Reminiscing on the Colorado Buffs Comeback at NCAA Championships for their 21st Victory! 

Featured Image: The University of Colorado winning the 2024 NCAA Championships. Credit: University of Colorado

Last week, the university teams and their qualified Alpine and Nordic racers came together for an all-out competition at the NCAA National Championships. It was a challenging feat for the student-athletes; emotions were high as excitement was booming at the prestigious event in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The University of Colorado had a historical comeback and became the 2024 NCAA National Champions. 

It was the first time in history during the coed NCAA Skiing National Championships that a team pulled ahead from third to first on the event’s final day, a milestone win conquered by the Buffs. 

Recap of the Races Before The Victory 

The first day of the events started with a giant slalom, where the Buffs finished second in points to Utah. The top University of Colorado finishers of the GS were Filip Wahlqvist, earning 8th place, and the Buffs went 1-2, with Magdalena Luczak winning and Denise Dingsleder achieving 2nd place. The Utes had three podium finishes between the men and women, which pulled them ahead by a mere 17 points, UU (154.5) and CU (137.5). 

Luczak stated after her win, “I’m happy for the whole team; we had some really good runs today.  I felt good today, I had two solid runs.  I’ve felt really good on skis the past few weeks.  I’m super proud of DD (Dingsleder), being in the start with her (as the final two racers to compete in the final run) was the best I could’ve asked for.”

On the second day, the competition moved to the Nordic track, where the athletes duked it out in the 7.5km Individual Freestyle. On the men’s side, CU finished with three men and one woman in the top 10. Will Koch came across the finish in 4th place, Magnus Boee in 6th, and Johannes Flaaten in 7th. Anna-Maria Dietze came through for the women with a commendable 8th place. Unfortunately, these results moved them further from the Utes lead, expanding the gap in points to 55.5, UU (312.5), and CU (256.5). 

Jana Weinburger, the CU Head Nordic Coach, stated after the race, “The guys did great, the girls not as much,” She continued, “It can serve as motivation for Saturday. We’re better than we showed today, so we’ll prepare and see what happens.”

The third day of the Championships was the anticipated night slalom at Howelsen Hill. The University of Colorado achieved two individual victories that evening, with Filip Wahlqvist and Magdalena Luczak dominating the fields. However, the Buffs only had one other athlete in the top 10, Ryder Sarchett who finished with an 8th-place result. 

With Utah and Denver having multiple athletes finish in the top 10, the two teams pulled ahead in points, and Utah secured the lead heading into the final races of the 4-day event. Utah had 444.5 points, Denver had 401, and Colorado had 393.5. With a 51-point lead, most thought the Utes had the championship in the bag. Nevertheless, it would come down to the Nordic racers at the end to finalize the trophy. 

The Epic Comeback on the Final Day

Sure enough, the Buffs Nordic team came into the last day with the motivation to send it for the ultimate victory. With their work cut out, the men and women had to achieve big results in the 20km Nordic Mass Start Classical race. 

Three women pushed through the course, fighting to earn a top-10 result: Hanna Abrahamsson (4th), Anna-Maria Dietze (5th), and Weronika Kaleta (9th). However, the nail-biter for the week was the men’s last Nordic event because it finalized the points. The CU athletes, Magnus Boee and Will Koch did not let the pressure affect their race; it fueled them. They came through the finish line on the podium, Koch in 3rd and Boee in 1st place. 

With the Buffs stacking themselves on the leaderboard on the final day, they overtook the Utes by just two points. Utah concluded with 567.5 team points, while Colorado won with 569.5. Denver rounded out the NCAA Championship team podium with 491 points. 

Boee stated after his victory, “This whole year, I knew I had it in me, but the skis weren’t good one day, or I just didn’t have the shape that day.” 

Weinberger stated, “It feels surreal,” She continued, “That was very close, very nerve-racking, but everybody did what we had to do. We came back from our not-so-great day on Thursday, and it turned out well.”

Frederick Landstedt, the Director of Skiing for Utah, stated, “It happens this way in sport sometimes,” He continued, “We did our best and everyone skied great. We started the week off really well and kept it going on the (freestyle) day. I thought the slalom also went very well. Today, (Colorado) was just crushing it. They had probably their best day ever. But we still had an amazing day and came up just a little short. That happens sometimes.”

All RMISA athletes who competed in the NCAA Championships pushed their limits and tried their best throughout the four days of challenging competition. It was a thrilling finish when CU overcame their nine-year drought between titles, which was their second-longest in program history, and it was the closest final score in the coed era of the championship.

University of Colorado Coaches Make Their Mark in History Too

Jana Weinberger, the coach for the Nordic team, and Ian Lochhead, the coach for the Alpine team, both guided their teams at CU this season. Following their NCAA Championship victory, they garnered significant recognition, leaving an impact on the sport and the program.

Both coaches are new to Head Coaching at the University of Colorado but have made strides in their inaugural year. They join only three other coaches in program history to win the title in their first year as Head Coach. 

Further, Weinberger is one of two Head Coaches of CU who has won a National Championship as a CU athlete and a Head Coach. The only other coach to do so was Tim Hinderman. 

Weinburger has established herself as the monarch of comeback tales. She has now been a part of three of the biggest comebacks in NCAA skiing history (2006, 2013, and 2024), each in a different role.

Full Results

Quotes provided by University of Colorado and University of Utah Press Releases