March 7, 2008 (Bozeman, Mont.) – Senior Maria Grevsgaard was crowned champion for the second time in three days, and the University of Colorado ski team had all six skiers finish in the top 11 in taking the Nordic title as the Buffaloes leapfrogged two schools back into first place here Friday in the 55th Annual NCAA Championships.

Colorado wrestled its first day lead back from Denver, as the Buffaloes scored 201 points Friday to jump from third to first in the standings. CU has 483 points owns a precarious 18.5-point lead over DU (465.5) in what appears to be a two-school race for the title through six events. Utah (429), Dartmouth (412) and Middlebury (401) round out the top five; the irony is that CU and DU are both one performer short of a full-12 skier team, while their three closest pursuers are the only ones in the 21-team field that qualified full squads.

The lead is shaky as the Buffaloes, as DU endured in Friday’s cross country events, will be one skier short in Saturday’s slalom races. CU is the only school to have won a national title short of a full team, having done so with 11 skiers in 2006; if Denver is to join Colorado in that accomplishment, the Pioneers will have to end another streak: the leader after three days, or six events, has won the last 13 titles.

“We have to ski well, diligently and fast,” CU head coach Richard Rokos said ahead of Saturday’s slalom competition, which is the most exciting discipline and will decide this year’s championships. “It’s kind of a deadly combination, because to ski fast, we have to take chances.

“There is no substitute for being (a skier) short, but it’s doable,” he continued. “I am pretty sure we are capable of it. We need some portion of luck on our side for everything to be in our court. We can’t put too much pressure on ourselves, because that’s the easiest way to make mistakes, so we still have to make it fun. We have a lot of support here, it’s almost like a home meet.

“Second place is not the preferential scenario,” Rokos concluded. “We just need to focus and go for it. Anything can happen in slalom, and one team’s misery can turn into another team’s gold.”

The last school not to hold on to its third day lead was Utah in 1994; the Utes entered the last two events with a 31-point lead over New Mexico and a 36-point edge over Vermont, but UVM rallied to win by 21 over the Utes. Colorado also is the last school to win the title which lost a first day lead and regained it after the third, accomplishing that task in 1999.

Colorado won three of the four Nordic races here in racking up 387 points, easily laying claim to having the top cross country team in the nation. Denver was second, almost a hundred points back with 290, followed by Northern Michigan (287), Dartmouth (284) and Utah (281).

It marked the third time during the seven-year tenure of Nordic Coordinator Bruce Cranmer that the Buffaloes have produced the nation’s top Nordic team. CU also topped the NCAA meet in points in 2004 and 2006, and with the CU men winning both the freestyle and classic races, this was the fourth time his teams pulled off the NCAA team sweep, twice by each gender.

CU easily won the men’s race with 103 points, with Northern Michigan a distant second with 79; Dartmouth used three top seven finishes in the women’s race to also score 103, edging CU’s 98 total. Denver was third in both races.

Grevsgaard, despite some unusual prerace nerves, closed the winter like she opened it, demolishing the field. She completed the women’s 15-kilometer classical course in 55:04.6, posting nearly a 55-second win over New Mexico’s Polina Ermoshina (55:59.4). It was the most decisive win in an NCAA woman’s race since 2002, when Nevada’s Katka Hanusova, a one-time Buff, was the 15k freestyle champion by a shade over two minutes (2:00.1).

“This was actually one of my hardest races,” Grevsgaard said. “Even though it looked like it wasn’t, I was sure that they were going to catch me on the second lap, but then I got some more energy and made the gap bigger. I was really nervous this morning. I woke up very early and I was actually crying when I warmed up because I was so nervous.”

“We did a really good job today, we all did, especially the guys,” she added. “We made up some points, so it will be exciting tomorrow. Right now I just want to relax and take some weeks off.”

It was the 11th win this winter for the Geilo, Norway product, tying Line Selnes for the CU record for the most wins in a single season, cross country or alpine. In 1998, Selnes also won 11 of 12 races, including the coveted NCAA sweep, and finished second the other occasion, as did Grevsgaard this year.

ALL-TIME INDIVIDUAL SEASON WINS BY CU SKIERS
11 Line Selnes, 1998 (Nordic; 6 FS, 5 CL)
11 Maria Grevsgaard, 2008 (Nordic; 6 CL, 5 FS)
7 John Skajem, 1986 (Alpine; 4 SL, 3 GS)
7 Toni Standteiner, 1991 (Alpine; 5 GS, 2 SL)
7 Lucie Zikova, 2006 (Alpine; 5 SL, 2 GS)
7 Maria Grevsgaard, 2007 (Nordic; 5 CL, 2 FS)

She becomes the fourth Buff to claim both NCAA individual titles since the sport went coed in 1983, the third Nordic woman to do so. She joins Selnes, John Skajem (1987, alpine), Selnes and Jana Rehemaa (2006, Nordic).

Grevsgaard also added to her school record for career wins, running her total to 19, and being a junior in eligibility, she will return next winter for a fourth season. Grevsgaard is the fifth Buffalo woman to be crowned the NCAA champion in the freestyle, joining Annette Skjolden (1993), Selnes (1998), Mari Storeng (2002) and Rehemaa (2006).

Grevsgaard’s sweep along with Lucie Zikova’s giant slalom win Friday gives CU three wins here in as many days, the 10th time in Colorado history that the Buffaloes have won three or more individual titles at the NCAA Championships, six times since 1983. It was CU’s 77th overall NCAA individual ski title, as the Buffs extended their lead over second place Denver (70). It was also the 20th win by a Buff skier this season, tied for the second most in year dating to 1983 and trailing only the 2006 team, which had individuals win 21 times. The 1998 team also produced 20 winners.

ALL-TIME INDIVIDUAL WINS BY CU SKIERS
19 Maria Grevsgaard, 2006-08 (12 CL, 7 FS)
15 Lucie Zikova, 2005-08 (11 SL, 4 GS)
13 Per Kare Jakobsen, 1988-90 (9 FS/XC, 4 CL)
12 John Skajem, 1985-87 (8 SL, 4 GS)
11 Anette Skjolden, 1991-93 (7 CL, 4 FS)
11 Line Selnes, 1998 (6 FS, 5 CL)
10 Bjorn Svensson, 1990-93 (6 FS, 4 CL)

She had plenty of help Friday as Buff skiers posted five All-America efforts, including two-first team.

Senior Kit Richmond concluded his Colorado career with a second place finish in the men’s 20k classical. Alaska-Fairbanks’ Marius Korthauer won the gold with a time of one hour, three minutes and 7.6 seconds, comfortably ahead of Richmond’s 1:03:19.7 time. For Richmond, it was his second NCAA podium finish to go with the freestyle title in 2006, and he joined Grevsgaard as All-America first-teamers, which are awarded to the top five finishers.

“It feels good. More importantly our team did well today and we all had a really good day,” Richmond said. “That’s what we needed to do. It’s always good to finish a career or anything with a high note. I am proud of my accomplishments. I’ve had some ups and downs at Colorado but it’s been amazing and hopefully we can go for the win here tomorrow.

“I don’t know if I can exactly say what was different today than my performance Wednesday, but you just know when you start racing if your body is ready for whatever you are going to do,” he said in comparing his classic finish to his 11th place effort in Wednesday’s freestyle. “I didn’t ski perfect today, but I definitely felt a lot better.”

Senior Lenka Palanova polished off her CU career with a 10th place, finishing in 58:25.6, while sophomore Karoline Borgnes was right behind her in 11th in 58:40.9. Palanova, the runner-up in Wednesday’s freestyle, claimed second-team All-America honors.

Eastern and central region performers had four of the top five spots in the men’s race, with the next western finisher being CU freshman Jesper Ostensen, who was sixth in 1:03:40.0. The Buffalo newcomer had an impressive debut season, as his effort Friday was his eighth top six performance of the season, following his bronze finish two days earlier in the freestyle. Sophomore Matt Gelso, who never quite returned to 100 percent health following the normal winter illness many Nordic performers succumb to, rallied to finish ninth in 1:04:33.5 and join Ostensen as a second-team All-American for the event.

“It was great having almost everybody top 10 today, with one 11th place finish,” Cranmer said. “It was such a good effort, for sure, especially on the guys’ side. They skied well but with Matt being sick and Kit not having a normal race for him a couple of days ago, they battled. I knew we could do it and Kit taking second was great, in his last race for us. Second place is awesome.”

“Maria is definitely a one-of-a-kind,” he continued. “Especially the way that she’s skiing right now, so dominant in all the races, winning both times here, 11 times out of 12 on the season, and she still has another year left. It will be great to have her back. When you work hard and win almost everything, it’s nice to be able to come here and keep it together and do well.”

The slalom races commence Saturday morning, with the first runs are at 9:30 a.m. (women) and 10:30 (men); second runs follow at 11:45 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., respectively.

(Assistant SID Allie Musso is with the ski team and contributed to this report.)

55th Annual NCAA Championship Team Scores

1. Colorado 483
2. Denver 465.5
3. Utah 429
4. Dartmouth 412
5. Middlebury 401
6. Vermont 321
7. New Mexico 310
8. Northern Michigan 287
9. Alaska-Fairbanks 253
10. Alaska-Anchorage 249.5
11. Nevada 198
12. Colby 155
13. Williams 140
14. New Hampshire 131
15. Montana State 112
16. Bates 103
17. Michigan Tech 63
18. Gustavus Adolphus 59
19. St. Scholastica 35
20. Wisconsin-Green Bay 26
21. Whitman 14.


Men’s 20km Classic

1. Marius Korthauer, UAF, 1:03:07.6
2. Kit Richmond, CU, 1:03:19.7
3. Juergen Uhl, UVM, 1:03:20.7
4. Martin Banerud, NMU, 1:03:30.6
5. Vahur Teppan, UAF, 1:03:37.6
6. Jesper Ostensen, CU, 1:03:40.0
7. John Stene, DU, 1:04:22.5
8. Tor-hakon Hellebostad, UNM, 1:04:23.1
9. Matt Gelso, CU, 1:04:33.5
10. Even Sletten, Utah, 1:05:02.4.

Other Area Results
17. Rene Reisshauer, DU, 1:05:54.6
19. Havard Selseng, DU, 1:05:59.7.

Women’s 15km Classic

1. Maria Grevsgaard, CU, 55:04.6
2. Polina Ermoshina, UNM, 55:59.4
3. Antje Maempel, DU, 56:09.5
4. Elsa Sargent, Dart., 56:47.0
5. Annelise Bailly, DU, 57:12.0
6. Susan Dunklee, Dart., 57:40.0
7. Rosie Brennan, Dart., 57:46.7
8. Alexa Turzian, Midd., 57:54.2
9. Chelsea Holmes, UN, 57:57.6
10. Lenka Palanova, CU, 58:25.6

Other CU/Area Finisher
11. Karoline Borgnes, CU, 58:40.9.