Wednesday, March 5
Lyme Center, NH
6:30 AM Men / 7:20 AM Women
Colorado
vs
Slalom
Photo by: Ashton Scott
Buffs Take Day 1 Lead At NCAA Ski Championships
March 05, 2025 | Skiing
Wahlqvist, Luczak Podium In Slalom Races
LYME CENTER, N.H. – Filip Wahlqvist and Magdalena Luczak both hit the podium and led the Colorado Buffaloes ski team to a Day 1 lead at the 72nd Annual NCAA Ski Championships with slalom races Wednesday at the Dartmouth Skiway.
Both races were similar on paper for the Buffs, Wahlqvist finished second, just three-hundredths behind the race winner, and Luczak finished third, one-hundredth out of second and seven-hundredths out of first. Behind them Louison Accambray was tied for seventh and Ashley Campbell 16th in the women's race and Etienne Mazellier 10th and Louis Fausa 14th in the men's race.
Both teams won their respective races with the men's team scoring 75 points and the women's 73, and CU's 148 points giving the Buffs a 41-point advantage over Denver (107) and 61 over both Utah and Vermont (87) with Dartmouth closing out the top five just a half-point behind those two with 86.5 points.
"It was an awesome team day," CU alpine coach Ian Lochhead said. "They were solid and did their job and nobody took a risk and obviously put the team in a good spot. But they don't give out national championship trophies after the first quarter of a football game, so we're just going to get ready for the GS, I think Jana will have the Nordic team ready, we'll be cheering them on tomorrow and getting ready for Friday."
On Monday, race organizers put the slalom races first because of the weather, with raining conditions lending itself to maintaining a slalom course an easier task than a GS course. It's the first time in the coed era of the championship that slalom races led off the championship.
"It's funny because normally you're so deep into it when the slalom starts, it's so nerve wracking," Lochhead said. "So to start with slalom, you don't want the week to be over before it even gets started. I would've loved to have won both races, but for the team to have done such a good job and to be sitting in a good position, it was a pretty good first day."
Wahlqvist and Luczak earn first-team All-America honors and Accambray and Mazellier pick up second team honors, as CU was the only team with four skiers in the top 10 on the day. The two were a combined tenth of a second away from successfully defending their individual NCAA Championships as both won their respective slalom races in Steamboat Springs a year ago.
"I'm happy but I'm also a little bit mad, because I always try to win," Wahlqvist said. "That's the main goal. When I'm at the start, I always fight for the win, and I fought for the win. The goal at the NCAA Championship, obviously you want to win for yourself, but the most important thing is to win for the team, so we succeeded there, so I'm happy with the team performance."
"I'm more happy for the team because we're in the lead and that's the most important part of the day I think," Luczak added. "We all performed well, we were focused and really pushed through the pressure of being the defending champions. It was a good day for all of us."
And while the conditions were tough with the rain, Lochhead was more concerned with the nerves than the course conditions.
"The conditions were fine, it didn't break or do anything like that. It was a little groovy, some nerves. I think the first run was a bit of a pillow fight to be honest, nobody skied really fast, and then there was definitely more racing on the second run."
UP NEXT: The championship will now turn to the Nordic action with the 7.5K classic races at Oak Hill on Thursday. The women will kick things off at 8 a.m. MT/10 a.m. ET followed by the men at 10 a.m. MT/Noon ET.
WHAT IT MEANS: Any time you can get out to at lead at the NCAA Championships, it's a good thing. You always take the points. But it does create a different dynamic for the rest of the week, now that the defending championship have a sizable Day 1 lead, the pressure mounts a bit. But this is what Lochhead and head coach Jana Weinberger want, to be atop the team standings with an opportunity to maintain or build the lead further as the week goes on. It's early, there's a long way left, but the Buffs are in a great position.
ALL-AMERICAN NOTES:
MEN'S ALPINE NOTES:
WOMEN'S ALPINE NOTES:
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM SCORES (Thru 2 of 8 Races): 1. Colorado, 148; 2. Denver, 107; 3. Utah and Vermont, 87; 5. Dartmouth, 86.5; 6. Alaska Anchorage, 83; 7. New Hampshire, 82; 8. Colby, 70; 9. Middlebury, 52; 10. Montana State, 51; 11. Boston College, 34; 12. Westminster, 29; 13. Nevada, 27.5; 14. St. Michael's, 24; 15. Plymouth State, 14; 16. St. Lawrence, 10; 17. Williams, 6; 18. Harvard, 0.
MEN'S SLALOM (30 finishers): 1. Jayden Buckrell, UNH, 1:27.17; 2. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 1:27.20; 3. Bode Flanigan, BC, 1:28.12; 4. Oscar Zimmer, DAR, 1:28.36; 5. Harrison Digangi, CBC, 1:28.42; 6. Bradshaw Underhill, MID, 1:28.43; 7. Johs Herland, UU, 1:28.51; 8. Simen Strand, UU, 1:28.62; 9. Jan Ronner, UAA, 1:28.66; 10. Etienne Mazellier, CU, 1:28.74. Other CU Finisher: 14. Louis Fausa, 1:28.90.
WOMEN'S SLALOM (31 finishers): 1. Sara Rask, DU, 1:33.25; 2. Justine Clement, UVM, 1:33.31; 3. Magdalena Luczak, CU, 1:33.32; 4. Justine Lamontagne, MSU, 1:33.37; 5. Zoe Zimmermann, DAR, 1:33.45; 6. Ella Bromee, UAA, 1:33.85; 7. Mia Hunt, DU, 1:33.86; 7. Louison Accambray, CU, 1:33.86; 9. Carissa Cassidy, CBC, 1:33.90; 10. Carmen Nielssen, UAA, 1:33.92. Other CU Finisher: Ashley Campbell, 1:34.81.
Both races were similar on paper for the Buffs, Wahlqvist finished second, just three-hundredths behind the race winner, and Luczak finished third, one-hundredth out of second and seven-hundredths out of first. Behind them Louison Accambray was tied for seventh and Ashley Campbell 16th in the women's race and Etienne Mazellier 10th and Louis Fausa 14th in the men's race.
Both teams won their respective races with the men's team scoring 75 points and the women's 73, and CU's 148 points giving the Buffs a 41-point advantage over Denver (107) and 61 over both Utah and Vermont (87) with Dartmouth closing out the top five just a half-point behind those two with 86.5 points.
"It was an awesome team day," CU alpine coach Ian Lochhead said. "They were solid and did their job and nobody took a risk and obviously put the team in a good spot. But they don't give out national championship trophies after the first quarter of a football game, so we're just going to get ready for the GS, I think Jana will have the Nordic team ready, we'll be cheering them on tomorrow and getting ready for Friday."
On Monday, race organizers put the slalom races first because of the weather, with raining conditions lending itself to maintaining a slalom course an easier task than a GS course. It's the first time in the coed era of the championship that slalom races led off the championship.
"It's funny because normally you're so deep into it when the slalom starts, it's so nerve wracking," Lochhead said. "So to start with slalom, you don't want the week to be over before it even gets started. I would've loved to have won both races, but for the team to have done such a good job and to be sitting in a good position, it was a pretty good first day."
Wahlqvist and Luczak earn first-team All-America honors and Accambray and Mazellier pick up second team honors, as CU was the only team with four skiers in the top 10 on the day. The two were a combined tenth of a second away from successfully defending their individual NCAA Championships as both won their respective slalom races in Steamboat Springs a year ago.
"I'm happy but I'm also a little bit mad, because I always try to win," Wahlqvist said. "That's the main goal. When I'm at the start, I always fight for the win, and I fought for the win. The goal at the NCAA Championship, obviously you want to win for yourself, but the most important thing is to win for the team, so we succeeded there, so I'm happy with the team performance."
"I'm more happy for the team because we're in the lead and that's the most important part of the day I think," Luczak added. "We all performed well, we were focused and really pushed through the pressure of being the defending champions. It was a good day for all of us."
And while the conditions were tough with the rain, Lochhead was more concerned with the nerves than the course conditions.
"The conditions were fine, it didn't break or do anything like that. It was a little groovy, some nerves. I think the first run was a bit of a pillow fight to be honest, nobody skied really fast, and then there was definitely more racing on the second run."
UP NEXT: The championship will now turn to the Nordic action with the 7.5K classic races at Oak Hill on Thursday. The women will kick things off at 8 a.m. MT/10 a.m. ET followed by the men at 10 a.m. MT/Noon ET.
WHAT IT MEANS: Any time you can get out to at lead at the NCAA Championships, it's a good thing. You always take the points. But it does create a different dynamic for the rest of the week, now that the defending championship have a sizable Day 1 lead, the pressure mounts a bit. But this is what Lochhead and head coach Jana Weinberger want, to be atop the team standings with an opportunity to maintain or build the lead further as the week goes on. It's early, there's a long way left, but the Buffs are in a great position.
ALL-AMERICAN NOTES:
- The Buffs had four skiers earn All-America status on the day with Wahlqvist and Luczak earning first-team honors and Accambray and Mazellier second-team honors.
- Wahlqvist picked up his third career honor, second on the first team, also earning first team in slalom last season.
- Luczak picked up her fourth career All-America honor, all of which have come on the first team. This is her second slalom honor, also earning it last season.
- Accambray picked up an honor in her first NCAA race.
- Colorado now has 566 All-America honors in the history of its ski program, including …
- 319 men's and 247 women's honors
- 326 first-team honors, 183 men and 143 women
- 223 second-team honors, 119 men and 104 women
- 107 honors in slalom, 55 women and 52 men
- Accambray and Mazellier are the 214th and 215th different skier to be named an All-American in CU history, Accambray the 90th different women's skier and Mazellier the 125th men's skier.
- The men's team scored 75 points with Wahlqvist scoring 37, Mazellier 21 and Fausa 17 points.
- The women's team scored 73 points with Luczak scoring 34, Accambray 24 and Campbell 15 points.
MEN'S ALPINE NOTES:
- Wahlqvist finished second, his 11th career podium in slalom races out of 12 finished slaloms, his other finish coming in fifth place. This season he finished six of seven slalom races with five wins and a second place, compiling a 192-1 record against the field. In his career, he now has 13 podium appearances in 27 races started and 25 finishes.
- Mazellier finished 10th, his seventh straight top 10 finish this season, every race he's competed in, and his 12th career top 10 finish in 19 finished races. In slalom, he has five top 10s in his career.
- Fausa finished 14th and has finished in the top 18 in all 12 races he's finished this season, including 10 in the top 10 and six in the top 5. He started his 62nd career race, setting a new CU record for men's alpine, and he has finished 46 of those races now with 44 top 20 finishes, including 22 top 20 finishes in slalom in 23 races finished.
WOMEN'S ALPINE NOTES:
- Luczak finished third, her third podium in five races this season and her best slalom finish of the year. She has finished all nine of her career slalom races and it's her fourth podium appearance to go with five top 5s and seven top 10s in that span.
- Accambray finished seventh and has finished in the top eight in all 11 races she's finished this season, which include eight top 5 performances. She finished six of seven slalom races, all in the top eight with three top 5s.
- Campbell finished 16th and has finished in the top 16 in all seven races she's finished this season, which include a pair of podium finishes in slalom races.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM SCORES (Thru 2 of 8 Races): 1. Colorado, 148; 2. Denver, 107; 3. Utah and Vermont, 87; 5. Dartmouth, 86.5; 6. Alaska Anchorage, 83; 7. New Hampshire, 82; 8. Colby, 70; 9. Middlebury, 52; 10. Montana State, 51; 11. Boston College, 34; 12. Westminster, 29; 13. Nevada, 27.5; 14. St. Michael's, 24; 15. Plymouth State, 14; 16. St. Lawrence, 10; 17. Williams, 6; 18. Harvard, 0.
MEN'S SLALOM (30 finishers): 1. Jayden Buckrell, UNH, 1:27.17; 2. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 1:27.20; 3. Bode Flanigan, BC, 1:28.12; 4. Oscar Zimmer, DAR, 1:28.36; 5. Harrison Digangi, CBC, 1:28.42; 6. Bradshaw Underhill, MID, 1:28.43; 7. Johs Herland, UU, 1:28.51; 8. Simen Strand, UU, 1:28.62; 9. Jan Ronner, UAA, 1:28.66; 10. Etienne Mazellier, CU, 1:28.74. Other CU Finisher: 14. Louis Fausa, 1:28.90.
WOMEN'S SLALOM (31 finishers): 1. Sara Rask, DU, 1:33.25; 2. Justine Clement, UVM, 1:33.31; 3. Magdalena Luczak, CU, 1:33.32; 4. Justine Lamontagne, MSU, 1:33.37; 5. Zoe Zimmermann, DAR, 1:33.45; 6. Ella Bromee, UAA, 1:33.85; 7. Mia Hunt, DU, 1:33.86; 7. Louison Accambray, CU, 1:33.86; 9. Carissa Cassidy, CBC, 1:33.90; 10. Carmen Nielssen, UAA, 1:33.92. Other CU Finisher: Ashley Campbell, 1:34.81.
Players Mentioned
ALPINE
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ 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