(CU Independent illustration/Kelly Kaoudis)
Despite not having any skiers win individual events in the Nordic races, a strong team performance by the Colorado ski team secured another meet victory.
The Buffs edged future Pac-12 foes Utah Utes to win their third of four meets this season by a score of 879 to Utah’s 869 points in Aspen, Colo.
“It was close from the beginning, but the Nordics came back to make up the margin and help us to the win,” CU Head Coach Richard Rokos said in a news release.
For the Buffs, three was their magic number.
In the women’s events, junior Eliska Hajkova finished in second place in the women’s 21K freestyle, followed by sophomore Joanne Reid in third and senior Alexa Turzian in fourth in the same event to help catapult the overall team score in favor of the Buffs.
The men’s trio of junior Reid Pletcher, senior’s Patrick Neel and Jesper Ostensen finished in sixth, seventh and ninth respectively in the men’s 21K freestyle.
“It was a perfect day, beautiful weather, and we just set out to just try and take care of the details, not worry about things and let the points fall where they may,” CU Nordic Coach Bruce Cranmer said in a news release.
The Buffs, ranked No. 2 in the nation behind Vermont, will look to continue their success at the RMISA Championship/NCAA West Regional on February 25 to 26 in Park City and Soldier Hollow, Utah.
Club hockey edges rivals Colorado State
They did it on the football field. They did it on the hardwood. Now they did it in the ice rink.
Another Colorado athletic team, men’s hockey, took down storied in-state rivals Colorado State as the Buffs defeated the Rams 5-1 on Friday night in Boulder.
The win was the Buffs first over the Ram this season, improving to 14-10-1-2. CSU drops to 20-13-1-1.
Senior Andy Neitenbach and freshman Chase Komatz scored two goals apiece while senior Conor Williams added another goal to make it five for the day. The Buffs are ranked No. 4 and are considered strong contenders for the ACHA D-II West Regional Tournament beginning on Feb. 25.
Before the tournament begins, the Buffs will take on No. 14 Northern Colorado in a home-and-home series starting on Friday at Greely then return to Boulder on Saturday for a game at 7:15 p.m.
Ten seniors, playing their final home game, will be honored on Saturday as part of senior night.
Burks still in the running for Naismith
Colorado sophomore guard Alec Burks is in the running for one men’s basketball’s top individual accolades.
The Missouri native is one of four Big 12 players named to the top 30 watch list for the Naismith Trophy Midseason List. The award is announced on Feb. 11 in Georgia by The Atlanta Tipoff Club.
Burks is one of only five sophomores on the list of players competing for the annual award given to college basketball’s male player of the year.
If Burks were to win the Trophy, he would be the first Buff to ever garner the prestigious honor.
Leading the Buffs with an average points per game count of 19.5, Burks is also second in the Big 12 for scoring average. He also became the 27th student-athlete in school history to score 1,000 points in his 55th career game in a loss against Texas A & M.
Burks will look to improve on his season marks after a dismal performance against Kansas State on Feb. 12, where the star guard scored eight points. The Buffs will travel to Lawrence, Kan. to face the high-ranked Jayhawks at noon on Saturday.
Those unable to make the trip to Kansas should tune in to ESPN, which will broadcast the game live.
Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Esteban L. Hernandez at Esteban.hernandez@colorado.edu.
