March 17, 2016 (Steamboat Springs, CO) – Over four days that included both Nordic and alpine competitions, in the end the Denver Pioneers won the school’s 23rd NCAA Championship in Steamboat Springs, CO, March 9-12.

Overall, the Pioneers scored 567.6 points and beat in-state rival Colorado by 76 points with the Buffaloes coming in second with 491.5 points. Regional rivals Utah (485) and surprising Montana State (406) took third and fourth and the east’s top performer, Dartmouth, was fifth with 335 points.

In Nordic only standings, the results were similar, although much closer. Denver had the most points on the Nordic side with 287, just 10 ahead of Colorado’s total of 277 with Utah third at 264 and central power Northern Michigan fourth with 217.

“This one does feel different than two years ago,” DU Nordic coach Dave Stewart said of the Pioneer’s second title in three years. “It’s a completely different group of athletes. A very young team, a new team.

“When we won in 2014, we had a veteran group,” Stewart continued. “To have a couple freshmen from Colorado here, skiing in their first NCAA Championships and go out and be All-American, and just have their best races of the year at the championship under this pressure is just unbelievable.”

The Nordic races were contended on Thursday and Saturday. Thursday’s races were the 5K women’s and 10K men’s freesytle races with an interval start and Saturday’s races concluded the overall championship with 15K women’s and 20K men’s classic races with a mass start.

The Pioneer’s were led on the Nordic side by Moritz Madlener, who took home two podiums with a third place freesytle finish and a runner-up finish in the classic race. But it was Colorado’s Mads Stroem who did something no men’s Nordic skier had accomplished the previous decade by consolidating both individual NCAA Championships.

Stroem won the 10K freestyle race Thursday by 10.6 seconds over Northern Michigan’s Ian Torchia in a time of 22 minutes, 6.8 seconds. Northern Michigan had the best day in the race with Torchia taking second, Adam Martin fourth and Jake Brown in ninth to bring home three All-America honors.

“I am really happy with the 10K on Thursday,” Stroem said. “That was my biggest goal. This (win) is close behind. Winning at home and on the home turf was pretty cool.”

The 5K freestyle champion was Montana State’s Anika Miller, who won in a time of 13:06.1, just under nine seconds ahead of Colorado’s Petra Hyncicova. Utah’s Sloan Storey was third, just one-tenth behind Hyncicova in 13:14.1 and Miller’s teammate Cambria McDermott took fourth in 13:15.5. New Mexico’s Emilie Cedervarn, the defending classic champion, took fifth in 13:18.9.

After that day, the Montana State Nordic team took the lead its alpine squad gave it and extended it, holding an 18-point lead at the midpoint of the championships. The Bobcats were just the seventh different school to lead at the midpoint of the NCAA Championships and looking for the school’s first NCAA Championship in the sport, having never finished higher than seventh at NCAAs previously.

After the Pioneers retook the lead on Friday night at the slalom races just 250 yards away from the Nordic course at Howelsen Hill, the Pioneers secured the title in the men’s 20K classic race, which started the final day.

Madlener was second, behind Stroem, as the two sprinted the final half kilometer and finished just 1.7 seconds apart. In a fast 20K, Stroem and Madlener both broke the 50 minute plateau in 49:41.9 and 49:43.6 respectively.

But it was Denver’s depth, with Dag Frode Trolleboe taking 10th and Lars Hannah finishing 13th, that secured the championship for the Pioneers. Colorado and Utah wouldn’t go away, however, and Northern Michigan had a Nordic title on their minds, too.

Colorado freshman Petter Reistad, knowing the Buffaloes needed to make up some serious points, went out on a limb and attempted to double-poll the entire 20K race with skate skis.

The risk appeared to be working as Reistad had a solid lead through two of the four laps before the pack caught him. He ended up in ninth place and gave the Buffaloes two top 10 finishes. Aside from Denver and Colorado, Utah and Northern Michigan also compiled two top 10 finishes. The Utes’ Niklas Persson was third in 50:00.6 with teammate Kevin Bolger taking seventh in 50:43.2. Torchia was fourth for NMU in 50:22.1 with Martin one spot behind in fifth in 50:39.7.

The women’s 15K classical was contested just two hours after the men’s race but it’s hard to imagine a pair of race that would be more dramatically different than those two. The men’s race was extremely fast as the top racers finished the 20K course in less than 50 minutes.

By 11 a.m., two hours later, the temperatures spiked into the 50s and the snow seemingly turned to sand. Denver put a cap on its championship by claiming the final individual title, the third of the meet for the Pioneers, who had two individual champions on the alpine side, in a time of 54:37.6.

Denver’s Aja Starkey also added a top 10 and local Taeler McCrerey took 12th as the Pioneers skied away with the championship.

“I’m really, really proud,” Eriksen said. “We have such a young team, especially on the women’s side and they have impressed me so much, and the boys too. It’s been super fun. I think everyone has succeeded and maybe everyone has skied their best races this weekend, which is impressive.”

New Mexico was also impressive in the women’s race as the only team with three in the top 10 to earn three All-America honors. Kati Roivas took second in 54:57.5 with Emilie Cedervarn took eighth in 55:22.5 and Eva Sever Rus rounded out the Lobos in 10th in 55:39.8.

Colorado’s Ane Johnsen took third in 54:58.8 and teammate Jesse Knori rounded out the top five in 55:13.8 to give the Buffs two in the top five and propel them into second place ahead of Utah in the final race.

Summing it up best for the Pioneers was Denver’s alpine coach, Andy LeRoy. “The relationships we’ve built with the athletes have just become stronger year after year. Seeing them come and compete like this, personally for it to be on a hill that I grew up on, it’s hard to put it into words. I was definitely choking back tears.”