Kili Lehmkuhl

Position:
Nordic
Height:
5-3
Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Tahoe City, Calif.
High School:
North Tahoe
Prev School:
Auburn Ski Club

Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll (2023)
Two-Time Letterwinner (2022, ‘23)

At Colorado: 2023 (Sophomore)—Lehmkuhl had another solid season in 2023, picking up where she left off as a freshman and earning five top 20 performances, three in classic and two in freestyle, in her 12 races. Four of her five top 20s came in a row at the Montana State and CU Invitationals, and coding the DU Invitational, she ha six straight finishes in the top 21. Her best finishes were both at the MSU Invite, where she took 15th in the 15K classic and 13th in the 5K freestyle race. She earned her second letter as part of the Buffaloes and got it done in the classroom, as well, earning Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll mention.

2022 (Freshman)—Lehmkuhl finished her freshman season picking up some solid collegiate experience, finishing all 10 races she skied in and consistently finishing all 10 between 14th and 24th places. She had four top 20 finishes along the way. She opened her career with a 21st place finish in the freestyle sprint races at the U.S. National Championships, which doubled as the Utah Invitational. She was then 19th in the 10K classic race and 22nd in an extra qualifier classic sprint race. At Montana State, she was 21st in the 5K freestyle and 23rd in the 10K classic race and then at Fairbanks, Alaska, she finished 23rd in the 5K classic and 24th in the 10K freestyle races as part of the UAF Nanook Invitational before finishing 18th in a 5K freestyle race as part of the RMISA Invitational there in Fairbanks. She saved her best for last, picking up her season best finishes at the RMISA Championships with an 18th place finish in the 5K classic and 14th place finish in the 15K freestyle race.

Prior To CU—Lehmkuhl joins the Buffs from the Auburn Ski Club, where she spent four seasons after spending the previous five seasons from 2013-17 on the Tahoe Cross Country Development team under coaches Gus Johnson and Lizzie Larkins. She has competed at the U.S. Junior National Championships the past three years. In 2018, she took ninth place in the 5K freestyle race. In 2019, her freestyle relay team took fifth place and in 2021, she was seventh in the freestyle sprint. At the regional championships, she took home 10th place in the 10K freestyle race at the Regional Championships. At North Tahoe High School, she won the state championship as a senior and was the runner-up her freshman, sophomore and junior seasons.

High School—Lehmkuhl graduated from North Tahoe High School in Tahoe City, Calif., in 2021. She also ran cross country in high school and won the state championship as a junior after taking second as a freshman and third as a sophomore.

In The Classroom—She is majoring in Environmental Studies at Colorado. She earned Distinguished Scholar Awards all four years at North Tahoe High School.

Personal—Kili Lehmkuhl was born Oct. 9, 2003, in Truckee, Calif. She entered CU at just 17 years old. Her parents are Rebecca Gordon and Scott Lehmkuhl. She has one sister, Quinn, who graduated from CU in 2021 and skied for the Buffs for four seasons while earning a degree in Integrative Physiology. She would like to get a job in the environmental field after graduating and has volunteered with SWEP, a non-profit in the Tahoe area that does environmental conservation work. She loves the outdoors and nature.