February 24, 2008 (Bozeman, Mont.) – The University of Colorado ski team, with three individual victories on Saturday and five overall on the weekend, cruised to the 2008 Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Championships. This meet also doubled as the NCAA West Regional/Montana State Invitational, and was held on the same exact courses that will host this year’s NCAA Championships in less than two weeks.

Colorado won the 9-team meet with 555 points, pulling away from Utah in winning by 28 as the Utes had 527; Denver snared third with 497, with Alaska-Anchorage (458) and New Mexico (445) rounding out the top five. The Buffs held a 17-point edge over DU at the midway point Friday, with Utah 21 back.

It was the Buffaloes ninth regional title under head coach Richard Rokos, their first since 2006 on their way to the national title. Colorado now has 22 RMISA titles, 11 men’s, one women’s and 10 coed.

On the down side, Colorado did not qualify a full team for the NCAA’s. The maximum is 12 per team, three in each discipline (men’s and women’s alpine, men’s and women’s Nordic); CU came up one short on the men’s alpine side. Only Utah from the west qualified a full team, and usually only a couple from the east do so as well; CU won the 2006 NCAA title with 11 skiers, the first and only occasion the national champion did not have a full 12-skier squad. CU and DU qualified 11 this time around.

“The Nordics are peaking big time and we were fighting a different animal regarding the alpine side, and we didn’t fully meet our goals,” Rokos said. “But we got two guys in there after having all but one on the bubble.

“For the rest of the team, we qualified four women in alpine and five in both Nordics, sneaking Josh (Smith) in there after he had a fantastic last two meets,” he continued. “And we were two spots shy of a sixth girl qualifying in cross. So we’ll have some decisions to make between now and Monday as to who we bring back here, but it’s really good to have such depth and to have these kinds of tough choices to make.”

Coaches have until late Monday afternoon to identify which skiers they will bring; if a team qualifies more than the maximum three, they have their choice among that pool of athletes.

In cross country, senior Maria Grevsgaard banked another victory, claiming the women’s 15-kilometer classical race, her ninth win this season and 17th overall in her career, as she continues to add to her all-time CU record. She basically led from wire-to-wire in winning in a 53:42.61 time, as she got the jump on the field on the first lap of the course, Her initial split was 46 seconds faster than New Mexico’s Ermoshina Polina, who was the eventual runner-up in 54:31.69.

Grevsgaard held her three-win lead over Zikova, and with only two races remaining this winter, is assured of owning the top spot for the foreseeable future. However, the pair is tied for the most wins in a single event, as Grevsgaard has 11 classical wins and Zikova the same number in the slalom.

Junior Lenka Palanova finished third for a second straight day, completing the course in 56:27.70, the second of four CU skiers in the top 10 for the second day here. Freshman Karoline Borgnes was seventh in 58:02.45, with senior Jenny Hamilton ninth in 58:48.69. Rounding out the CU effort were sophomore Kristin Ronnestrand (12th, 59:48.27) and senior Mia Gaw (16th, 1:00:20.37). As Rokos noted on the team’s depth, it was the fifth time this winter all six Buff skiers placed in the top 17, and the fourth race in succession to confirm his peaking statement. Gaw is the skier who just missed qualifying.

In the men’s 20km classical, Buff senior Kit Richmond continued on his recent roll, winning for the third consecutive race in covering the four legs of the course in one hour, three minutes and 24.69 seconds. In edging Utah’s Snorri Einarsson by 1.8 seconds, Richmond posted his sixth straight top five finish since illness forced him to miss the classic race in CU’s own invitational. It was also his sixth career win, but just his second triumph in the classic discipline; his other came in the 2006 Western State meet, which was the first career collegiate victory.

CU had just three Nordic men here this weekend, though five Buffs earned qualifying seeds for the NCAA’s. CU placed all three in the top eight Friday and had the trio among the top 12 Saturday, with freshman Jesper Ostensen third in the classic in 1:04:10.72. Sophomore Josh Smith placed 12th in 1:07:33.29.

“It was a good two days and we’re happy with it,” CU Nordic coordinator Bruce Cranmer said. “I think we skied well, we’re pretty strong, and I’m optimistic, though am cautious about it. But we accomplished what we wanted to do here, we’re familiar with the courses and overall we all feel real good about how the weekend went. This is a great group of athletes, they work hard and they deserve to do well. It shows in their results.”

One of CU’s top Nordic performers, sophomore Matt Gelso remained in Boulder, as the sophomore if trying to back to 100 percent after battling a month-long illness and the coaches did not want to take any chances. Junior Karl Nygren, who likely won’t be among CU’s top three for NCAA’s though he has qualified, also was not here as he is helping to represent the United States this weekend at the U-23 World Championships in Malles, Italy.

Individually, Colorado claimed the most individual race titles in the west for the third straight winter, with Buffalo skiers winning 17 of the 42 events. Denver had the next most wins with 11, followed by Utah (8), Nevada (4) and New Mexico (2).

The 17 wins tied the school mark for the most in a season, joining the 1991, 1998 and 2006 squads; all three went on to win the national championship. Since the sport went coed in 1983, Colorado has won 204 races, as the Buffaloes topped the 200 plateau with five wins here this weekend.

The western skiers will return to Bozeman in less than two weeks and will be joined by their eastern and central region counterparts as the 55th NCAA Championships, which will run from March 5-8.

RMISA Championship/NCAA West Regional Team Scores

1. Colorado 555
2. Utah 527
3. Denver 497
4. Alaska-Anchorage 458
5. New Mexico 445
6. Nevada 422
7. Montana State 368
8. Western State 199
9. Whitman 185.

Men’s 20km Classic

1. Kit Richmond (CU) 1:03:24.69
2. Snorri Einarsson (Utah) 1:03:26.49
3. Jesper Ostensen (CU) 1:04:10.72
4. Raphael Wunderle (UAA (1:04:38.70
5. Haavard Selseng (DU) 1:04.42.36
6. Mike Hinckley (DU) 1:04:49.77
7. John Stene (DU) 1:05:36.09
8. Ben Fick (Utah) 1:05:39.10
9. Hellebost Tor-Hakon (UNM) 1:06:14.09
10. Casey Simons (Utah) 1:06:14.09.

Other Area Results

12. Josh Smith (CU) 1:07:33.29
15. Dan Clark (DU) 1:08:44.55
18. Kyle Ahern (DU) 1:11:06.81
24. Tom Sunderland (WSC) 1:13:15.78
28. Ansel Schimpff (WSC) 1:15:19.46
30. Taylor Sheldon (DU) 1:16:47.50
32. Tyler Allyn (WSC) 1:17:33.99.

Women’s 15km Classic

1. Maria Grevsgaard (CU) 53:42.61
2. Ermoshina Polina (UNM) 54:31.69
3. Lenka Palanova (CU) 56:27.70
4. Annelies Cook (Utah) 56:54.46
5. Sara Schweiger (Utah) 57:18.64
6. Antje Maempel (DU) 57:27.96
7. Karoline Borgnes (CU) 58:02.45
8. Zoe Roy (Utah) 58:26.51
9. Jenny Hamilton (CU) 58:48.69
10. Kaelin Kiesel (MSU) 59:06.72.

Other Area Results

11. Annelise Bailly (DU) 59:37.16
12. Kristen Ronnestrand (CU) 59:48.27
16. Mia Gaw (CU) 1:00:20.37
22. Stephanie Wunderle (DU) 1:01:22.20
25. Katie Ronsse (DU) 1:03:16.54
33. Brittany Perkins (WSC) 1:10:11.73
34. Mary Matthews (WSC) 1:14:24.28
35. Heidi Lovett (WSC) 1:20:50.85.