finished their respective races did so in the top 16.  

In the DU Invitational, during which the teams completed the alpine portion in early January, the Buffs put the wraps on the most dominating performance in the past 25 years.  With 740 points, CU beat Denver by 106.5 points and Utah by 139, and by over 300 points against the other seven teams in the field.  Under the current scoring system, it breaks CU's best of point total of 695.5 by 44.5 points.  Under the scoring system in place from 2010-13, the Buffs best score would equate to 694 points, and under the scoring system from 2000-09, the Buffs best performance in 2003 would equate to 721 points. 

The alpine teams were dominant in early January during that DU Invitational, and continued that dominance as the alpine portion of the Utah Invitational began.  This meet began in January with the Nordic portion taking place, and the Buffs, a little short-handed in that meet, handed the baton off to the alpine teams in third place.  The alpine teams turned a 32.5 point deficit to Denver into a 29.5 point lead Sunday, outscoring the Pioneers by 62 on the day.  CU scored the most points in the two GS races, and closed the lead on Utah by seven points, as well, although the Utes continue to hold an 83 point lead. 

Accambray's win is her third straight in GS races and she has now won four straight runs, winning all four at Olympic Park including Saturday's qualifier race.  She has won three of four GS races this season, the only three that consisted of both runs being completed, and she has won five total GS runs on the season out of seven, including all three second runs throughout the season.  She was joined in the top 10 by Cathinka Lunder in 10th while Ashley Campbell finished 15th. 

Mazellier won his first collegiate race and hit the podium in a GS race for the first time.  Fausa's second place gives him two wins and a second in four GS races this season.  Filip Wahlqvist finished fifth and Jacob Dilling sixth as CU again flooded the top of the results, also placing five in the top eight in Saturday's GS qualifier.  On the season, the men's alpine team has won six of seven races with Wahlqvist winning all four slalom races this season. 

In the men's 10K freestyle race, the short-handed Buffs were again led by Johannes Flaaten, who was coming off a win in the 7.5K classic race Saturday and took second in a photo finish and CU's other three men finished ninth through 11th with Eemil Juntunen taking ninth, Alexander Maurer 10th and Luka Riley 11th.  CU is without Will Koch, Trey Jones and Hugo Hinckfuss, all competing in Europe. 

The women's Nordic team had another dominating day, as well, with Baangman taking second for the second straight race.  She was joined on the podium by Astri Lunde in third place and Hanna Abrahamsson, who was third in Saturday's 7.5K classic race, finished seventh for the Buffs.  Karolina Kaleta has the sixth-best time in the 10K classic race, which was calculated as a pursuit race along with Saturday's classic race, and she moved up from 16th to finish 10th.  Elena Grissom (13th), Sophie Spalding (14th) and Kili Lehmkuhl (16th) gave CU seven in the top 16 for the second straight day.  

UP NEXT: The alpine teams conclude the Utah Invitational Monday with slalom races.  They will then report to Alaska to put the wraps on the UAA Invitational and complete the RMISA Championships Feb. 19-23.  The Nordic teams will report to Alaska a few days earlier and compete in the Nordic only UAF Invitational Feb. 16-17 before taking part in the RMISA Championships in Anchorage Feb. 21-22.  The NCAA Championships will take place March 5-8 out east, hosted by Dartmouth. 

WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs had a great day, and hopefully they continue to do so the rest of the season.  Winning a meet is always a great accomplishment, and do to do in such dominant fashion will give the team a boost moving forward.  After Sunday's slalom races, the end of the regular season will be in sight and then quickly transition to the post season.  Most importantly Sunday, the Buffs improved NCAA qualification positioning almost across the board.
 
TEAM NOTES: 
•    In the DU meet, CU was outscored by a single point, 179-178, to host Denver on the day, scoring 96 points and winning the women's 10K freestyle race and 82 points and finishing second in the men's 10K freestyle race. 
•    CU's 740 points in the DU Invitational are the most in any meet dating back to at least 2000, taking the scoring system changes into account.  It's the fifth highest score a team has scored overall in that timeframe, outside of four Utah meets from 2020-22 and New Mexico at its own 2015 invitational. 
•    In the DU meet, CU won five of the eight races and took second in the other three.  The Buffs scored 100 points in the men's slalom, men's giand slalom and women's classic races, and 98 in women's GS and 96 in women's freestyle.  
•    CU scored the most alpine (379), Nordic (361), men's alpine (200), women's alpine (179), women's Nordic (196), women's (375) and men's (365) points in the field, also holding the most points in the first three days of the meet, 181 in slalom, 198 in giant slalom and 183 in classic racing. 
•    CU won four of the eight races in the DU meet, winning the men's slalom (Wahlqvist), men's GS (Fausa), women's GS (Accambray) and men's classic (Flaaten) races. 
•    CU scored 96 points in the women's freestyle race, winning as a team, with Baangman (37), Lunde (34) and Abrahamsson (25) doing the team scoring. 
•    CU scored 82 points in the men's freestyle race, taking second, with Flaaten (40), Juntunen (23) and Maurer (22) doing the team scoring. 
•    In the Utah meet, CU scored the most point on the day with 186 and have 485 points through six of eight events, 83 back of Utah (568) and 29.5 up on Denver (455.5).  CU was 32.5 points behind DU on the day and outscored the Pioneers by 62. 
•    CU scored 106 points in the men's GS race, winning the race, with Mazellier (40), Fausa (37) and Wahlqvist (29) scoring for the Buffs.  It's the most points for any team in the RMISA in a race this season. 
•    CU scored 80 points in the women's GS race, second most, with Accambray (40), Lunder (22) and Campbell (18) scoring for the team.
•    The men's alpine team placed four in the top six for the first time since doing so in slalom in the 2013 Denver Invitational.  The last time it happened in GS was in the 1996 New Mexico Invitational and this is the sixth time it's happened since 1989 and just the third time in GS. 

MEN'S ALPINE NOTES
•    Mazellier won for his first collegiate victory and first GS podium.  It's his third podium of his career and season, with both coming in slalom to open the season.  He has finished six of seven races this season with five top 5 and all in the top 9.  
•    Fausa finished second, his third GS podium of the season along with two wins and picking up his seventh career podium, fifth in GS.  He has finished 39 of 56 races in his career with 13 top 5 and 29 top 10 performances, and finished 20 of 28 GS races with 10 top 5 and 19 top 10 finishes. 
•    Wahlqvist finished fifth, his 15th top five finish in 20 career finished races, including sixth top five in GS races in 11 starts.  
•    Dilling finished sixth, his 22nd career top 10, now with 11 in each discipline.  He has 33 top 20 finishes in 37 career finished races.  
•    Bigatel finished 13th for his sixth straight top 20 finish, all in the top 16.  He has three top 10s in there, two in GS and one in slalom. 
•    Jack Reich didn't finish his second run. 

WOMEN'S ALPINE NOTES
•    Accambray won, her third win of the season and fifth podium, four of which have come in GS races.  She has won the three GS races fully completed with both runs and took third in the other, and has won four straight runs, the longest streak in at least the last 25 years, and five of seven runs on the season. 
•    Lunder finished 10th, breaking a stretch of three straight DNFs and got her second top 10 of the season, both in GS, also taking sixth at the DU Invitational. 
•    Campbell finished 15th for her fifth career GS top 20 and 10th overall top 20 in her career.  She has four of those 10 this season with three top 10s and a pair of podiums in slalom races. 
•    Katie Fleckenstein didn't finish her first run. 

MEN'S NORDIC NOTES
•    Flaaten finished second, the second best finish of his career after Saturday's win, and his second career podium and second in a row.  He now has finished in the top 15 in all 19 of his race starts and it's also his fifth career top five and 11th career top 10 finish.  
•    Juntunen finished ninth, the best finish of his young career and first top 10.  He had finished between 12th and 15th in six of the first seven races of the season and now has seven top 20s in eight career races. 
•    Maurer finished 10th, picking up his first top 10 since the DU meet last season when he took eighth in the classic race.  It was his first top 10 in freestyle racing in his career and fifth overall. 
•    Riley finished 11th, the second best freestyle finish of his career after taking ninth in the season opening freestyle race in Alaska.   

WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES
•    Baangman finished second for the fourth straight race, and in the top five in each of the six races she's finished this season, out of eight.  She has 15 career podiums and seven in freestyle races in her career.  
•    Lunde finished third for her third podium of the season and in her young career.  She has finished between second and sixth in all six races she's started this season and she picked a freestyle podium for the first time. 
•    Abrahamsson finished seventh, her best freestyle finish of the season and best since the DU Invitational last year when she took fifth.  It's her third top 10 of the season and 32nd in her career in 43 starts.  
•    Kaleta finished 10th, her third top 10 of the season and 12th of her career, with all three this season and eight of the 12 in her career coming in freestyle races. 
•    Grissom finished 13th for her 16th career top 20, eighth in freestyle races.  She has four straight top 20s and her 13th place finish is the best of her season and tied for third best in her career. 
•    Spalding finished 14th, her fourth top 20 I her career and second this season. She had her best (12th) and tied for second best (14th) finish in the DU Invitational. 
•    Lehmkuhl finished 16th, her 13th career top 20 in 41 career races.  She has started and finished each of the 41 possible races in her career. Six of her 13 career top 20s are in freestyle races. 

DENVER INVITATIONAL TEAM RESULTS (FINAL): 1. Colorado 740; 2. Denver 633.5; 3. Utah 501; 4. Montana State 435; 5. Alaska Anchorage 210; 6. Westminster 191.5; 7. Alaska Fairbanks 185; 8. Nevada 165.5; 9. Colorado Mountain 133.5; 10. Wyoming 113. 

UTAH INVITATIONAL TEAM RESULTS (Thru 6 of 8 Races): 1. Utah 568; 2. Colorado 485; 3. Denver 455.5; 4. Montana State 340; 5. Alaska Anchorage 316.5; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 217.5; 7. Westminster 101; 8. Nevada 85.5; 9. Colorado Mountain 36. 

WOMEN'S 10K FREESTYLE (22 collegiate finishers): 1. Lea Wenaas, DU, 54:45.0; 2. Tilde Baangman, CU, 54:57.1; 3. Astri Lunde, CU, 55:17.0; 4. Selma Nevin, UU, 56:16.3; 5. Anna Pryce, MSU, 56:44.8; 6. Celine Mayer, UU, 57:20.3; 7. Hanna Abrahamsson, CU, 57:29.5; 8. Selma Andersen, DU, 58:12.6; 9. Eve-Ondine Duchaoufour, DU, 58:27.1; 10. Karolina Kaleta, CU, 58:36.3.  Other CU Finishers: 13. Elena Grissom, 59:30.8; 14. Sophie Spalding, 1:00:27.5; 16. Kili Lehmkuhl, 1:01:32.4. 

MEN'S 10K FREESTYLE (21 collegiate finishers): 1. Zachary Jayne, UU, 47:56.9; 2. Johannes Flaaten, CU, 47:57.0; 3. Florian Knopf, DU, 48:00.6; 4. Elijah Weenig, DU, 48:38.2; 5. Krystof Zatoukal, DU, 48:48.7; 6. Carl Rune, UU, 48:51.1; 7. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 49:17.5; 8. Philipp Moosmayer, UAF, 50:17.6; 9. Eemil Juntunen, CU, 50:18.6; 10. Alexander Maurer, CU, 50:19.5; 11. Luka Riley, CU, 50:21.4. 

WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (31 collegiate finishers): 1. Louison Accambray, CU, 2:03.81; 2. Sara Rask, DU, 2:05.28; 3. Kaja Norbye, UU, 2:05.35; 4. Justine Lamontagne, MSU, 2:05.58; 5. Kaila Lafreniere, UU, 2:05.89; 6. Evelina Fredriccson, UU & Elise Hitter, WU, 2:06.48; 8. Claire Timmermann, UU, 2:06.56; 9. Mia Hunt, DU, 2:06.65; 10. Cathinka Lunder, CU, 2:07.59.  Other CU Finisher: 15. Ashley Campbell, 2:08.65.  Did Not Finish First Run: Katie Fleckenstein

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (32 collegiate finishers): 1. Etienne Mazellier, CU, 2:01.49; 2. Louis Fausa, CU, 2:01.68; 3. Simen Strand, UU, 2:02.32; 4. Johs Herland, UU, 2:02.39; 5. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 2:02.54; 6. Jacob Dilling, CU, 2:02.58; 7. Jamie Casselman, MSU, 2:02.62; 8. Sindre Myklebust, UU, 2:02.84; 9. Loci Chable, DU, 2:02.86; 10. Gianluca Boehm, MSU, 2:02.89.  Other CU Finisher: 13. Justin Bigatel, 2:03.30.  Did Not Finish Second Run: Jack Reich
 
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