Thursday, March 6
Hanover, New Hampshire
8 AM Women / 10 AM Men
Colorado
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7.5K Classic (I)
Photo by: Ashton Scott
Buffs Slip To Second In Three-Team Battle At NCAA Ski Championships
March 06, 2025 | Skiing
Koch Picks Up Seventh Career All-America Honor
HANOVER, N.H. – Colorado's Will Koch earned first-team All-America honors and the Buffaloes ski team slipped to second place just 5.5 points behind the leader at the halfway point of the 2025 NCAA Ski Championships with the 7.5K classic races taking place Thursday at Oak Hill.
The Buffs entered the day with a healthy lead from Wednesday's giant slalom races but dominating performances by both Dartmouth and Utah leave all three teams within 10.5 points of each other at the midpoint of the Championships. Dartmouth scored 181 points in the two races and have 267.5 points with Colorado second at 262 and Utah third at 257 points. Vermont is fourth with 208 and Denver rounds out the top five with 161 points.
Koch, who hasn't skied in a college race since January, picked up where he left off with a fifth-place finish, his seventh straight top 5 this season and ninth overall counting both of last season's NCAA Championship races. Making his fifth NCAA appearance, he picked up his seventh career All-America honor, including his third first-team nod.
Behind Koch, Hugo Hinckfuss finished 11th and Johannes Flaaten 16th.
In the women's race, CU was led by Tilde Baangman, who took 10th place and earned second-team All-America honors in the process. Astri Lunde was two spots back in 12th and Hanna Abrahamsson finished 21st.
UP NEXT: Action returns to Dartmouth Ski Way and the alpine teams on Friday with giant slalom races on tap. Saturday the championship and that the season will conclude with the 20K freestyle races back at Oak Hill.
WHAT IT MEANS: Nobody said it was going to be easy. Winning a championship is always a difficult task, and at the halfway point, it's essentially a three-team race. CU was down 61 points at the midpoint last year before mounting a comeback. All six Buffs competing have one more chance to put it all on the line for a chance at a title, and all six are capable of high finishes in the remaining races.
ALL-AMERICA NOTES:
TEAM NOTES:
WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES:
MEN'S 7.5K CLASSIC (40 collegiate finishers): 1. John Steel Hagenbuch, DAR, 20:52.8; 2. Finn Sweet, UVM, 21:08.1; 3. Joe Davies, UU, 21:19.5; 4. Luke Allan, DAR, 21:48.1; 5. Will Koch, CU, 21:51.9; 6. Brian Bushey, UU, 22:02.8; 7. Philipp Moosmayer, UAF, 22:11.9; 8. Zachary Jayne, UU, 22:12.5; 9. Cooper Camp, DAR, 22:15.3; 10. Corbin Carpenter, UAA, 22:17.8. Other CU Finishers: 11. Hugo Hinckfuss, 22:27.8; 16. Johannes Flaaten, 22:57.4.
WOMEN'S 7.5K CLASSIC (40 collegiate finishers): 1. Erica Laven, UU, 23:43.3; 2. Annie McColgan, UVM, 23:54.4; 3. Jasmine Drolet, DAR, 24:14.3; 4. Ava Thurston, DAR, 24:21.6; 5. Celine Mayer, UU, 24:38.9; 6. Emma Crum, BOW, 24:43.7; 7. Kate Oldham, MSU, 24:46.5; 8. Nina Seeman, DAR, 24:49.7; 9. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 25:02.6; 10. Tilde Baangman, CU, 25:06.4. Other CU finishers: 12. Astri Lunde, 25:17.3; 21. Hanna Abrahamsson, 25:52.6.
The Buffs entered the day with a healthy lead from Wednesday's giant slalom races but dominating performances by both Dartmouth and Utah leave all three teams within 10.5 points of each other at the midpoint of the Championships. Dartmouth scored 181 points in the two races and have 267.5 points with Colorado second at 262 and Utah third at 257 points. Vermont is fourth with 208 and Denver rounds out the top five with 161 points.
Koch, who hasn't skied in a college race since January, picked up where he left off with a fifth-place finish, his seventh straight top 5 this season and ninth overall counting both of last season's NCAA Championship races. Making his fifth NCAA appearance, he picked up his seventh career All-America honor, including his third first-team nod.
Behind Koch, Hugo Hinckfuss finished 11th and Johannes Flaaten 16th.
In the women's race, CU was led by Tilde Baangman, who took 10th place and earned second-team All-America honors in the process. Astri Lunde was two spots back in 12th and Hanna Abrahamsson finished 21st.
UP NEXT: Action returns to Dartmouth Ski Way and the alpine teams on Friday with giant slalom races on tap. Saturday the championship and that the season will conclude with the 20K freestyle races back at Oak Hill.
WHAT IT MEANS: Nobody said it was going to be easy. Winning a championship is always a difficult task, and at the halfway point, it's essentially a three-team race. CU was down 61 points at the midpoint last year before mounting a comeback. All six Buffs competing have one more chance to put it all on the line for a chance at a title, and all six are capable of high finishes in the remaining races.
ALL-AMERICA NOTES:
- CU picked up two All-America honors on the day, Koch picking up first-team honors and Baangman second.
- Koch picked up his seventh career honor and Baangman her third, although it's her first at CU.
- Koch becomes just the ninth skier in CU history to earn seven or more All-America honors. With one NCAA race remaining, only three Buffs have ever earned eight.
- The Buffs are third at the midpoint with six All-America nods behind host Dartmouth (eight) and Utah (seven).
- CU now has 568 overall All-Americans in its history.
- CU now has 320 men's and 248 women's honors.
- CU now has 327 first-team and 224 second-team honors with 184 men's first-team honors and 105 women's second-team honors.
- Baangman is the 216th different skier in CU history to earn All-America honors, and the 91st different women's skier.
TEAM NOTES:
- CU scored 114 points, fourth most on the day, and is in second place in the championship with 262 points.
- CU scored 50 points in the women's race, fourth place as a team, with Baangman scoring 21, Lunde 19 and Abrahamsson 10.
- CU scored 64 points in the men's race, third place as a team, with Koch scoring 29 points, Hinckfuss 19 and Flaaten 15.
WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES:
- Baangman finished 10th and kept her streak of top 10 finishes alive. She has finished in the top 10 in each of her nine races this season and while at Montana State, she finished all 13 races in the top 10 last season for a streak of 22 straight races. Overall she has 31 career top 10s in 33 career races finished.
- Lunde finished 12th, just missing out on an All-America nod, her first finish outside the top 10 this season/her career. She had finished the previous eight races all in the top nine with six top 5s and three podiums this season.
- Abrahamsson finished 21st in her 48th career race. She has now finished in the top 20 in 45 of 48 career races.
- Koch finished fifth, his seventh top-five finish in seven races this season, and nine straight dating back to last year's NCAA Championships. He has also finished in the top 10 in 23 straight races dating back to the middle of the 2023 season. He finished his classic racing career with nine top 5 finishes and 20 top 10 finishes in 24 career races.
- Hinckfuss finished 11th in what was just his fifth race of the season, and he's finished in the top 13 in all five. It's his eighth career top 20 finish in freestyle races and his 19th overall.
- Flaaten finished 16th in his third career NCAA Championship race. He has finished in the top 20 in 10 of his 11 races on the season and it's his 23rd career top 20 finish in 24 career races.
MEN'S 7.5K CLASSIC (40 collegiate finishers): 1. John Steel Hagenbuch, DAR, 20:52.8; 2. Finn Sweet, UVM, 21:08.1; 3. Joe Davies, UU, 21:19.5; 4. Luke Allan, DAR, 21:48.1; 5. Will Koch, CU, 21:51.9; 6. Brian Bushey, UU, 22:02.8; 7. Philipp Moosmayer, UAF, 22:11.9; 8. Zachary Jayne, UU, 22:12.5; 9. Cooper Camp, DAR, 22:15.3; 10. Corbin Carpenter, UAA, 22:17.8. Other CU Finishers: 11. Hugo Hinckfuss, 22:27.8; 16. Johannes Flaaten, 22:57.4.
WOMEN'S 7.5K CLASSIC (40 collegiate finishers): 1. Erica Laven, UU, 23:43.3; 2. Annie McColgan, UVM, 23:54.4; 3. Jasmine Drolet, DAR, 24:14.3; 4. Ava Thurston, DAR, 24:21.6; 5. Celine Mayer, UU, 24:38.9; 6. Emma Crum, BOW, 24:43.7; 7. Kate Oldham, MSU, 24:46.5; 8. Nina Seeman, DAR, 24:49.7; 9. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 25:02.6; 10. Tilde Baangman, CU, 25:06.4. Other CU finishers: 12. Astri Lunde, 25:17.3; 21. Hanna Abrahamsson, 25:52.6.
Players Mentioned
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