Buffs lose lead, championship to Denver
Back in Boulder and officially in the offseason, the CU ski team will have to start preparing for next year if they want to become national champions again.
At the NCAA Championships last week, the Buffs looked to get their second national title in three years. Instead, Denver got their second national title in four years.
Even though they lead heading into the final day of competition, the Buffs watched their third-day lead expire Saturday before they ultimately lost by 30 points to the University of Denver.
The championships started Wednesday. At the end of the day, the Buffs led the competition by 32 points over second-place Northern Michigan.
Senior Maria Grevsgaard won the 5-kilometer freestyle race in a time of 17:09.8, which led all other competitors by 24 seconds. Senior Lenka Palanova, who came in at 17:34.
“It’s amazing that Lenka and I were able to finish one-two,” said Grevsgaard in a press release Wednesday.
The top two Buff performances in the race were essential in Colorado’s big lead after day one.
“We have a solid cushion right now, but there is nothing solid in concrete,” CU head coach Richard Rokos said Wednesday.
On Thursday, the Buffs’ solid lead turned to slush.
After a mediocre performance, Colorado was in third place. The highlight of the day was the slalom races. The men’s team finished third, and the women’s team finished second.
Colorado lost the biggest first-day lead since the Championships went coed in 1983.
The Buffaloes reclaimed the lead after day three due in large part to the performance of the Nordic women’s ski team, who placed all six skiers in the top 11 in the event.
In the past 13 season, the leader after the third day went on to win the title.
That was not the case for the Buffs.
Despite Lucie Zikova winning her third career NCAA title at the Slalom event, the Buffaloes finished second at the 2008 NCAA Championships.
Denver over came the Buffs’ 17.5-point Friday lead and won by 30.5 points on Saturday.
Rokos said he was still pleased with his team’s performances, especially being short a skier.
Final team scores
55th Annual NCAA Championship Final Team Scores-1. Denver 649.5; 2. Colorado 619; 3. Utah 560; 4. Dartmouth 546; 5. Middlebury 529; 6. Vermont 455; 7. New Mexico 404; 8. Alaska-Anchorage 334.5; 9. Nevada 303; 10. Northern Michigan 287; 11. New Hampshire 286; 12. Alaska-Fairbanks 253; 13. Colby 227; 14. Williams 223; 15. Bates 153; 16. Montana State 145; 17. Michigan Tech 63; 18. Gustavus Adolphus 59; 19. St. Scholastica 35; 20. Wisconsin-Green Bay 26; 21. Whitman 14.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Brent New at brent.new@colorado.edu.
