Men’s GS top 7. Photo: NCAA.com
Lake Placid, NY – The NCAA Championships kicked off on Wednesday as the best collegiate skiers in the United States battled it out at the site of the 1980 Winter Olympics. Whiteface Mountain hosted the top 34 men and women from the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) and Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA). With All-American honors and a national championship on the line, everything was to play for.
Nerves & Conditions
Former collegiate skiers who later race at the World Cup level will remark that some of the worst nerves they have experienced are when they compete not just for themselves, but for their teammates and school. The nerves from a few skiers were apparent. However, some were able to conquer any anxiety and deliver in a big way.
Athletes were also forced to navigate a long, draining, and demanding GS hill. The hill, which is amongst the most demanding in the Eastern United States, was made even more challenging by the decision to start the race higher than usual. A steep pitch greeted athletes right out of the gate, forcing them to find their rhythm quickly. The bottom Draper’s Drop section took out athletes that ran out of gas near the finish line.
The snow was hard and challenging. An icy layer on top gave some western skiers more accustomed to softer snow some pause. “I felt a little unconfident on the first run. It was icy and bumpy, which I haven’t skied on much in the west,” conceded one skier.
First Run
Still, the best find a way, and on the first run of the women’s race, it was clear one athlete was head and shoulders above the rest. Madison Hoffman from the University of Utah, looking to help her team win a fourth consecutive national championship, skied a super first run to take the lead by 1.28 seconds. She was not so closely followed by Justine Lamontagne from Montana State and Sara Rask from the University of Denver. The top eastern skier was US Ski Team member Allie Resnick in fifth.
The men pushed out of the gate as the course began to deteriorate and rattle racers. Flip Forejtek from the University of Colorado was seeking to defend his national championship from last year. He started his attempt off on the right note attacking the course top to bottom to take a commanding lead of one second. Behind Forejtek sat Louis Gustav Fausa, also from the University of Colorado. A tie between Riley Seger from Montana State and Joachim Jagge Lindstoel from the University of Vermont rounded out the podium. Former US Ski Team member Cooper Cornelius was just one-one hundredth off the podium in fifth. Behind him was Oscar Zimmer from Dartmouth, who has shown lightning-fast speed but has struggled with consistency, in sixth, and Cole Palchack from UVM was in seventh. Palchack, who finished second in the Slalom standings, had not done better than 10th in a GS.
Second Run
Playing with a comfortable lead, Hoffman really only had to ski mistake free to become the national champion. But she did more than that, finishing second on the second run. Despite Hoffman’s dominance, the podium was still up for grabs. Sara Rask from Sweden stepped up to the challenge. Rask has an impressive pedigree with 23 World Cup Starts and five Europa Cup podiums. She starts her collegiate career off in impressive form with a second-place finish. Lamontagne was able to hold onto the podium in third. The top five was rounded out by Hannah Saethereng from Westminster in fourth and Emma Hammergaard from the University of Colorado in fifth.
On the women’s side, only two Americans finished in the top 10, reflecting the stranglehold Europeans have achieved in collegiate ski racing. Allie Resnick, in her first year of competition for Dartmouth, ended the day in sixth, and Lydia Riddel from Colby finished in ninth.
Forejtek and Fausa seeking to give CU its first National Championship since 2015, gave the team a major boost. The duo held on to finish 1-2, holding off Seger, who matched his result from a year ago. Lindtsoel finished just off the podium in fourth, and Zimmer rounded out the top five.
Team standings
As attention turned to the team standings, it was clear that Utah would be in for a challenge. Buoyed by the results of Forejtek, Fausa, and Hammergaard, the University of Colorado leads the field with 139.5 points. In second sits the University of Denver with 117.5, and the University of Utah checks in with 115.5 points.
For Rask and the Pioneers of DU, they view this as the first step toward a title. “I hope Denver takes over the lead and that I will contribute to that by winning the slalom race,” said Rask. Unfortunately, other teams were victims of some unfortunate DNFs, which was the case for Dartmouth. “I am happy with today, but I am definitely looking forward to giving this hill another go in the slaloms on Friday,” remarked Allie Resnick, the top American skier in the race today. “Our goal is the same as always, just to ski fast,” she added.
The alpine skiers will get a day off while the Nordic teams battle it out at Mount Van Hoevenberg. They will return to action with the Slalom on Friday. That race can be streamed live at NCAA.com.
About the Author: Caleb Horsch
