Colorado leads NCAA Championships after first day

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – Puddles across the speed skating oval in the heart of upstate New York’s Olympic village could have portended a nasty track for Nordic skiers at the nearby 2015 NCAA Championships at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, but course officials worked diligently in spite of rising temperatures to provide a fair and fast surface for the collegiate athletes on opening day.

Despite securing only a single podium on the day, the University of Colorado Buffaloes charged to an early 24-point lead in team scoring ahead of the University of Utah. The Universities of Vermont and New Mexico are tied for third, 49 points from the Buffs. Aside from a thrilling result from a lone Big Green skier, Western athletes ruled the day most particularly in the women’s race.

Stratton Mountain School alumnus Patrick Caldwell of Dartmouth and the U.S. Ski Team development squad pulled off a gutsy performance at the opening race of these NCAA Championships, the men’s 10 kilometer freestyle, to win the individual title. After clocking the fastest first lap on the 5 kilometer loop, word quickly spread that Caldwell’s pace was the one to match. The University of Denver’s Moritz Madlener nearly succeeding in doing so, but ultimately finished 2.2 seconds shy of Caldwell for second place.

“The last few kilometers, I was really hurting, but made it down that last hill, so I was psyched,” said Caldwell. “We actually raced here last weekend for the Eastern Championships, and that was (my) first time. But (it’s a) beautiful course – perfect skiing out there, really fast, and fun skiing. It was definitely helpful to preview it and have good races then.”

Caldwell, who is the cousin of former Dartmouth standout Sophie Caldwell, won the freestyle race at the EISA Championship and felt strong heading into the day. Madlener started the interval race first and held the first lap time to beat when Caldwell eventually started last for the field with bib 40. Colorado’s Rune Oedegaard and Mads Stroem, the dynamic duo who has swept innumerable RMISA races this season, ultimately settled for third and fourth, respectively.

“I loved it. It’s a tough course, and it’s fair skiing. You have to be a good skier in everything – it’s two tough uphills, some flats in sections, not a lot of them. But you have to be good at everything, and I think the best skier won today,” said Oedegaard. “I felt like I started off a little slow … but I felt like I was chasing hard all the way. I was kind of surprised being that far behind because I felt like I had a really strong performance today.”

Senior Oedegaard of Molde, Norway, will look to defend the classic title he has won for the past two years running in Friday’s race. Until then, it’s up to the alpine skiers to maintain Colorado’s lead at Thursday’s giant slalom race.

“We had a really good day as a team. It’s always good to get a good start on the first day. It’s a confidence-builder for the rest of the team, too, and it’s nice for alpiners to have a little cushion for tomorrow,” concluded Oedegaard.

Vermont’s Jack Hegman and Rogan Brown skied to sixth and ninth, respectively, to keep the Catamounts as the only Eastern school in the early hunt for the team title.

The ladies followed the men and skied only one lap for their 5 kilometer freestyle race, where Utah freshman and Sochi Olympian Veronika Mayerhofer dealt a crushing blow to the field, beating out Denver’s Sylvia Nordskar by over 13 seconds. The 22-year-old Austrian was quite excited about the large glass leaf filled with maple syrup she collected as her prize.

“Because my sister was studying in Vermont, she always brought us some maple syrup. I really like that, and I really enjoy it!” Nordskar exclaimed. “The last days I had a cold and I thought, ‘Yeah, let’s do the race.’ I was looking forward to Friday because I like a little more distance. Until the first split I just did my race, and then I heard I was in the front so I said just go for it and I tried so hard. It’s just 5K so you have to push so hard from the very beginning. There were so many guys cheering for us, the alpine skiers on our team they came over to cheer for us, and I just tried my best.”

Mayerhofer credited fast skis and the encouragement of her coaches for helping her hit the top step of the podium in her first season on the NCAA circuit. It was her fourth victory in the U.S., as Nordskar provided most of the challenge to start the season, winning three races off the bat before falling ill and missing the rest of the regular season. Additionally, Denver opted to swap their top skiers for earlier bibs, perhaps anticipating course deterioration, but the strategy seemed to backfire for both Madlener and Nordskar who couldn’t rely on pacing themselves off the fastest splits of the day.

New Mexico’s Emilie Cedervaern rounded out the women’s podium in third, as RMISA athletes swept the entire top 10. Vermont’s M.K. Cirelli was the first EISA skier, finishing 11th, followed by Central Region’s Jordyn Ross of Northern Michigan University in 12th.

NCAA Championships continue on Thursday at Whiteface Mountain with the men’s and women’s giant slalom races.

Team Scores (following Day 1 Nordic races)

Results

Men’s 10k freestyle

Women’s 5k freestyle