Saturday, March 8
Hanover, New Hampshire
8 AM Men / 10 AM Women
Colorado
vs
20K Freestyle (M)
Buffs Finish Second At NCAA Championships
March 08, 2025 | Skiing
Baangman’s Third Place Highlights Buffs Final Day
HANOVER, N.H. – Colorado's Tilde Baangman finished third and earned first-team All-America honors and the Buffaloes ski team finished second at the 2025 NCAA Ski Championships with the 20K freestyle races closing out the championship Saturday at Oak Hill.
The Buffs were locked in a three-way battle for the title entering the final day after Utah took a 35-point lead over both CU and host Dartmouth after the GS races on Friday. Utah ended up running away with the title, winning both Nordic races and finished with 590 points for the title.
The Big Green and Buffaloes battled it out on the final day, entering the final day just two points apart with CU holding a 382-380 advantage. Dartmouth took the lead after the men's race, outscoring the Buffs 76-59, but then CU responded with a 72-52 advantage in the women's race to hold a three-point advantage on the day and take second place by five points, 513-508.
CU finished in the top two for the third straight year, winning the title in 2024 after taking second in 2023, giving CU coach Jana Weinberger three top two performances as the overall head coach of the program. Since 2006, which was Weinberger's senior season, CU has now finished first or second in 14 of the 19 championships in that span.
Any hopes of CU repeating an epic comeback like they pulled off in 2024 were put to rest early as the Utes finished first, third and 10th in the men's race to score 95 points and take essentially an insurmountable lead into the women's race. But the race for second place took place with Dartmouth opening up a 15 point lead.
Johannes Flaaten led the way for the Buffs in eighth place, picking up second-team All-America honors. Will Koch finished 11th, missing out on matching the CU record with eight career All-America honors by just under 30 seconds. He fell ill after Thursday's race and spent most of Friday in bed recovering. He was in the mix until the final lap, even throwing down the third-fastest second lap early in the race and hovering in the top 10 at the midpoint of the race. Hugo Hinckfuss finished 15th as the third team scorer.
That set the stage for the women's race, and set the pace early, having the lead after the first lap and hung in the top three all race, finishing third and on the podium, also picking up her second All-America honor of the championship and as a Buff and the fourth of her career. Astri Lunde finished eighth to pick up second-team honors after just missing those honors in Thursday's classic races. She finished strong, having the third fastest final lap to move up from 10th to eighth to help secure a second-place team finish. Hanna Abrahamsson finished 16th, having to battle through the field. She was in 30th after the first lap and then steadily moved her way up on each lap to finish in 16th in the final race of her career.
WHAT IT MEANS: That puts a wrap on the 2025 season, an overall successful one for the Buffs, who finished second at the NCAA and RMISA Championship, in the RMISA regular season standings while the Buffs won two meets, the UAA Invitational and the DU Invitational. While the Buffs did not win an individual title, they were in the mix for several and competed strongly despite some bad luck throughout the week. CU finished with 12 All-America honors and were really close on a stampede of other honors with 10 finishes between 11th and 16th throughout the eight races. CU in fact finished 11th in three of the eight and 12th in two others in what easily could have been five more honors, which would have put the Buffs tied with the most in the field.
ALL-AMERICA NOTES:
• Baangman finished third, picking up first-team All-America honors, giving CU five first-team All-Americans on the week.
• Lunde finished eighth to pick up second team honors, her first career All-America honor after just missing the honor in the classic race when she finished 12th and less than 12 seconds out of the top 10.
• Flaaten finished eighth to pick up second-team honors, his first All-America honor this season and second of his career, earning second-team honors in the 7.5K freestyle race in last year's championship.
• With three honors, CU now has 574 All-American honors in its history with 323 men's and 251 women's honors, and CU has 329 first-team honors with 144 coming on the women's side.
• Lunde is the 217th different skier to earn All-America honors and the 92nd different women's skier.
TEAM NOTES:
• CU scored 131 points in the two races, second most in the field, with 72 points in the women's race and 59 in the men's race.
• CU scored 59 points in the men's race with Flaaten scoring 23, Koch 20 and Hinckfuss 16 points.
• CU scored 72 points in the women's race with Baangman scoring 34, Lunde 23 and Abrahamsson 15 points.
MEN'S NORDIC NOTES:
• Flaaten finished eighth for his seventh top 10 finish this season in 12 races this season, with three other finishes in the top 13. In his career, he has 15 top 10 finishes in 25 finished races with eight of 12 coming in freestyle races.
• Koch finished 11th, to finish in the top 11 in all eight races in this his final season. He has finished in the top five in nine straight races and in the top 10 in 23 straight races and was hampered with an illness before his final collegiate race. He finishes his career skiing in 47 career races with 46 top 20, 38 top 10 and 18 top five finishes with nine podiums and one win. In 23 freestyle races, he finishes with 22 top 20, 18 top 10 and nine top five finishes with five podiums and one win.
• Hinckfuss finished 15th and finishes his third season in Boulder with six races, finishing all six in the top 15. He had three top fives and two podiums. He has 25 races in his career through three seasons with 20 top 20, 12 top 10 and eight top five finishes with four podiums.
WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES:
• Baangman finished third, capping a tremendous season in which she competed in 12 of the 14 races and had two DNFs fighting through injuries for most of the season. Despite that, she had eight podium appearances and finished in the top 10 in all 10 of those races. Counting two season as Montana State, she has finished 34 career races, 32 in the top 10 and 21 in the top five with 17 podiums and four race wins.
• Lunde finished eighth, capping an impressive freshman season in which she raced 10 times and finished in the top 12 in all 10 with nine top 10s and six top fives with three podium appearances.
• Abrahamsson finished 16th, capping a tremendous career with yet another top 20 finish, the 46th of her career in 49 career starts. She finished with 34 top 10s and 24 top 5s including 13 podiums and two wins. In freestyle races, she finished in the top 20 in 21 of 23 career races with 14 top 10s and 7 top 5s including three podiums.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM STANDINGS (FINAL): 1. Utah, 590; 2. Colorado, 513; 3. Dartmouth, 508; 4. Denver, 384; 5. Vermont, 368; 6. Middlebury, 252.5; 7. Alaska Anchorage, 251; 8. Montana State, 234; 9. New Hampshire, 208; 10. Alaska Fairbanks, 176; 11. Colby, 120; 12. Westminster, 61; 13. St. Michael's, 56.5; 14. Boston College, 41; 15. Nevada, 38.5; 16. Bowdoin and St. Lawrence, 35; 18. Michigan Tech, 32; 19. Northern Michigan, 24; 20. Plymouth State, 23; 21. Williams, 18.5; 22. Harvard, 16; 23. St. Scholastica, 7.
MEN'S 20K FREESTYLE (39 collegiate finishers): 1. Joe Davies, UU, 43:33.9; 2. John Steel Hagenbuch, DAR, 44:44.1; 3. Brian Bushey, UU, 45:11.3; 4. Ben Dohlby, UAF, 45:39.8; 5. Logan Moore, MID, 45:48.9; 6. Luke Allan, DAR, 45:50.6; 7. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 46:01.4; 8. Johannes Flaaten, CU, 46:04.9; 9. Philipp Moosmayer, UAF, 46:07.1; 10. Zachary Jayne, UU, 46:07.9. Other CU Finishers: 11. Will Koch, 46:34.4; 15. Hugo Hinckfuss, 47:17.3.
WOMEN'S 20K FREESTYLE (39 collegiate finishers): 1. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 50:14.2; 2. Erica Laven, UU, 50:49.6; 3. Tilde Baangman, CU, 51:01.8; 4. Lea Wenaas, DU, 51:15.1; 5. Selma Nevin, UU, 51:30.6; 6. Katey Houser, MSU, 51:40.1; 7. Ava Thurston, DAR, 51:41.3; 8. Astri Lunde, CU, 51:42.5; 9. Shea Brams, MID, 51:46.1; 10. Kate Oldham, MSU, 51:49.0. Other CU Finisher: 16. Hanna Abrahamsson, 53:42.3.
The Buffs were locked in a three-way battle for the title entering the final day after Utah took a 35-point lead over both CU and host Dartmouth after the GS races on Friday. Utah ended up running away with the title, winning both Nordic races and finished with 590 points for the title.
The Big Green and Buffaloes battled it out on the final day, entering the final day just two points apart with CU holding a 382-380 advantage. Dartmouth took the lead after the men's race, outscoring the Buffs 76-59, but then CU responded with a 72-52 advantage in the women's race to hold a three-point advantage on the day and take second place by five points, 513-508.
CU finished in the top two for the third straight year, winning the title in 2024 after taking second in 2023, giving CU coach Jana Weinberger three top two performances as the overall head coach of the program. Since 2006, which was Weinberger's senior season, CU has now finished first or second in 14 of the 19 championships in that span.
Any hopes of CU repeating an epic comeback like they pulled off in 2024 were put to rest early as the Utes finished first, third and 10th in the men's race to score 95 points and take essentially an insurmountable lead into the women's race. But the race for second place took place with Dartmouth opening up a 15 point lead.
Johannes Flaaten led the way for the Buffs in eighth place, picking up second-team All-America honors. Will Koch finished 11th, missing out on matching the CU record with eight career All-America honors by just under 30 seconds. He fell ill after Thursday's race and spent most of Friday in bed recovering. He was in the mix until the final lap, even throwing down the third-fastest second lap early in the race and hovering in the top 10 at the midpoint of the race. Hugo Hinckfuss finished 15th as the third team scorer.
That set the stage for the women's race, and set the pace early, having the lead after the first lap and hung in the top three all race, finishing third and on the podium, also picking up her second All-America honor of the championship and as a Buff and the fourth of her career. Astri Lunde finished eighth to pick up second-team honors after just missing those honors in Thursday's classic races. She finished strong, having the third fastest final lap to move up from 10th to eighth to help secure a second-place team finish. Hanna Abrahamsson finished 16th, having to battle through the field. She was in 30th after the first lap and then steadily moved her way up on each lap to finish in 16th in the final race of her career.
WHAT IT MEANS: That puts a wrap on the 2025 season, an overall successful one for the Buffs, who finished second at the NCAA and RMISA Championship, in the RMISA regular season standings while the Buffs won two meets, the UAA Invitational and the DU Invitational. While the Buffs did not win an individual title, they were in the mix for several and competed strongly despite some bad luck throughout the week. CU finished with 12 All-America honors and were really close on a stampede of other honors with 10 finishes between 11th and 16th throughout the eight races. CU in fact finished 11th in three of the eight and 12th in two others in what easily could have been five more honors, which would have put the Buffs tied with the most in the field.
ALL-AMERICA NOTES:
• Baangman finished third, picking up first-team All-America honors, giving CU five first-team All-Americans on the week.
• Lunde finished eighth to pick up second team honors, her first career All-America honor after just missing the honor in the classic race when she finished 12th and less than 12 seconds out of the top 10.
• Flaaten finished eighth to pick up second-team honors, his first All-America honor this season and second of his career, earning second-team honors in the 7.5K freestyle race in last year's championship.
• With three honors, CU now has 574 All-American honors in its history with 323 men's and 251 women's honors, and CU has 329 first-team honors with 144 coming on the women's side.
• Lunde is the 217th different skier to earn All-America honors and the 92nd different women's skier.
TEAM NOTES:
• CU scored 131 points in the two races, second most in the field, with 72 points in the women's race and 59 in the men's race.
• CU scored 59 points in the men's race with Flaaten scoring 23, Koch 20 and Hinckfuss 16 points.
• CU scored 72 points in the women's race with Baangman scoring 34, Lunde 23 and Abrahamsson 15 points.
MEN'S NORDIC NOTES:
• Flaaten finished eighth for his seventh top 10 finish this season in 12 races this season, with three other finishes in the top 13. In his career, he has 15 top 10 finishes in 25 finished races with eight of 12 coming in freestyle races.
• Koch finished 11th, to finish in the top 11 in all eight races in this his final season. He has finished in the top five in nine straight races and in the top 10 in 23 straight races and was hampered with an illness before his final collegiate race. He finishes his career skiing in 47 career races with 46 top 20, 38 top 10 and 18 top five finishes with nine podiums and one win. In 23 freestyle races, he finishes with 22 top 20, 18 top 10 and nine top five finishes with five podiums and one win.
• Hinckfuss finished 15th and finishes his third season in Boulder with six races, finishing all six in the top 15. He had three top fives and two podiums. He has 25 races in his career through three seasons with 20 top 20, 12 top 10 and eight top five finishes with four podiums.
WOMEN'S NORDIC NOTES:
• Baangman finished third, capping a tremendous season in which she competed in 12 of the 14 races and had two DNFs fighting through injuries for most of the season. Despite that, she had eight podium appearances and finished in the top 10 in all 10 of those races. Counting two season as Montana State, she has finished 34 career races, 32 in the top 10 and 21 in the top five with 17 podiums and four race wins.
• Lunde finished eighth, capping an impressive freshman season in which she raced 10 times and finished in the top 12 in all 10 with nine top 10s and six top fives with three podium appearances.
• Abrahamsson finished 16th, capping a tremendous career with yet another top 20 finish, the 46th of her career in 49 career starts. She finished with 34 top 10s and 24 top 5s including 13 podiums and two wins. In freestyle races, she finished in the top 20 in 21 of 23 career races with 14 top 10s and 7 top 5s including three podiums.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM STANDINGS (FINAL): 1. Utah, 590; 2. Colorado, 513; 3. Dartmouth, 508; 4. Denver, 384; 5. Vermont, 368; 6. Middlebury, 252.5; 7. Alaska Anchorage, 251; 8. Montana State, 234; 9. New Hampshire, 208; 10. Alaska Fairbanks, 176; 11. Colby, 120; 12. Westminster, 61; 13. St. Michael's, 56.5; 14. Boston College, 41; 15. Nevada, 38.5; 16. Bowdoin and St. Lawrence, 35; 18. Michigan Tech, 32; 19. Northern Michigan, 24; 20. Plymouth State, 23; 21. Williams, 18.5; 22. Harvard, 16; 23. St. Scholastica, 7.
MEN'S 20K FREESTYLE (39 collegiate finishers): 1. Joe Davies, UU, 43:33.9; 2. John Steel Hagenbuch, DAR, 44:44.1; 3. Brian Bushey, UU, 45:11.3; 4. Ben Dohlby, UAF, 45:39.8; 5. Logan Moore, MID, 45:48.9; 6. Luke Allan, DAR, 45:50.6; 7. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 46:01.4; 8. Johannes Flaaten, CU, 46:04.9; 9. Philipp Moosmayer, UAF, 46:07.1; 10. Zachary Jayne, UU, 46:07.9. Other CU Finishers: 11. Will Koch, 46:34.4; 15. Hugo Hinckfuss, 47:17.3.
WOMEN'S 20K FREESTYLE (39 collegiate finishers): 1. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 50:14.2; 2. Erica Laven, UU, 50:49.6; 3. Tilde Baangman, CU, 51:01.8; 4. Lea Wenaas, DU, 51:15.1; 5. Selma Nevin, UU, 51:30.6; 6. Katey Houser, MSU, 51:40.1; 7. Ava Thurston, DAR, 51:41.3; 8. Astri Lunde, CU, 51:42.5; 9. Shea Brams, MID, 51:46.1; 10. Kate Oldham, MSU, 51:49.0. Other CU Finisher: 16. Hanna Abrahamsson, 53:42.3.
Players Mentioned
NORDIC
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ 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