2024 NCAA skiing championship: classical full replay

Watch the full event replay of both the men’s and women’s 20K classic races at the 2024 NCAA skiing championship on March 9, 2024.

Subscribe to the NCAA Championship YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/NCAAChampionships?sub_confirmation=1

Get your NCAA Championship tickets here: https://www.ncaatickets.com/

Welcome to a beautiful day. Here in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The final day of the NCAA skiing Championships. Today we have the Nordic 20 kilometer classic races for both women and men. Women are going to be going first. And today, the battle is all about coming home with the trophy. NC double. A

Championship will be decided today. Right now, Utah on top of the standings with 400 and 44.5 points, followed by Denver. See you Dartmouth, Montana State, our top five. It is going to be a battle today. You know the Utes are going to be looking to defend that that trophy they

Have won every year for the past five years, other than of course, our Covid year. So, Utah on a streak leading today. They do have a pretty healthy lead, I’m here today with Roger Perricone. This is Travis Jones, and we will be calling the race quite an exciting day we got

Going right here. Beautiful, beautiful weather. Couldn’t be better for this event. Mass start. Women will be running first right here at House and Hill this is truly the world’s coolest city park rodeo arena is our start finish line, serving double duty in this town. And here they go. Here we go. Right

On. On the point. There of the Chevron start, we’ve got Victoria Bard from northern Michigan wearing bib number one as you see them make their way out onto course. These athletes, Roger they’re ranked by their divisional standings in classic racing. So Herman’s our start position here determines their

Start position. So as they come around the first corner here we’re going to see the top divisional racers in classic specifically on the front. And Central Division drawn the draw on the front row today. So Victoria Bard from northern Michigan leading it out, the top eastern skier in classic Shay

Broms wearing bib number two, and Tilda Baumann from Montana State wearing bib number three. All of those racers will be, certainly in the mix today. It’ll be interesting to see how this breaks down out on course. Yeah. With these fast conditions, team tactics, maybe playing less of a role as I

Understand it. So we’ll, we’ll see as the race progresses. But that teams, pulling each other around through this course, and especially as we near the finish line, if that team is together, it’s going to be a tough battle as we make it into the across the finish line. Yeah

Absolutely. Roger. We do college skiing is unique in cross country skiing in that it’s team scoring that matters more than individual scoring. So very rarely, in most, you know, in most Nordic races do we see teams scoring or kind of domestique, tour de France style tactics play a role, but it can

Actually play a role in college skiing because of the fact that those team scores that we’re looking at right there matter Utah with 444 Denver with 401 Colorado 393 pretty close behind Denver, and then Dartmouth, 278 Montana State 251 Anchorage in sixth Vermont and seventh New Hampshire. Eighth, Westminster ninth, and then Middlebury,

Bringing it up in 10th there, all of those teams have strong racers out there today. But of course, the Utah team is a force to be reckoned with, on a day like today. Roger, you do see a little bit less in the way of team tactics because there’s not

Fresh snow in the tracks. So sometimes when there’s fresh snow in the tracks and it’s snowing on a classic day, you’ll see teams having somebody else get up there and break trail for their strongest skiers so that their strongest skiers can then have an opportunity later in the

Race and save a little bit of energy early on. But on a day like this, no fresh snow in the tracks, fast skiing, firm conditions for everybody, relatively simple wax situation. It’s kind of the most fair possible scenario we can have for everybody to have a chance

To have a big day. Yeah, they’re making her way up, the first of the climbs right now, long, continuous uphill climb, a few little rollers as they come up and over, but generally uphill for quite a while right now. Lots of lots of uphill and the downhills are quick. They are.

That’s kind of one hallmark of these steamboat courses is the hills are grinds. You’re you’re climbing for a while and then pretty quickly Lee you you lose altitude. So it’s not, long restful downhills that we see on some courses. These downhills are quick. So obviously really puts a premium on fitness. That

Combination of altitude and long tough climbs. And we are already seeing a group of six breaking away off of the front. As soon as we can, we’ll get a look at who those six are are. But yeah, pretty early breakaway. And this is not unusual, you know, we’ll definitely have some, some

Skiers who are just that little bit stronger than everybody else. But it is early days here. I think there’s plenty of opportunity for skiers who aren’t in that top seven now to, to bridge back up and get to that group. But they’ll want to do it soon. Roger. Yeah. These

Western athletes have had a chance to race on this hill a time or two, this year, that seems like it’s, playing a big part as as to where we’re going to stack up as we get to the middle of this first run, that familiarity of this hill. And

Where do you expend a lot of energy and where can you cut back, save some for later in the race? Yeah, absolutely. So it’s four times around a five kilometer loop here. And the first kilometer and a half primarily climbing. And then we kind of get into some rolling

Stuff, for a little while up above the beautiful Yampa River here in steamboat and then after that, they’ll hit some more climbing up toward the high point of the course. And then the second half of the course, the second half of that five k loop tends to be generally, you

Know, lose a little altitude, tough short climb, lose a little altitude, tough, short climb. So if there is an opportunity to recover, it’s certainly in the second half of this course. And Roger, there’s a beautiful shot of the Yampa River skiers moving along out into the bluffs portion of the course. Here

This, encircles, back around up the hill and behind one of the neighborhoods, Brooklyn and steamboat, and then the cliffs dropping right down to the river as these racers make their way along that cliff band into a big right hand bend. As they make their way back into view of the

Grandstands here at the rodeo arena. So this is, a spot for most spectators where they are out of view, and we will see, how we land when they get back into view. And we’ll hear that reaction from the crowd as they come back into the rodeo arena. Absolutely. For this first lap.

And we’ll have some splits as they do that, and hopefully we’ll get some bib numbers out here on course. Right now we’ve got that group of seven. Our seventh skier looks like they’re yo yoing off the back a little bit, which is a tough position to be in, could be that their

Skis are a little slower on the downhills. Roger. That’s how it looks to me. So we’ll see who our seventh skier is. But it looks to me like they’re losing ground every time they go downhill, which is a tough thing in a race of this length. If you’re losing, if you’re losing

Space every time you descend. Looks like two skiers now trying to bridge that gap and, Roger, let’s talk a little bit about kind of the top dogs to watch today, again, we haven’t seen the bib numbers of that first group there, but my guess is certainly Sidney Palmer ledger,

Our winner of the skate race from two days ago representing University of Utah. She’s going to be in there, Hayley Brewster from Vermont has had an amazing season in the East. She’s only she’s only lost one college race that she started this year, and she was second in that one. So,

Certainly she will be a force to be reckoned with. There we go. All right. So it looks like right up front, Tilda Boardman from Montana State wearing bib number three. No surprise there. Hannah Abramson from Ku, bib number five, Hannah has been a force this year in classic

Skiing here in the West, won the CU Invitational here on this exact same course about a month ago. So knows this course inside and out. Hilda Baumann one, very recently at the Western Championships. So she has also been a force in classic skiing here. I think I just saw Ava

Thurston on the back of that group. And now here’s kind of our chase pack as they’re making their way out onto the bluffs. Climb here. Just two sets of classic tracks around this course. So everybody’s got to negotiate their way around it. And just one of those two sets

Of tracks. Roger. Yeah. Stepping out of there, making a pass as we see right here on course is, putting yourself in a bit of a risk. I would imagine, as they come off and then back into the track, a lot of protocol in place just to keep things safe

And keep things fast. Yeah, absolutely. And what will what we’ll see generally is, you know, people can ask for tracks. So if you’re skiing along and someone’s in front of you and there’s a gap in front of them, you can ask them for track. And technically they’re supposed to move. Usually they will,

Sometimes they won’t, and sometimes the easiest option is to ask once, maybe twice. And if they don’t give it to you and you don’t want to lose any more time, you just go around the outside like we saw that athlete. Roger. Yeah. So our group is, certainly split right

Now. We’ve got a group up in the lead, probably seven racers and then a few trailers, and then we have the main pack, a fair distance behind them. Yeah, we do have looks like two athletes again, trying to bridge up to that front pack of seven. One is

Kind of getting into contact now that is the, the bluffs climb there and once they get up and around that corner that you can see, they will get a little bit of a break before starting the real climb up to the high point of the course. And again, last

Time we, last time we got a look there, we had Hannah Abramson on the front from Ku together with Montana State’s Tilda Baumann, who both have been really dominant this year, in the West in classic skiing. My guess is Sidney Palmer Ledger’s in there as well. I think Haley Brewster

Very likely to be up there. Another skier who I think could be in the mix today. Today, especially if she’s able to apply a lot of energy early is Kendall Kramer from Alaska Fairbanks. She won the Utah Invitational Classic race this year. Really, really good climber. Roger, maybe doesn’t

Have the power to finish with some of these top girls. Yeah, I imagine, you know, taking advantage early on to get some distance between your, your pack and those behind you is critical. Especially if there’s a portion of this course that you think is going to be a little more difficult, getting

That distance, getting that time up in the front is going to serve, advantageously as we work our way around this first lap. Yeah, for sure. And, and you will see, you know, a lot of these athletes are thinking about what the best strategy for them is right now. And you’ve

Got some athletes like Kendall Kramer who, you know, they’re great climbers. They can really move up these big hills, but they maybe are not the most powerful finishers. So, you know, the last K of this course, a lot of downhill. And then, of course, you’ve got a big double

Pole finish which favors power skiers. But power skiers have to be able to hang on for the first 19 K of this thing to be able to apply that power at the end in a way that’s going to get them the win. And therein lies the challenge. Exactly. So you know

That those climbers are trying to break this thing apart and make sure that they come into that last K with as few other people as possible, and then you’ve got the people that are really, really good sprinters that are going to just be, you know, trying to sit in the pack,

Stay, have a lot of confidence in their sprint ability to get in there and crush it at the end. So, it’s going to be an interesting balance. It is. And we’re looking at just under an hour for the winning time. So, we’ve got a ways to go, but man

Oh man, it’s really starting to shake itself out. We can see those strong skiers on the uphill portions of this course. Absolutely. Just coming up to the high point of the course here. And then they’re going to be going downhill for a little bit into a cool section that we

Call Mountain Lion Rocks around here. Sounds intimidating. And it is. And, appropriately named. Yeah. Spectacular venue here at Howelsen Hill. It’s, it’s really unique in the ski world in that, you know, after school kids come down to housing and there is out racing going on. There’s ski jumping going on, there’s cross

Country skiing going on. There’s a mogul line that’s really world class. There’s training for aerials and snowboarding, and it’s, it’s pretty unique. Roger, you’ve been a part of it for a long time. It is. It’s really something to see kids from 4 or 5 years old all the way up to

Our, most prestigious athletes here in steamboat. All taking part. And, it really is a the most wonderful of, scenarios, especially for the youth of this town. Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, of course, responsible for hosting this event or helping with helping with the management of the event. See you technically as

The host, but, this the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club doing a ton of work out here to put it together and, you know, year in and year out, a club that is recognized by the US Ski and Snowboard Association as being one of the very top clubs in the country. Yeah, five

Times club of the year. Absolutely. Okay. So we’ve got our lead pack here, and then we’ve got our chasers. I think that was Kendall Kramer right there. But again on the front, Selma Anderson now from Denver, there’s, Sidney Palmer Ledger in there, as well as, Karina Langerud in that front pack,

Both from Utah. Ava Thurston bringing up the back end of that first pack. Kate Oldham, they’re a really strong classic skier from the east. Bringing it up there. Here’s Leah, this is Leah Vinas from New Hampshire. We’ve got Annie McColgan coming through there who looks a little slick for one of our youths

There, Lucy Anderson from back in the pack is working her way up. Well. Oh, and here’s bib number two. Shea Brahms from Middlebury. Not a great start for Shea, but she can probably work her way back up there. Number six, that’s Merle Ricker from northern Michigan looking a

Little slick on this climb. Two it really it becomes pretty important here, to start looking at how people’s skis are working. You’re going to see people that are able to ski these hills in the tracks, and then you’re going to see people that are going to ski these

Hills out of the tracks. Roger. Yep. And skiing these hills out of the tracks gets pretty tiring, you definitely want that rare and perfect balance between good kick and good glide out here. It’s all about that wax at that point. Yeah. Oh, and there’s bib number one Victoria Bard Northern Michigan as well,

Also looking slick. She was our top ranked skier from the Central Division. So that Roger tells me that Northern Michigan may be a little bit struggling on the wax, but we’ll see. Their skis may come into it in the second half. Here we are coming around behind the stables into

The, back into the valley floor, and we can really get a sense on whose skis are running well and who is struggling. Still with their equipment. And our lead pack has grown a little bit. And, we’re going to have a full list here as they come through this finish section. It’s an

Interesting finish. They’re going around that lollipop there. And, then they’ll come into the lap. It’s a relatively short finish. Lane only about 70m. So that won’t matter on this lap. But on the last lap it is going to matter. We’re going to see a lot of tactics play out

Right in this section where they are right now. If there’s still a group together, if we don’t have a good leader. That’s amazing how well prepared this track is, given, the snowstorms we’ve had of late, and a lot of effort from a lot of different people, the city of Steamboat

Springs, as well as the coaching and training staff here at the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, has really put together a fantastic series. Absolutely. Okay. On the front, there, Jasmine Drolet from Dartmouth, she always figures, well, in these kind of tough races. She’s one of those really strong

Climbers on the front. So got a couple utes in there. So got some CU skiers. We should see names popping up shortly here for those splits. And here they come. First pass through back through the start finish rodeo arena line. All right. And we’ve got Jasmine Drolet from Dartmouth leading Hannah

Abramson from Ku who again has been really strong. Classic skiing all year. Tilde Baumann from Montana State, Karina DeGroot from Utah, Sydney Palmer Leger, also from Utah. Veronica Colletta, great to see her in there. She had a bit of a tough day on the skate day, but, she’s a Polish national team skier.

Olympian for Poland. She’ll be in the fight. She’s a really good classic skier and actually a really good finisher, Anna Maria Dietz, another great classic skier from CU, Haley Brewster. No surprise. Totally dominant in the East this year. Ava Thurston, young skier from Dartmouth, great to see Ava up

There. She has certainly proven her ability to be successful at junior World Championships. And, great to see her out here duking it out with some older athletes representing Dartmouth. And then Kate Oldham in 10th. And, I think that’s our lead pack as thus those ten, Astrid, Stav, Mario Poulos coming in, Kendal

Kramer in, currently skiing in third. So she’s got some work to do if she’s going to get up to that lead pack. Annie McColgan, Selma Anderson, Lana Varnas or sorry, Leah Varnas, Emma Reeder, Emma Strack from Saint Lawrence all lapping through here, but really, right now it is the

Story of those first few. We’ve got a couple CU buffs up there. Three I believe we’ve got a couple utes on the front there. Amazing. They’ve all made one lap now, so they’ve got a feel for where they need to put forth, max effort where they can take it a bit easy, especially

On the climbs and how they can work, among that front pack, try to hold off all those behind them. It’s, the tactics now are really come into play with that little bit of knowledge from that first wrap lap around the track. They they know where they stand and what they need to do

At this point. Absolutely, Roger. And a great opportunity actually for us to kind of see how everyone skis are working in that top eight pack going up the hill. I think there’s actually nine in that pack, and it looked to me like everyone in that lead pack going up Stadium Hill there

Did have good skis, nobody slipping, nobody having to get out of the tracks and run. So I think, you know, our lead pack definitely looks like they’re all on relatively equal footing as far as skis go. Yeah, the international flavor out of this, NCAA championships has really been fun to watch. You

Know, and these, student athletes, imagine trying to stay in this type of shape and attend classes and do well in classes. Yeah. Is really, really a all consuming endeavor for them. So we see a crowd, up there on this next lap, certain sections, the crowd is gathered and you can

See the flags from all universities flying as our, our athletes come around. And here they are up in our view, from the rodeo arena again as they make their way up and around that big turn to the right, another pack of four here trying to bridge up to those first

Skiers, Kendall Kramer in that pack as is Oldham, who’s actually been really strong. Classic skier this year as well. That’s Kate Oldham, we’ll see if those four can get on. And then it’s a pretty decent gap back to that next group. But our lead pack may be growing here pretty

Quickly. Roger. Yeah it’s getting tight up front there. And that, potentially looks like could, make for a little additional difficulty, just trying to navigate through all those, racers on the front of the pack. You can see here we have some just having to go into a herringbone climb as they go

Up the hill, while others are staying in the track and certainly those that can stay in the track are moving along at a much quicker pace. Yeah, that’s a really astute observation, Roger. Those those skiers that are having to get out in herringbone, especially this early in a 20 K, I mean, we’re

What, six and a half k into 20 K, you’re seeing athletes there on the left not being able to ski in the track. And, you know, it’s not necessarily slower in the, in the short turn, but it really gets tiring if you’ve got to spend 20 K doing that. We

See, Michigan Texas. Centre her him doing that right there, Hattie Barker from New Hampshire in that group as well. And they are, of course, working hard to try to bridge up to the pack in front of them. And as you get into that herringbone, you know, you have to step out of that

Track. And that track is definitely the fast snow. That’s what you waxed for as you come through this course. So, getting out of that track, poses a number of difficulties as these racers are making their way up, continuing uphill. There is so much uphill on this, it’s just almost wonder how they get

Downhill so quickly. But I promise you, the elevation at the start is the same every time they come around. That is true. There’s Olivia Laban going up the hill there. Olivia representing Michigan Tech today . And coaching us from my corner. So they’re making their way around this final section.

And alas, will have a bit of a downhill reprieve as they make their big turn up there along the bluffs and up behind Fairview. Yeah, they’re just popping out on Four Points Hill. There and now getting a little bit of a break before they start working again. And looks like

We’ve got a lead pack now of. 12. Yeah I think I’m getting 12. Two and a third, a 13th trying to bridge up. But I believe our lead pack right now includes Jasmine Drolet from Dartmouth. Hannah Abramson of See you, Tilda Baumann from Montana State, Karina DeGroot from Utah,

Sydney Palmer Ledger from Utah, Veronica Colletta from. See you, Ana Maria Dietz from see you, Haley Brewster from University of Vermont, Ava Thurston from Dartmouth, Kate Oldham from Montana State, I think Astrid Staab from University of Alaska Anchorage is in there, as is Mario Polis. And then I think

That is Kendall Kramer trying to bridge up to that group. We’ll get a better look here shortly, and should be able to tell if that is indeed the University of Alaska Fairbanks white suit of Kendall Kramer moving up there. It’s amazing what these drone shots and how how all of a

Sudden we can really tell what’s going on out on the course. Years past, you know, there’s a significant period where we just didn’t know what was going on. But thanks to the advent of these drones, especially in so many athletics, we just, really have a much better idea of how

This course is progressing, how the athletes are moving around through the track and who is in what position. I think this is a fantastic improvement to our ability to broadcast this. Yeah, absolutely. And this is an interesting little, bit of information that I just ended up with here. So from a team

Scoring perspective of and this obviously none of this is official, we have Utah coming into this race at 444, so, and then Denver at 401, Colorado at 393 right now, out on course. See you at the five K had 89 amass points if that were to be

The finish line Utah 61 and do 31. So see you. There’s that potential to scramble things up. There is the potential. It is not a done deal for Utah, especially with three buffs in that front pack and only two utes, and of course, you know, Denver in that fight as well,

It’ll be, it’ll be interesting as this thing develops to see if those cowgirls can move up a little bit. There is not, according to my math here, a single du athlete in that front group, which is interesting, that is, you know, and watching see you and, Utah battle it out

Again, a bit torn as a father of both a Utah and a CU ski racers in the past. So this is really, fun watching watching those two teams put it together. And honestly, all the teams and all the athletes that are here are just top level skiers from around the world. Absolutely And

That’s Hannah Ray there. We’re seeing coming up the hill and Lucy Anderson. And we’ve got bib number 40 coming there. Good race for Rosi Fordham. Moving up. Also representing Alaska Fairbanks as we see our lead pack I believe breaking up just a little bit out there and we’re

Back down by having that front lead pack 5 or 6 I think there’s seven in there. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. And then, a little gap back to eighth place. So interesting development here. We’re going to get a look before too much longer here at who those top six

Are are. But definitely a top seven. Looks like definitely a little bit of a breakdown out there on course though. So it’ll be interesting to see just from a team scoring perspective, you know, is CU putting themselves in with a chance to move up into second or even first? I think

First is going to be a tall order unless the Utes are are struggling today. So Travis is the split of the front pack, a result of down hill and the wax or the effort on the uphills or a little of both. I think it’s a little of both. Roger, I think

We’re definitely seeing people, the strong climbers, as we talked about earlier, trying to really make a move and get away from the rest of the pack, so that they don’t have to sprint with a bunch of people. But definitely part of it, especially because we see it after that kind of gradual glide

Section, probably does have something to do with ski speed on the downhills. Yeah It’s so critical. Probably about five minutes or so. And then coming in Evansville down. So second down here now for about three. Still a lot of races ahead. It does look like we’re starting to

Close in back here. And we will be waiting to see who’s in that group. Got an eight skier kind of yo yoing off the back. Certainly hoping to close up here as they double pull through to this gradual downhill kind of rolling section here. Getting a little bit of a rest. Roger.

Before before they start climbing again. It didn’t look like much of a rest to me. There’s not much rest out there. This is one of the tougher courses that these athletes ski all year. And here they go right back into climbing. And let’s take a look at how skis look for

This front group. Imagine that everybody in this group is actually on pretty good skis at this point, or they wouldn’t be up there. Okay. I’m hearing see you Utah Dartmouth all in that front group. So some some fantastic skiing again, I keep saying that, but it really, truly is amazing, what these

Ladies are putting themselves through and, you know, all in an effort to claim that national title for the NCAA. You know, it honestly is the premier of our sport right here. I think, even though we have a number of athletes, skiing beyond in World Cups and stuff, this, in my

Opinion, is really what it’s all about. Yeah, it’s pretty neat. So they just went over the top, the high point of the course there and, you know, to Roger’s point, we see kind of a unique development opportunity in NCAA skiing for athletes from all over the world. There’s nowhere

Else, you know, really that is such a collector of, you know, Norwegians and Swedes and Poles and Germans and Czechs all coming over to race in the US. It is the highest level of racing, really, outside of the World Cup anywhere, you know, the fields are incredibly elite and it provides a great

Development opportunity from athlete for athletes from all over the world. And then that provides a great opportunity for American athletes to learn from a lot of these foreign athletes, too. So we’re very lucky to have , this really elite college program here in the US, you know, and that holds true for

Both alpine and the Nordic skiing, as you look at the athlete lists and where these athletes are from, they’re from, you know, Golden Colorado to, Slovenia to, to all over the world, Czech ski racers, it’s quite, quite the episode of, recruitment and, given the opportunity to some to some outstanding athletes really to

Pursue their life skills, beyond ski racing, albeit ski racing is certainly a big part of the reason they have that opportunity. So who do we got? We got bib number seven, number seven on the front. No big surprise. Oh Ava Thurston yep there’s 24 chasing him down. That’s Mario Pulis. And this is

Not our lead crew here Roger. It is not. Oh Bib number ten there. That’s, coriander root from Utah. Looking good. Looks like Utah’s got good skis. She’s still moving well up that hill. This hill seems to be a little bit of a test. The sun is shining right on it. I’m sure

The snow conditions have changed since, earlier this morning when they were. Oh, yeah. Taking wax temps, etc. And they are through mountain lion rocks now. Coming back down toward the elevator shaft, descent into the stadium. You can see the skier on the front there taking a feed. Coaches are handing them feeds.

Really important to keep your, to keep enough sugar and electrolytes in your blood out here. You don’t want to go into glucose debt and start hurting bonking 20 k’s certainly long enough for that to happen. So you’ll see them feeding in the early parts of this race. Oh,

And that is Kendall Kramer. She is chasing those guys down. You got that group of seven coming off seven skiers now coming through to see who they come through the behind the stables. And they’re going to go out into that lollipop section again. It was. It was dibert up there in

The front. You see a little shuffling going on right now as they make their way in to complete their second lap of this 20 K and, things are going to get interesting here, that conditioning and as you said, that nutritional aspects of this sport, are going to be showing

Themselves to those that are not quite prepared for this in this next lap, I would suspect. Yeah, absolutely. And the other piece of this too, Roger, is, we do have some just Lancaster Bible ability questions that can come into it. 20 K is a long way, this isn’t isn’t new snow, so it

Can, you know, do a little, do a little scraping, you can lose wax throughout the course of the race. And there’s a lot of things teams can do to help protect against that. On the front there. We’ve got Veronica Coletta from. See you right behind her. Another Q skier,

Pretty good day. Also for, Hannah Abramson. And then right behind her, we’ve got Tilda Pangman from Montana State. I see Sydney Palmer Leger still in that front group, but it looks like we may be down to one ute in that front group. And here they come through the rodeo

Arena. Three buffs, three buffs up there. Yeah, no is a good sign. And not surprisingly, look at Kendall Kramer bought her way up into that group. She is going to really? I think Kendall is going to start attacking on these climbs on this lap, now that she’s bridged up to that

Group, she is going to want to make sure that it doesn’t turn into a sprint finish with some of these other women that are a little bit more powerful. But I think the big story right now is only one Ute and three buffs in this front pack, that could

Shake things up. We’ll we’ll get a little bit of an update here on live team scoring, I wonder if it’s possible for. See you to actually use this race to take the win today, Roger. I wonder that too. You know, I’m. We, you tell me that we’re team tactics

Are not as big a part. And this event, because of the snow conditions, I. I would tend to argue that a little bit with you. I think, just that, competition with your friends as you get to the front of that pack and cheering and pushing each other to your max, I think

It’s going to play a big part, especially looking at the number of CU skiers right up front. Yeah, you can bet, you can bet that those CU skiers are starting to think team tactics a little bit more right now, and it puts a little bit of pressure on Sidney Palmer. Ledger as the

Only ute up there in front to hang tough and make sure that she doesn’t lose position in that front group, because I don’t think that if Sidney stays in that front 5 or 6, I don’t know that CU even if they were to go one, two, three, I’m not

Sure if they could get enough points to actually take over the lead. So puts a little pressure on Sidney, the Cowgirls certainly know what their job is, but if they can come through in a one, two, three kind of position, we could see a shakeup today that would apply that

Pressure to the men. I would do believe it will certainly apply the pressure to the men and the Utah men are strong, but the CU men are strong too. We could see a lead change though, after this first race today. Yes we could. And again we’ve got that pack up

There. Kendall Kramer, now on the back of that pack in touch. Looks to me almost. Roger. Like maybe Kendall skis are climbing. Really well, but are a little bit on the slow side on the downhills, we’ll see. That could just be that one little section there. I mean, she obviously did

Gain on that pack on the, the last half of the course second time around. So with this big sunshine, are they waxing for the start of the of this race or are they waxing for the mid part or trying to make that wax go all the way into the finish? You

Know, if you’ve got a pick, you’d rather have skis that are working really well in the second half. But but it’s definitely important, you know, the way these things break down is the pack fractures at the beginning. And if you’re not in the front when the pack fractures and your skis aren’t

Great at the beginning, then it kind of doesn’t matter how good they are later on. But of course, you don’t want to be the skier with, with weak skis. In the second part of that course. And again, we got the buffs on the front there until the Belmont Abbey also up there, bib

Number three, currently in the lead, Veronica Coletta from. See you right there. Sydney Palmer Ledger from Utah. Right there. Haley Brewster still in the mix. I think. Ava Thurston still in there. Kendall Kramer and now trying to bridge up to that group. We’ve got Kate Oldham from Montana State certainly

Knows altitude skiing. Oh, there’s Ava Thurston. Sorry, Ava, back there in that group trying to bridge up Mario Poulos from Alaska. Fairbanks in that white suit there on the right hand side, wearing bib 24. Looks like that snow is softening up in the track just a bit right

Now, making it, a little tougher on that kick on that climb. Yeah, for sure. We’re going to see that happen throughout the day here. Skiers coming up, good spectator good spectator turnout here today, a lot of the alpine racers there. Weekend is over, their week is over. So they are

Out here in force today cheering for their their Nordic teammates . Yeah. This is truly a team event. As we look at, the Nordic skiers out at the alpine events and the alpine skiers over at the Nordic events and everybody rooting for their, their home school, Karina Denver leading

That group there, they are still trying to chase. She’s right up there with Lucy Anderson from New Hampshire and, certainly looking to close if they can and limit damage if they can’t, they want to hold position points, map all the way down the stack here, you know, and we, have yet

To talk about, Shea Brahms from Middlebury there, the coaching staff of all these universities and the experience they bring into this, NCAA skiing championships and all of the collegiate ski races throughout the season, we’ve got some coaches with very extensive credentials. Absolutely. Yeah. These are some of the most

Coveted jobs in in coaching, and, you know, really strong coaching staffs, with years and years of experience, most of them former college or World Cup racers themselves or both. So yeah, lots of lots of knowledge out there today. And days like this are the reason that we need

It, the waxing can be tricky on a day like today. Yeah. It’s, unbelievable how critical that wax is, in cross country skiing, it’s important in an alpine race. But, man, it is absolutely critical as you’re making your way up through these climbs. If that kick isn’t working for you,

You really don’t stand much of a chance. You know, that’s so true, Roger. It’s interesting. You know, the coaches, of course , help develop training plans, help, you know, help these athletes to, to prep throughout the season. But, on race day, they’re waxers. You hardly talk to you. You hardly talk to your

Athletes on race day, especially classic day. You’ve got your head down. They come in. It’s a little bit annoying when they even want to talk to you because you’re just like, nope, nope, nope. We’re testing, we’re waxing, we’re applying wax. It’s a real process and it is a high

Pressure process. So of course you try to take time to, you know, cheer your athletes on and encourage them to get out there and have a good day. But the primary job of these coaches on classic day especially, is making sure they’re nailing the kick wax. Yeah it is. And how

Many pairs of skis will each athlete generally have waxed and prepared. And then the final selection at the start. Yeah. You know you’ll usually they’ll these guys will be traveling with anywhere between five and ten pairs of skis for each, discipline for skate and for classic. So you know about about

2020 pair generally it’s a pretty sizable quiver there it is. And you know, if you know your skis well, you can narrow them down pretty well. So a day like today when it’s, you know, relatively cold, firm snow, you no longer distance race, you can probably narrow it down to 2 or

3 pairs just without even putting them on your feet. And then you can get out there and do a little testing the day before. Ski on both pairs. Generally, these guys will wax up maybe two pair and then make a selection prior to final kick wax application, there’s Kendall

Kramer going to the front. Yep. Not surprising. She is going to be doing everything she can to break this field up over the next couple of K here again, Kendall, a great climber, not a powerhouse finisher necessarily, Tilde Baumann from Montana State, right next door. Still two buffs in this front. Yep.

Two buffs in the front pack. Looks like we’re losing the third, but I don’t. Let’s take another look here. Yeah. Okay. Tilde Baumann looking like she is on the front. Bib 24. Here. This is our chase pack. This is Mario Poulos from Alaska. Fairbanks and, right next to

Her, we’ve got Kate Oldham from Montana State, Ava Thurston from Dartmouth. They’re wearing bib number seven. This group of three. Oh Ava looks a little slick. You could see her ski Roger kind of kicking up far in the back there. As they head out. This is their, this is kind

Of halfway through their third lap, 39 minutes in. The one final lap on this lap is completed, and there are still a ways away from completing this lap, but they are pushing in. The separation just continues to increase between that lead pack and everybody else. Yeah. Looks

Like we’ve got that lead pack of six. And then there is a chaser there, I thought I saw last time we got a good camera shot. I did think I saw one CU skier coming off a little bit. And that might be Veronica Coletta, who is trying to bridge back up to that

Group. We’ll get a better look here. And this is more chase pack action here. Lucy Anderson from New Hampshire on the front there. Another one of our utes. I believe that that is carry on. Edinboro from Utah, originally out of Oslo, Norway. Skiing in that pack. There And there’s our

Front group still the lead pack now making their way. Still a chaser right behind and seems to be, gaining distance, as we as she moves forward, she’ll probably catch that chase group, I would suspect. Here, on that next little downhill piece. Yeah. Roger. My guess is she’s gone. Yeah I don’t think she’s

Coming back. She was. She was in that group, and the fact that they have skied away from her indicates to me that she’s probably either slick skis or she’s a little bit tired. So we’ll see if she’s able to work her way back up into that crew.

I think it’s going to take a lot of effort to do it, though. Looks to me like, Kendall Kramer skiing in third. There You know who I don’t think I see in that pack is Sydney Palmer Ledger from Utah, which would be an interesting development if there’s three buffs coming in

Ahead of the first ute, that could have an impact. I’m not sure. It’s a little hard to tell from that angle, but I didn’t think I saw Sid in there. And she is the top ute right now, the only one that was really still in the fight. And now you

Can see how big those gaps are getting. We’ve got that front pack of seven and then we’ve got one skier, two, three kind of spread out another pack way back. But at this point in the game they’re almost a half a kilometer back. So the winner is going to come from this front

Group. Another skier now Roger getting shelled out of the back there. Yep And little by little yeah they’re going to try to yo yo back on. But you know it’s what’s happening is those those skiers that are strong climbers. They’re coming up to the high point of the course here they

Are on the front and they are pushing the pace to try to make sure that that pack is as small as possible. When it comes down to the last K and a half. And as you said earlier, there’s so much uphill climbing on this course and so little time spent

Going downhill. It certainly is a climbers type of a venue. Yep absolutely. And we do finally now have, times popping up for ten K, at ten K, we have Veronica Colletta from C, U and Hannah Abramson from c u on the front at ten K. Tilde Baumann was still in touch at that

Point. Sydney Palmer Ledger was there as well. I’m not sure that she is anymore, but we’ll see. Anna Maria Dietz from see you in fifth. So that was CU125 at ten K, which is a big deal. Utah did have Palmer Ledger up there, and then Dangaroo in 13. And they

Are now getting a little bit of a break here coming down into the, into the area just before the Mountain Lion Rocks section of the course. Holy smokes. Just passing, I believe that’s about the halfway point on this course, isn’t it? Yeah, I think that’s about right, Roger. And

It’s a it’s a tough course, Roger, I’m sure you’ve raced it a few times. Oh, I absolutely on a snowmobile. Yeah. There we go. It is, you know, it’s a lot of climbing. It’s. I’d say it’s a little bit less tough than the two and a half k loop. This is

Basically the two and a half k loop, plus kind of a rolling extra two and a half k, just getting an update there at the ten K. Very interesting info, see you with 106 points. If the finish were to be at the ten K Utah with 49. So that is a 57

Point difference, which I believe would be enough to put see you into the lead. So if that for the finish line, I think going into this men’s race, you might be on top. Oh, it’s going to be a rock fight out there. The men’s race it is. Absolutely. And we’ll see how it

Holds up here for the women. But I, this is Mountain Lion Rocks. Let’s hope for no attacks here. Roger. That’s where they live. I think we’re safe today. Okay, good. Lots of noise out here. We, sprayed those rocks with mountain lion repellent this morning. Okay, perfect. So we’re

All good. Okay. We still got that pack on the front. That’s bib number four, Haley Brewster. Now attacking number three, Tilda Bowman there. Kendall Kramer, still in the fight. Saw a little slip from number 12 Anna Maria Dietz. See you, buff. But that could have just been because she was moving over for,

Moving over for Kendall Kramer. Bib 14 an okay, this is going to be important. That’s Veronica Coletta from. See you. She’s falling off of that lead pack. It’s going to be really important for her to hold position. So she’s going to want to keep that place even if she’s

. Yeah. Yeah. Even if she’s out of the lead pack. Of course. You know Roger, as you know, the points are based on place, not time. So it doesn’t matter if she’s a minute back from this lead pack, she’ll still get the points associated with her place. And given the state of

The competition between Utah and Colorado, those points, each and every one of them is absolutely critical. Yep, yep. Seven skiers now in that lead pack. I think Colette is the eighth. Man. And it is a good battle up there the more I look. Okay. They’re grabbing feeds as they’re coming

Through there and we will see shortly. But I do not believe that Sydney Palmer Ledger is in that group. So that’s, certainly a surprise, as we mentioned, when we were coming into this race that, she was one of the picks to be, at the front. Well, and our winner, our winner two

Days ago. Roger. And a double NCAA champion swept the races in 2021, great skier. Could just be a ski thing today. Or she could be in here, and I could just be totally missing it. Let’s see here. Five. Now with two chasers. And in that file. Now there. Sydney. There. Sydney.

Sorry. My bad. Good to see her still there in that top five I believe she’s kind of the back. One of that top five crew right to here as they come in to the lollipop here. And soon we will be getting some splits. Out of our way from that top group as

We see just beautiful weather here in Steamboat Springs. This, this stadium, pretty unique in the Nordic ski world in that it is an active rodeo arena in the summertime. Yeah, there. Sydney Palmer Leger now skiing in third. And we should be seeing them coming back into the start

Finish area. Any second now. And that’s be a great opportunity to see where everybody stacks up as they file through. Absolutely All right. Looking strong till the end. There Hannah Abramson from See You There as well. Right on the front, Sydney Palmer Leger Greenville Alaska Fairbanks, also from See you

Here. They got Dietz in there. Anna Maria Dietz as they come by Kendall Kramer still in the fight. So we got two buffs in a ute up in the front pack here. Haley Brewster from Vermont still in there as well. Dominant this year in the East. One lap

Away from the finish of this women’s NCAA championship. And man, oh man, we got a like I said before, we got a battle going on in that front seven. Absolutely. Jazmin Drolet really, really skiing. Well, she’s up representing Dartmouth in that front group. And that right there. Number 14 Veronica

Coletta. That is an important number for us because she is going to need to hold off any other Utes right now. She’s not in that lead pack, which is okay . But she’s going to have to try to hold that place as well as she can, and let’s see where our

Next Utes are, this is again, of course, just looking at the overall overall point situation, but, dangaroo looks like the next one coming through a little ways behind, but a lot can happen on this last lap. Roger. This is where people are tired. Oh, yeah. Their equipment, their waxes. Changing the slope was

Changing the conditions of the snow are changing, and they’re fighting their way around this final lap. Yeah, absolutely. Annie McColgan coming through here together with Emma Reeder from Dartmouth, lapping through. Still in really good position racing really well out here on a tough day. And Roger, we should

Point out that, you know, every one of these skiers has had to qualify at the very top of the NCAA to get here. So this is the creme de la creme of NCAA racing as a championship. Race should be absolutely. And there is Dangaroo right there. Well behind Coletta, so looking

Strong points wise for CU, no one really Lee, from due figuring in this top group. Right now, which is interesting. Top du skier right now is sitting in 20th, Selma Anderson. So good day for the buffs so far. We’ll see if it’s enough to bring them to the top of the

Points total going into the men’s race this afternoon. As we see Merle Richter from Northern Michigan making her way up the big climb. And this back of the pack, you know, again, they’re just, at this point really competing for those few points that are available to their team

From the back, and it is, takes a really a strong mental fortitude to keep pushing yourself to your max being in that position. Yeah. There’s no quit. There’s no quit in these athletes. Roger. They’re definitely out here fighting. Okay there’s our lead pack. Everybody’s still really skiing smoothly. No major attacks yet.

Kendall Kramer on the front and bib 17. If I was Kendall, I’d be thinking about attacking hard right next to her. We’ve got Hannah Abramson from. See you, Sydney Palmer Ledger up in that front group. Jasmine Drolet in there as well. The three cross going into that corner. Yep, yep

. Bib number 12 still there in the back. That’s Anna Maria Dietz from see you. So we’ve got our pack of seven there. And this is where it starts to matter. We are going to see some attacks going down as we still have racers coming through the

Start finish area and the top of the pack is making her way up towards the bluff climb. And it is, grueling at this stage of the race, you’re going anaerobic and you are just doing everything you can to keep one foot in front of the other. And, amount of effort you’re applying

In with your arms and your poles is just, unbelievable. This is a total, total body sport right here. Yeah. No, absolutely. Okay. Let’s see. We’re getting a little points update here at 15 k c u currently, would have 92 points if they were to finish at 15 Utah 50. So Utah closed the

Gap a little. There That’s Sydney moving up in that pack in that front pack and possibly Dangaroo moving up in the field a little bit as well. So that’s a little bit of a tighter gap. That would not be enough to put CU at the top of the leaderboard

. As we see Henrietta Nielsen from Northern Michigan making her way through the flatter section of the course there in the stadium. Not our lead pack on camera here, but, some strong skiing by Annie McColgan. There. Gather with Ava Thurston from Dartmouth wearing bib number seven, a young up and coming

Star for the US here. I think we’ll see big things from Ava, on the World Cup scene and certainly the NCAA scene over the next few years, Leah Vanasse from New Hampshire in that group as well. And on the front, looking like she’s applying some power. Annie McColgan from

Vermont. Looks like she’s trying to ski away from that pack, we see bib number ten in there. That’s Karina Denver from Utah. Dangaroo had a really, really strong sprinter. She actually won the US national championship this year, or won the race. She’s, Denver is originally from Norway, so she was not the US

National champion, but she won the US national championship sprint race this year, so would certainly be a threat, you know, to beat anybody in that pack, that’s pretty critical. What is the caloric output on this race for these athletes? Like a million, that’s all. Yeah, that’s all, yeah. Great question. Roger. Three

Thanksgiving dinners a lot. Yeah, a lot. Yeah, they’re definitely burning it up. There’s bib number one. That’s Victoria Bard from northern Michigan, coming through the stadium now, a bit behind that lead pack, and we will be waiting to see what is going on out there on course soon. We

Should be seeing some drone shots from the far end of the course, as our lead pack makes their way out there. It’s hard to tell if that’s the lead pack. If it is, it’s down to two. I don’t think it is. I think it’s unlikely that we’ve broken away

To two at this point, but it is possible 50 points. So three goes into the gap. Interesting Oh there they are. Okay. There’s the lead pack. Oh no we got him. So we got two chasers. Presumably one of those chasers is Veronica Colletta. Yeah and I believe that our other chaser in

There was maybe Mario Pulis from Alaska Fairbanks, but we still have a fully intact lead pack of seven, I believe. Roger Yep. I think we’ve maintained that pack , as they came, same as they were, as they came through the start finish area. Yeah, but look how strung out it is. You

Can tell the attacks are happening at the front. The leaders are trying to get away at this point. And that’s, only working moderately for them. And every time we have a downhill, they bunch up again. All of these skiers so strong and so evenly matched, it’s, it’s really exciting to see the

Battle here, but there is the front wearing bib number five that is Hannah Abramson from See You. We see on her left, Anna Maria Dietz, also from see you, Kendall Kramer. Sydney Palmer Leger is right behind Abramson. That Abrams Abramson easy for you to say. Not really, until

The man from Montana state who’s been a force in classic skiing. Haley Brewster still in there? Jasmine Drolet still in there. And there is Kendall Kramer, kind of in the back of that group. Now, when it gets hot here, we’ll see if Kendall can move up on the final climb.

That’s going to be her chance to do it, but I feel like there’s a little bit of a gap starting to develop. There I think we’ve kind of got a front five, and then it looks to me like Kramer is coming off of the back just a little bit, as is Drolet. So

That’s Jasmine Drolet and Kendall Kramer. I think dropping off the back. And it looks to me like there’s a little break on the front as well. This is our chase pack. That’s bib number 24 Mario Polis right behind right behind her Veronica Coletta for CU, Polis skiing for Alaska Fairbanks, originally out of

Otepaa, Estonia, and Veronica Coletta here for CU. Looks like she’s hurting, but she’s still making it happen. Two skier break on the front. I think that’s Sydney Palmer Leger in second. I’m guessing that’s probably Hannah Abramson in front. Yeah, I believe so. And, they they put a little bit of

Separation in there between the next four behind them. But I it’s not significant at this point. No. And I think that is Sydney Palmer Leger saying I am not going to make it easy for you today. See you boss. She is ensuring that Utah is still going to be in the points mix

Here. Sydney, a good sprinter, she could be a real threat, but of course Hannah Abramson as well. And then I don’t know who that third skier is. My guess is that it’s probably. It’s probably Anna Maria Dietz, also from CU, she’s a great sprinter. She was just 18th at the World

Cup sprint up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Yeah. So, watch out for her. If that is indeed her, right now looking like buff ute buff on the front. And those three are skiing away with it right now. That could be till the bonbon up front to, in third. Let’s let’s wait and see

What we get here. Once we get a closer shot. Here they come. That we’re down to 3 or 4 in that top. Yeah. Three. Three, three in the front and then four chasers now. And that all happened right on that last, big right hand turn as they work their way up and around

Relatively flat section of the course before they come into that final downhill pitch. And we’re going to see what happens right there, because this is the point in the race where you just got to sell your soul to, to get to the front end. That is the truth. Roger. They are giving

Absolutely everything. They’re coming up to the high point here. So really, from about where you see that coach standing on the side of the trail, it’s mostly downhill. So they are, really giving everything they’ve got right now, that is certainly Sydney Palmer, Leger and the Utah read in second. I believe Hannah

Abramson from See You in the lead. And then third, I think that’s either Tilda Bowman from Montana State or, or Anna Maria Dietz from See You. I can’t quite tell who that third place skier is right now, but they are breaking away, and, we’re seeing a little bit of a chase from

Those next skiers, but I don’t know that they’re going to be able to close that gap as we come up toward the high point here. One last climb. Of the day. So see you Utah. We know our, the front two. And then I just think I heard Vermont. So

That may actually be Haley Brewster, that third skier there, somebody trying to bridge up into that fourth place skier now, getting away from that chase group, if they’ve got fast skis and a strong double pole, they could totally insert themselves into this podium conversation here. Yeah, you’re right. The three Colorado Utah

And University of Vermont are our leaders right now. So that is on the front. Hannah Abramson doing the work right now, Sydney Palmer Leger sitting in for Utah and second and in third place going over the top of the hill. Haley Brewster, we’re waiting to see who that fourth skier is

There and whether or not they can actually get themselves up into podium contention here. Always tough catching a group like that. And we can see our fans right now working their way back around to this finish line. So you can do their route and on their on their hometown, their

Home school ski racers as they come into the bottom, everybody skis look really equal. Oh, that is, Jasmine Drolet from Dartmouth in fourth, Kendall Kramer in fifth and then Dietz in sixth for See you. So right now, Abramson on the front for see you. Unless I have those two

Backwards, I’m not 100% sure we haven’t seen a bib number, I believe that is Abramson and not Dietz in front, but for sure Palmer Leger in second, Haley Brewster in third. And look at this move from Jasmine Drolet. She is not going to go down easy. Here she is back on the

Back of those front skiers. Great skiing by Drolet out there. That’s taking that inside line cutting off as much distance as she can. She was a, a gold medalist for Canada in the relay at the U23 World Championships this year. She’s still not quite in that lead group, but she is fighting hard

To get there as they get ready to come down the final climb on the course she’s chasing, but she’s not in that lead group right now. And there’s our lead group three on the front. And then Jasmine Drolet from Dartmouth chasing, trying to get herself onto that podium. Her brother Remy Drolet will

Certainly be in the conversation, for Harvard later today. He is the reigning champion of the NCAA classic race. Drolet has got good skis. Dartmouth has got good skis on the downhills. Look at her. She’s going into the lead, passes the entire field. Unbelievable And powering away from them. That is impressive.

From Jasmine Drolet from Dartmouth moving to the front now. And it is up to everybody else to chase Abramson. They’re fighting hard Sydney Palmer Leger. But it looks to me like they’ve dropped Haley Brewster a little bit. The UVM athlete off the back and Dartmouth continues to put distance on the rest of

Them. What a set of skis for her. That’s really exciting. Oh no that is see you off the back there. All right. So on the front now it looks as though we have Haley Brewster from UVM and Jasmine. One skier way off the front. I think that is Jasmine

Drolet. Palmer Leger in third, Brewster in first. Palmer Leger there next to her. And all by herself. Out there. On the lollipop section of the course. Just one more corner for Jasmine Drolet as she heads into the finish. What a move in the back part of this course coming downhill, putting out that,

Everything she had and cutting off so much distance on some of those corners, jumping out of the track here she comes. Jasmine Drolet, representing Dartmouth. Great, great scheme by her Sydney Palmer Leger in a battle with Haley Brewster for the silver. It’s going to be close, but Drolet takes the

Gold. It looks to me like Brewster for the silver, Palmer Leger for Utah for the bronze. Here come the buffs. That is number five, Hannah Abramson, right ahead of her teammate Anna Maria Dietz. Kendall Kramer hanging on really strong race for her. And sixth. What a battle today. What a battle is,

Right man, how exciting is it? Get just on the last part of the last lap and everything gets shaken up. Amazing moves by Drolet there. That was an incredibly impressive last kilometer. Man. Roger It’s unbelievable, you know? And after that max effort, how do you have enough in the tank to

Put put together some move like that. I mean clearly some credit to the Dartmouth crew today. She had great skis. You could see how quick her skis were gliding coming down in that last kilometer there. But it just takes grit, takes grit, fitness, hard work to be able to and

Confidence to be able to pull that off. So fantastic. Racing by Jasmine Drolet today. We’ll see if her brother can make it a family affair in the men’s race, as Mario Poulos from UAF comes across the line. Good race for Mariel today, just not quite in that top group. I think this

Next one is probably Veronica Colletta from Ku coming in. Sure enough, the pole here representing Ku, but an Olympian and World Championship team member for Poland. Looking great coming across the line. And those points will be important, you know, Sydney getting on the podium for Utah. But three utes

Or sorry three buffs in the top ten. Will be helpful. So, see, you will get closer and du will certainly take a step back, as a result of this race, no Du pioneers finished yet. Just one ute so far. The three buffs, so it’s going to be interesting to

See how that shakes out. See, you will get closer. And I think this will probably. Roger put them within striking range of Utah depending on how the men’s race goes. The pressure is on those guys right now certainly is some some big guns on both teams. It’ll be, certainly a

Good watch at either way. I’ll tell you what. These, well, this entire, week of skiing has just been spectacular as from, observation standpoint, we watched the giant slalom over what we call the big hill here at, Steamboat Ski Resort, spectacular. Then we come back to Howelsen Hill and to the

Rodeo arena for the for the first leg of our cross country competitions, the Nordic competitions. Yes. Last night, downtown on the slalom, Hill house and Hill spectacular racing. One more time and then to watch it all culminate. Right here. It’s, something this is, truly, I say it time and again.

This is the coolest city park on the planet, you know? Yeah, it is pretty cool. We just saw, Veronica or. Sorry, not Veronica Colletta, but, Karina DeGroot for Utah. Come across the line there. It’s our second ute across the line. So yeah, it’s going to be interesting to see

How these points shake out. Great performances by so many of these skiers today. As we see number 27, Lucy Anderson coming toward the line there representing Unh. That New Hampshire program always strong. Making her way to the finish. And still no Duke skiers across the line. Well slipping severely. And that is team

Standings as a result of that. Yeah, it’ll be interesting. Oh, sorry. That was actually, bib 27. That was Selma Anderson. So our first Du finisher just across the line there. Coe girls are, happy in the finish. Sun’s out. Day is getting warmer and warmer, certainly a great battle

Out there with an amazing ski by Dartmouth’s Jasmine Drolet to just bring it home. I mean, Roger, she was yo yoing off the back. She was not in that top. Yeah she wasn’t even in contention there, at least from our observations. And all of a sudden she turned on the

Afterburners and it was, no catching her. Yeah She put herself into that conversation. And look at this. Battling out here. Still these skiers fighting so hard for team points. That’s one of the cool things about NCAA racing is that we will see people just fighting out here to try to make it

Happen. That’s Beth Granstrom from University of Alaska Anchorage, going across the line there looking great. You know, and the point difference there and the back of the pack is, minimal but so important. Yeah, every point counts and it’s a matter of pride. You know, to. Yeah. As we just saw Henrietta

Sam from Du come across the line fighting hard the whole way. Do you may not have had a great event so far today, but, you know, these skiers know they got to fight hard and they do. Number 35, across the line there from Colby. That’s Greta Schultz . Yeah, really, really

Impressive. Second place out there today, a really impressive ski. Also by Haley Brewster from UVM, who, again, Roger has been basically unstoppable in the East. Only has lost one race, that she started in in the Eastern College circuit this year. And she was second in that one. So incredible skiing by

Her, but no surprise. And, a resurgent Sidney Palmer ledger out of Utah, after kind of an up and down year coming back to win a national championship two days ago and again putting herself on the podium today and really protecting that Utah point total as much as she possibly could.

So great race for her as Jordan, girl from Bowdoin comes across the line. Yeah It’s, it’s been unbelievable. If you recall, back in the mid part of this race, we had, the Buffalo stacked up in that front pack and little by little, they were overtaken by other skiers. But

Well, you got to hand it to, those that made it because they expended a lot more energy than so many of the other skiers. Further back in the pack and still maintain, those positions and those valuable points for the buffs. Yeah. One of the things we see. Roger. That just

Makes a huge difference out here is your ability to respond to attacks, from other skiers. And, you know, the fittest athletes can respond again and again and again, but that’s one of the biggest things that separates kind of the good from the great is, you know, any anyone can

Respond to 1 or 2 attacks, but when there’s 4 or 5, six attacks, being able to either mount those attacks or respond to those attacks becomes a separating factor. And I think that’s what we saw Jasmine Drolet do today, certainly what we saw, Haley Haley Brewster and Sydney Palmer Ledger do. If they

Weren’t the ones mounting the attacks, they were certainly there. And able to respond to the attacks. Yeah So just some fantastic skiing going on and, it’s, the last of our skiers are just working their way into the finish. So, expecting, the conclusion to be coming fairly soon and. We’re going to some

Live team scores here. Pretty interesting, see you, getting 82 today in the women’s race with Utah’s 48 deuce 19. So now Utah on top at 492. But see you just 17 points behind now at 475 Denver, pretty far back at 418. So a little bit of a tough day

In the women’s race for dew. Probably has them out of contention now for the overall, but see you with three in the top nine. Really, reasserting themselves as, Utah’s lucky they had Sidney Palmer ledger ski as strongly as she did, it’s maintained their position up front and some good moves by

Dartmouth and Vermont, in these team scores. So exciting to watch this thing shuffle. But it’s going to come down to this men’s final race of the NCAA champion series. And, I can’t wait to see what happens there. Yeah, some big stars, for both. See you and the University of

Utah in the men’s race today, you know, see, you got, see, you got Magnus Bow defending national champion in classic and one of the strongest finishers out here. He’s a really good sprinter, and he can absolutely turn it on in a sprint finish. You do not want to be finishing

With Magnus bow. Also for see, you will coach, incredibly strong skier. Young having a great year this year Johannes Flaten is their third skier from Norway, junior world champion in 2022, the Utah guys just a strong Joe Davies from British Columbia, 2023, NCAA champion in skating and the top ranked Utah

Skier in classic as well. Also in the mix for Utah. Brian Bushy, stand out from Green Mountain Valley School for many years, those guys are both really strong. And then, Tom Mancini will be in the conversation for Utah as well. Tom, a skier who can win or be,

You know, 17th on a given day. He’s not the most consistent. But when he has a big day, he’s, he’s amazing. French, French athlete, world junior champion. And we’ll be out here looking to mix it up. Well, if you’re going to have a big day, this is the

Day to do it. All right, well, we’re looking forward to our men’s race as our women’s race now has concluded. And we will be back with you again, just before the men’s start. Oh, one more coming in here, and then we’re through our field. Is 39 coming now to the line. Olivia

Cuneo from Bates spent a little time here in Steamboat Springs, actually, and in Sun Valley, Idaho, training looking strong. Olivia and our final racer put him together for that final racer. Man, oh, man, what a grueling sport. This is. And it’s so spectacularly exciting. I’m just, you know, just really

Enjoying watching the efforts put forth by all these collegiate, student athletes. Absolutely. Roger So that will conclude our women’s race for today. I’m Travis Jones here with Roger Perricone, and we are going to sign off for a bit and we’ll see you again in about 45 minutes for our men’s 20 K

Classic, which Roger will be the deciding factor for this year’s NCAA championship. It will be. It’s going to be a battle. Incredible racing here in steamboat. We’ll see you soon. Sections that other people are having to strive right? Kick and, yeah. And that fast key is

The name of the game, in any of these ski events and it is and the technology and the waxing and the, you know, the procedures that, apply for these waxing were about to come up here with. I’m hoping, a screenshot of our standings. Magnus is looking a little bit

Slick, I will say. I mean, he’s well ahead. Clearly, he’s managing it well, and that may be part of his plan. I mean, Magnus is a guy who Roger has been known to actually go on, entirely slick skis at classic events that aren’t super hilly. He’ll just go out and double

Pull the whole thing, not even put wax on, and has had a lot of success with that. His skis look slick, but it does not seem to be hurting him. And my guess is with Magnus, that’s just part of his plan. He’s got skis that he can stomp on the steep uphills

And make him stick, but on the lower angle climbs, he may just be opting to go with slick skis, you know? And he has continued to put distance between himself and the rest of the field, it’s just a spectacular effort he’s putting forth right now. Yeah. Originally out of Oslo, Norway,

Representing the University of Colorado. He’s a senior. This is his last race in the buff, black and gold. So he clearly wants to make a statement on this last day of his college racing career . Well, so far he is making that statement. It’s unbelievable. But, to move that far ahead and

Hanging on to that, I imagine, is going to be tougher and tougher as the race, matures. Yeah. You can see him here on the steep climb. Still seems to have good kick. Andreas kicking from Du. The sole chaser. Really at this point. Trying with all he can to keep Magnus bow in

Sight, kicking has been a dominant force in the West this year. I do not believe that bow has beaten him more than one time in a classic race this year, kicking has been the class of the field, in classic racing in the West this year. But right

Now it is the Magnus Bow show off the front and looking great. Yeah, he just is, as you say, he just double pulling every opportunity and, really not doing a lot of kicks. I mean, obviously here on these flatter sections and especially the downhill, there’s no need for

That. He’s dropped into his tuck now, and he’s going to just shift off from one lane to the other as he makes his way down, trying to take as much distance out of this course as he can. And you can see there he is just crossing an intermediate timing

Section. So hopefully we’ll see something, soon on on their progress. Yeah. We actually don’t have any split timing out on course. We only have timing in the stadium, so we’ll only be seeing times from them, when they lap through. There he is. Andreas kicking, fighting to stay in touch. Coming into the

Mountain lion rock section. Really beautiful courses here in steamboat, very pretty. Skiing through those rocks there. Some cool little picnic tables perched up above. Will coach there. Staying in touch, hanging on to that fourth position. All important fourth position for the CU Buffaloes, right now with the CU buffs in first and

Fourth, we’ll have to see what that means, on the live scoring as they come through the stadium. But but, Magnus bow clearly, doing everything he can to lead the buffs to their first national championship in almost ten years. And here we have Florian Knop from Denver, still

In the fight. I believe he is currently skiing in third place, just ahead of Will Koch. And then really, where a lot of this is going to be decided, Roger is going to be that next pack after Koch. Are the Utes managing to stay in the front of that pack

Or have we seen, John Steele Hagenbeck come up to the front? Have we seen Remy Drolet move to the front of that pack? Those points are going to be essential for the two Utah skiers that were last time we saw hanging right at the front of that next.

Yeah it’s a real tactical play going on right now. And there’s that crew Hagenbeck there, and I saw both Hagenbeck and Drolet in there, and I believe I did see both of our youths in that quick little shot we got as well. But again, bow off the front. Not

Even a 10-K yet. He’s got a lot to do. This is a bit of a risky strategy by him. But he must be feeling good or he wouldn’t be trying to get away so early because he is a guy who can out finish almost anyone in this

Field. So in my mind, unless he really believes he can ski away, he’s not going to take the chance. He’s going to sit in and wait to out sprint here he is. He’s making his way down into the bottom of this course. Yeah, that’s Kier King. So we’ve got

Bow now heading toward the lollipop. Roger. Yep And look at that gap. Yeah. You don’t even, see our number two in the shot. He’s coming in just now on the far right. Coming out of the shade there, out of the trees. But, Andreas kicking well behind a surging Magnus bow, who just

Looks fantastic. So far here. King is a cagey veteran, though he is not given up. He knows that he’s still got a shot. He’s a junior at Du, originally out of Lier, Norway, so we’ve got Norway, Norway on the front right now representing Ku and Du again. One of the cool things

About this NCAA college racing program, as it brings really world class foreign athletes here to the US to compete against really world class American athletes, and I think helps both both parties to develop stronger and stronger skiers. A lot of skiers leave their NCAA career and go straight on to the World Cup.

And, you know, they’re a bit of controversy always, about the international flavor that there is in this, skiing business at the NCAA level. And, I’m with you. I believe this does nothing but improve everything. Our our leader coming through the start finish line right now. Yep. There he is, Magnus bow and

Coming in next, actually, it may be that it is Andreas King. It may be Florian Khnopff. It is indeed Florian Knop, actually, who has been skiing in second in the du Red and black, very strong, about 18 seconds, unofficially separating the two. And King has cracked a little

Bit. Here we have Will Koch now coming in in third. So we’ve got the buffs one and three right now that is huge actually for CU’s efforts. But then on the front of the Chase pack, Utah’s Brian Bushy immediately followed by Joe Davies. So we’ve got two utes now coming in right behind

Them Remy Drolet Montana State Bobcat in there. Having a good day. That is bib number 36 time or sorry. Florian Winker Florian originally from Freiburg, Germany, having a good day in that lead pack. Where did it go? That’s exciting. Okay, so two buffs, one and three right now,

But then two utes are leading the charge in fourth and fifth, chasing down this pack. And Andreas King, after a great start, has now faded out of that lead pack. This is Ben Dalby now coming through together with bib number one Skyler Patton. Also number 23 Luke Allen from Dartmouth lapping through the

Stadium. You can see that all white suit that is Remy Drolet from Harvard right behind the two Utah skiers in fourth and fifth. So Remy skiing in six, John Hagenbeck in seventh in the Dartmouth Green there. Those two Utah skiers are going to have to fight hard to stay at the front

Of this pack. Every spot they lose is going to be important. Points, that see, you will be holding on to assuming that bow and will Coke can stay up front right now as you can see on the splits there. Magnus bow on front. Florian Knopf, Will Koch

In third. So first and third for Ku, but then fourth and fifth for Bushy and Davies from Utah, and Tom Mancini from Utah hanging on in eighth, right, with Johannes Fullerton from CGU. So the battle is real out there right now. Roger. It’s going to be an exciting one. It

Is already an exciting one and it’s just going to get more so as we, move in. We’re just finishing up with, the second lap and there’s only two more to go. So the race is on and the fight is on as University of Colorado going to stay up and

Make sneak in from behind to take this championship was Utah going to be able to hang on as we get in towards the finish line? We’re just going to have to be a little patient. Wait and see. But right now it is one heck of a ski race out there. It

Certainly is, it’s a four point gap right now coming through there. See you at 96 points, if it were to have finished at the end of 10-K and the University of Utah with 85 points. So it is a four point gap, Utah still got it right now, but only four

Points. And I’d say that Utah is in a little bit of a danger zone with two. They’re two leading point scorers right at the front of a pack of about 15 guys that you know, want to eat them up. Yeah. You know that sense of personal pride and, working for

The school, is such a big part of this NCAA sport, skiing, sport. And, it really puts a different flavor into this, into this race, which is generally considered a more individual type of an event. Yeah. No you’re absolutely right, Roger. It’s a huge part of the equation for these guys. And I think.

That was Joe Davies. Slipping a bit there. But now back to, back to our racers on course. That’s Christopher Kalev from Tallinn, Estonia, representing UAF there in the white and blue right next to him, we’ve got Roger Anderson from University of New Hampshire , a Minneapolis, Minnesota native, coming through the first

Climb on their next lap. Here they are through 10-K. So these guys are heading out onto their third of four laps as the battle between Ku and Utah heats up. Out here on course. And, this is the final, final race of this championship event here in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. We

Started the event off with some giant slalom skiing over on Mount Werner. Moving to our second day of cross country. Moving last night to a slalom epic slalom race over on Howelsen Hill. And now here we are back at Howelsen Hill, the world’s coolest city park. And this is the final leg. The

Classic men’s NCAA championship ski race. And it is really a battle between the United from University of Colorado and the University of Utah. As we look Utah holding the lead, coming into the day. But it’s anybody’s guess where they’re going to end up. We’ve got about a lap and a

Half, maybe a little bit more, before we really see how those final results are and who is going to capture that national championship trophy. Incredibly close. Still, though, Magnus Bo putting on a show out here all by himself, totally unchallenged at the front and, skiing really strong, he does not look like

He’s losing any energy. Roger, strong double pull from him, we do know that, you know, not too far behind. Florian Keene State is chasing Will Koch is chasing. Those are our second and third place skiers. At last. Check. But here’s Magnus Bo looking great. Coming over the top of

The hill. I believe that is a shot briefly there of Knopf and Koch coming up. And here’s Magnus double pull kick up this section. A lot of other skiers are going to be striding that section, but with, with his upper body strength and ability to put in strong double pulls,

He is, you know, he’s able to glide a little bit more focus a little bit less on striding on some of those steeper sections. This, I believe, is Knopf going through that same point. Sure enough, Florian Knopf, representing Du and looking strong, striding really well as we see. Will Koch come into the

Picture in the background, hanging on. He’s got to keep that third place position if he wants to give CU a shot, he cannot let the Utes behind him come and get him and he looks great. I don’t see any sign of the Utes coming up on him yet.

Will looks good, his skis look good. And there we have our chasers. I see one ute in there. Joe Deer. Sorry, that’s Tom Mancini on the front, but I think Joe Davis is dropping off a little bit. We’ve got Remy Drolet in there in the all white. We’ve got Johnny

Hagenbeck in there as well rocking the Dartmouth green. But we do have three utes in there. And our third, see you Buffalo is falling off the pace a little bit here. Number 24 Johannes Flaten. I think Flaten would need to get up there with those guys to really keep the

Conversation going. And he is, he’s not there right now. We just got a shot of, Christoph Zatloukal from Denver out of, Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic, originally coming in right there together here with this track is really moving right now, and it’s, it’s changing minute by minute. We

Got a slight breeze that’s kicked up here in just the last few minutes. That’s going to cool things down. But that sun continues to warm up this track, making that, those uphill portions of this ski course, a little more difficult. Yeah, absolutely. It’s, what happens, Roger often is as the as the

Snow warms, you start to lose a little bit of kick out there. So we’ll see. You know, the teams certainly anticipate that there. Well aware of the weather forecast and what’s coming. They’re not usually waxing for the first lap. They’re kind of trying to watch for the last

Lap. But that’s always a little bit of a crapshoot. So we’ll see who who nailed it a lot of experience coaches out here. Yeah that snow gets too aggressive, you got not much left for that last lap. Yeah, that’s absolutely true. You can wear you can wear your kick wax

Right off, too, we often put on a layer of wax that we call a binder just to help to provide a little bit more durability for the race wax that’s on top of it . And, I’m sure these teams are all taking that into consideration today. There’s certainly a scientific aspect to

This sport, and in the wax. Oh, yeah. We’re nerds. Yeah, it’s a good thing, make no mistake. You know, you can, do all the research and just pass it on to the alpine guys, right? Which is the way it’s been working for, as long as they’ve been using.

Ever since they got rid of pine tar. Which actually still exists out there. There are still, some of the fastest race kick waxes out there, still have a little bit of a pine tar component in them, but, here we have Magnus Bo still out there all by himself, making it work. It’s

Going to be really interesting to see what’s going on behind him. It looks like Magnus is very unlikely at this point, to have much to contend with unless things start going sideways for him. But he still looks pretty fresh. Never say never out there on this track. Absolutely not.

You know, in a game where, you know, winners and losers, sometimes are separated by mere hundredths of a second, you know , this lead he’s got now is substantial. But, anything could happen just going over the high point here on this third lap. So he’s now going to get, a little

Bit of a breather coming back down as we wait to see Florian Knopf, our first chaser, come into view, I bet Will Koch has really got an eye on trying to gain on Florian Knopf right now. That could be the difference for. See you. Especially with Johannes flat in there. Third

Skier falling back behind all three Utes at this point. So, they’re going to need coke to move up. And they’re also going to need guys like John Hagenbeck from Dartmouth and Remy Drolet out of, out of Harvard to start moving up ahead of some of those Utah skiers. But right now, last

Shot, we last shot we had out there was, was of Utah’s Brian Bushy leading that chase group, which is great junior environmental science major, standout junior career, multiple time world junior team athlete and U23 athlete, skied out of the Green Mountain Valley School , coached by the phenomenal Colin Rogers. All right. Coming

Down now. Still looking strong. Magnus bow unchallenged thus far and finally getting a little bit of a breather after all that third lap climbing. Roger Yeah, we’re at the point now where it’s really difficult to tell just exactly how far ahead he is. We’re seeing some of our chasers coming up behind right

Now, unable to determine who they are. But, the distance between our leader and the everybody else just continues to expand. Oh, that was interesting. So I think that was bushy on the front there, right behind him was Drolet. And then Hagenbeck, those guys, both real contenders here as well. But

Then I think the other Utes were a little further back, but still right together in that pack. So I don’t think that we’ve had that pack really blow up yet. Yeah. If you remember, as they came through the, arena last time, our leader had about a 18 second advantage over the number

Two. And it seems that, that’s expanding still. Yeah. Here they come. Now, we’ve got, that is Joe Davies from Utah actually leading that charging, charging group there. But the two other Utes also with him, Remy Drolet and Bib two, John Hagenbeck in bib four. And then our two other

Utes, Brian Bushy right there with Tom Mancini, really keeping Utah in the conversation, Johannes Plata in the third Seiyu skier not figuring into this at the moment. So it’s all up to coach now. Can he get up past that, can he get up past Florian Knopf and put himself

Into that fight? Also in there, Florian Winker from Montana State having a really impressive race skiing in that top group, which is a breakthrough day for him for sure, mechanical engineering major at Montana State. He’s a grad student, out of Germany, but he is skiing in that top crew, which is

Something he has not really done yet this season. So great day for Florian Winker out of Montana State and our leader looks like he’s into our biggest of the downhill sections right now. Coming into the valley floor. He’s going to make his way around the lollipop very shortly. And into the stadium.

And at that point we’re really going to see what type of lead he possesses. Looking pretty relaxed. Magnus Bow does not look like he’s feeling a whole lot of pressure right now, and he isn’t, we have to have yet to see another skier really come into the stadium area. Although

He did just see, what I believe is Florian Knopf coming through, and heading into the lollipop. But here comes Magnus bow. Heading out now onto his last lap. Roger at this point, unchallenged. Yeah. What’s it going to do? You know, I mean, has he got the juice to make it

To the end and maintain that lead? I think he does. I think he’s got the juice and I think he’s got the motivation. Well, certainly the motivation. We’ll get a chance right here to estimate his lead at 15 K Magnus both through in 41 minutes. Looking great. And next up we

Very like we’ll see. Yep. There he is Florian Knopf now coming through. And as he crosses that line there we’ll see how far off he is. But he’s definitely a little ways back. Will Coke charging to try to close that gap? I feel like will maybe moving up on Florian just a

Little bit. Here he is. You second skier will coke coming through the gap now about 21 seconds up to Magnus bow from Florian Knopf. And here’s the rest of that group. They will be looking to hunt down will Coke, especially with Utah on the front of that pack. It’s going

To be Joe Davies, probably still at the front of that pack, and he is going to be given everything he has got to bring the Utes up to. Will Coke, who currently is skiing in third place. And boy, there is a significant gap read together that can be dangerous. That is

Dangerous in there. John Hagenbeck in there as well. And, our, our Montana state skier still fighting hard in there as well, Florian Winker, which is great. Outstanding skier, outstanding skiing by Florian, the splitting we’re seeing on screen there isn’t accurate or no is accurate. Yeah. Florian Winker right there Brian Bushy

From Utah and Tom Mancini from Utah both there as well. Flotten from see you. He’s a little ways back, but he’s hanging on to 10th. As long as he doesn’t lose places, it doesn’t matter all that much. If he’s right on those guys tails or not. He’s

Just got to hang on to places. Cannot let people pass him out there if he wants to keep see you in the conversation here for the overall. Yeah A reminder to everybody that this is a place point. Termination of our winners, not so much a time placement. So if you’re third,

You get the points of, the third place finisher, regardless of what your time was. And, Roger, a little update here from course, the difference was 17 at the beginning of this, right now, Q is 19 points up, which means that live on course Q is currently leading the NCAA Championships by two points,

This is the epitome of great sport right here. That is incredible. If that math holds up. And of course, this is unofficial math, being done on the back of a napkin somewhere, but currently, see you up by two points if order were to stay exactly as it is. That is

Incredibly exciting. Utah has been absolutely dominant for the past six years, has not lost an NCAA championships for the past six years. Magnus Bo, Will Coker and Johannes Flaten trying to change that today. And it is a rock fight here. Coming to the end. And, our leader just

Running away with it still as we, look on screen, it is just very impressive, skiing going on, especially up there at the front. The top three guys just giving it everything, available to them for, their own personal desires as well as those of the team. It’s it really is a tactical maneuvering happening

Right now. Andreas kicking, sitting back in 16th, had a great start. Was skiing in second with, Magnus Bo for quite a while, but clearly Kurt King having a tough day, I would attribute it to wax, but his teammate Florian Khnopff hanging on second right now. So it might

Just be a tough day for Kurt King. And those certainly have happened in this, most brutal of sports, cross country skiing. Three utes right together. There Right together. Winker now right behind them. But I do believe that the fact that we just saw those three utes together means that Remy Drolet and John

Hagenbeck have moved ahead of those utes, which is going to increase KU’s margin a little bit incredibly close right now. This is like one of the most exciting races as far as scoring goes here that I’ve ever seen. Roger. Yeah. And just, the team scoring and individual efforts here, it’s unbelievable. And

It’s so much fun to watch as, skiers continue to lap through here. We’ve got people coming through the 15 K, most of our skiers now through 15 K, still a couple out on that on that second lap. But, for the most part, everybody now out on their

Fourth and final lap and we will soon be seeing shots from the far end of the course that will help to give us an indication of where our top 5 or 6 stand. And that’s going to really be what decides the, the national championship today on the team level. But Magnus Bo looking

Like he is very likely to take away the individual national championship today. Roger. And what is his last college race? Yeah, well, he’s got reason to keep himself up in front, aside from a mass of talent and conditioning and all the efforts he’s put into this sport through

His, duration here on the. As a Colorado Buffalo. It’s just he’s he’s putting it all on the line right now. Both for himself and for his team and his school. It’s It’s impressive. It’s impressive skiing. Absolutely deep, deep pedigree. He’s a two time NCAA champ, skied in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. Two

Time youth Olympic champion, and, and interestingly, his favorite reality TV show is Gossip Girl. Roger, I happened to I happen to have that information about our leader, Magnus. Bo. You’d never guess that one. You’d never guess. You’d never guess. But you’re a big fan too, aren’t you, Roger?

Well, I used to be, but then they changed the format and lost me. Fair enough. More. More of a too hot to handle guy. Now I know it, I know it. All right, there he is. Magnus Bo climbing, looking strong, skiing out of the tracks, I think that’s part

Of his plan, as we talked about earlier, I suspect that Magnus has chosen to go on slightly slick skis because he is such a strong double puller, you know, double pole kicking here rather than striding. Oftentimes, when your skis are a little slick on the steeper climbs, you can just

Get out of the tracks where you’ll have a little bit more purchase, and you can ski out of the track in order to ensure that you’re still kicking well. And that’s what he’s doing. Yeah, good strategy by Bo knows himself really well by this point in the career, knows what

A strong double polar he is, and is honestly brave enough to go on skis that are a little slick on a hilly course, takes guts, and it also takes a knowledge of your your own abilities. Who will coach now? Looks like he’s gaining a little bit on Florian

Knob, but is it going to be enough? They’re nearing the high point of the course. I don’t know that it’s going to be enough for coach to catch him right behind him. He’s got Remi Drolet coming with John Steele Hagenbeck. He’s going to need to hold those guys off because the

Utes are right there. So very, very important for the scoring here that he is able to hold off Johnny Hagenbeck there on the right in the Dartmouth Green and Remi Drolet in the Harvard white wearing bib number two, our reigning classic champion and here comes the Utah train. Look

At that team effort right there. And they know exactly where they stand, exactly what they need to do that is to keep that Utah Utes on the top of the of the podium. Come this afternoon. And they do. But what they need to do is not finish right where

They are I don’t think no I think they’ve got to go up there and get well. They’d love to go up there and get coke. But the guys that they really need to get are, Hagenbeck and Drolet. Yeah Well, we’re going to see here. Yeah, they’re just going

To gain those extra points if they do get up there. But I think, this is going to come right down to the last, what, five K. Oh, they’re already okay . Yeah. Last couple k here. Yeah, want to do a shout out to Florian Winker to having the

Race of his career for Montana State wearing bib 36. And right there in that chase pack. So a great day for him and a great day for Montana State. Clearly Adam Saint-Pierre and the team over there nailing the wax which is awesome. Always good to see Montana State in the mix. And

They’ve had a really good championship. Roger. They’re they’re right up there in the overall. Yeah. Which is exciting. And it is because I’ve watched over the years, they have really, put together quite a program up there and, it’s, it’s paying dividends right now. Oh man. Is that. Well coach,

Getting caught up. It’s hard to tell, but I think it is. I think that’s John Steele Hagenbeck now coming up behind Coach. And that’s a skier, being lapped there. So that’s Magnus Bo going past somebody who I believe is being lapped. Oh I don’t think anyone’s that close to Bo. There

He is though, looking very strong. Could have been a coach out on trail too. Or a lap skier. Coaches are out there, skiing around. They’ve got special bibs that allow them to be on course. They just can’t get it anymore. They Second place now looks like maybe gaining a little bit of ground

On Magnus, but I think, you know, he’s so close to the high point here, Roger. It’s just hard to imagine that anybody’s going to pull Magnus Bo back. It’s skis are fast. We know he’s on slick skis today, here he is, charging up the last hill toward the high point. I think that

This is going to be Magnus Bo’s day. The question is, will it be Siu’s day? Yeah, that is the question. Spectacular. Skiing up front by Bo. But we have a rock fight going on just a little bit back from there. Our number two skier seems to be hanging in

There, but that coach and, the Utah team right behind him, you’re getting these points shuffled around. It’s going to be, anybody’s game as we come down to this last little bit. When they hit that lollipop, I expect we’re going to see some some real extra extraordinary efforts by all of that group.

We’ll see who’s still together when they get to that lollipop. But right now coach has got to be battling against Hagenbeck and Drolet. Staying in front of those two is going to be really, really important for KU’s points here, obviously a third point finish way more valuable than a

Fourth or fifth point finish. So he is going to be fighting hard to stay ahead of those guys, Hagenbeck and Drolet. No joke, Hagenbeck a great finisher. Really, really powerful sprinter. So he is not going to be wanting to come in there with Hagenbeck Drolet, a little bit

More of a distance guy. If it comes down to Drolet and Hagenbeck sprinting, I think Hagenbeck will take it. But coach is a good sprinter too. So coach could actually, if it’s a three man dogfight there, it could go to coach or to Hagenbeck, I think, both of those guys really, really

Strong. Drolet, would have I think, to have to get away to increase his chances of taking the win against those guys. As we see second place, that’s Florian Knopf coming down. And this is Will coach right behind him. We’ve got John Hagenbeck from Dartmouth in the green, and

We have Remy Drolet in the Harvard white back there. There’s Magnus Bo on one of the last steep climbs down there in the mountain lion rocks. He is almost home. Just the elevator shaft. A couple other quick little climbs before he’s there. Here’s a couple more chasers. Hard to tell, but I suspect

That’s Joe Davies from University of Utah. And here’s bib 18 or sorry bib 12. That’s Florian Knopf. Looking good. Looking slick doesn’t really matter at this point in the game. You’d almost rather have slick skis. You want to be quick on these last downhills, and if you slip a couple times on the

Last climbs, doesn’t matter much, but the next guy is the one that will help to determine what happens with the team. There he is. Will Koch right on his tail. That’s Hagenbeck, and right behind him. We’ve got, we’ve got, Remy Drolet. So it is going to be a battle. Can Koch

Hang on? Are those two going to eat him up? They’re close enough now that they might be getting a little bit of his draft on this downhill here. And the position of Hagenbeck and Drolet could be the determining factor here for whether it is Utah’s day or

Siu’s day here at the 2024 NCAA Championships in Steamboat. But this is the man of the hour. Roger Magnus bow. He’s from the start to finish. He is just at a distance. Spectacular performance right there. Absolute Lee coming in to the stadium now. He’s just got the, the lollipop corner and then the

Glory ski and his last race as a college skier, adding another NCAA championship to his, impressive career total. Let’s hear it for Magnus bow. Incredible racing out there. And here he comes in to the finish just a little ways. Let’s go. Looks over his shoulder. Nothing to worry about for Magnus, but

Here is the important battle. It looks like Will Koch is holding those two off Hagen, Baruch and Drolet not gaining on Koch. Really? As we head down into the stadium, those guys are strong double pullers, but so is Will Koch. I don’t think they’re going to get him. I don’t think

They’re going to get him, Roger. I think he’s done enough coke going into the lollipop. We should be seeing him coming out here on the course. Oh there he is. Magnus Bow, our 2024 national champion. Unbelievable Just taking his time, enjoying the moment. Might grab a cue flag. There he is. Perfect. Got

It. Well done by Magnus. Celebrating a dominant performance. As we see other skiers come into the lollipop behind him. But our 2024 men’s 20 K classic national champion in his last race as a college skier, Magnus Bow. Just crushing it. And here comes Florian, now into second. Looking good for

Du. And now it’s going to come down to what happens next. What happens next for the overall Knopf grabbing the silver will Koch it is going to be grabbing the bronze. No one close enough to have an impact on Will Koch. So putting Ku in strong contention. He is spent across

The line and he is pumped a hug from his teammate. And here’s the battle for fourth. John Steele Hagenbeck for Dartmouth Remy Drolet for Harvard. Too close to call. Roger, what do you think? I don’t know, it’s right on. Maybe a tie, Okay, and here’s the Utah train. These

Guys coming through. I thought those Utes were going to just make a big move on the back part, being all together and able to really manipulate, the course as they went around. You know, it didn’t pan out. It’s going to come down to flatten, I believe the math says that it is

Going to now come down to Johann Flatten. He’s currently in 12th. If he can move up 1 or 2 places, I think. See, you might have it. So let’s watch for flatten as we have a great race here by Florian Winker. Huge props to him. That’s a fantastic day for

Winker right there. Coming in with such a strong race from way back in the field, Utah, Mancini, UC Davis, Davies and Bucci all had great races out there and that’s Christophe Zatloukal coming through there. We have oh, here he comes. This could be the deciding moment here for this race. Bib number

16. That’s Logan Moore for Middlebury. Sorry Looking good. Coming in. Logan Moore. These guys just coming across the finish line. Absolutely spent maximum effort out there on the hill today by by the entire field Lock Haven in at 11th place I do not know. That is like what happens if there’s a

Tie. Roger. Well you know program director said yeah, this Utah program director, Frederick Illinois State, have to arm wrestle against, against Yana Albrectsen from the announcers decide locked in an 11th. Oh man. It is as close as can be on that points total as we see bib 21. That’s Roger Anderson from

New Hampshire coming across with a strong race. And bib number one, Skylar Patton from Michigan Tech coming across looking good. And bib number 40 coming across. Good day there for Ben Dooley from Alaska Fairbanks. He he won the quarter open. That’s the kind of biggest, biggest short race at the Birkie bib number

Three. Now Andreas kicking tough tough day for Kier King. Not what he anticipated. He’ll be disappointed, but that is part of the game out here. 38 Derek dueling from Anchorage, Alaska coming across right there together with Mike Uphoff from Alaska Fairbanks. Oh and a battle here. These guys still

Fighting for team points. Bib number 25. That’s Colin Freed coming in just ahead of bib 35. That’s Bjorn Westervelt’s. Great day for Colin Freed. And Michigan Tech there as Jack Lang from Dartmouth makes his way to the finish. Jack Lang had some great experience, racing in World Cups up in Canmore, Canada

This year and had some good results up there. Might be a little tired, also had a top ten at Junior World Championships this year. So another strong up and coming American skier originally out of Lynn, New Hampshire. And here comes bib 23. That’s Luke Allan out of Dartmouth, member of the

Canadian National team. Bringing it home strong for Dartmouth here. Good day for Dartmouth. John Hagenbeck right up there. Still too close to call. I think , with John Hagenbeck and Remy Drolet. Yeah. Magnus Bowie State . Man, oh, man, what a performance. I just, am so enthused. I know what he’s done

Out there on the Hill today, especially given the fact that it’s his final collegiate race. Really cool, really cool. They are showing Drolet ahead of Hagenbeck, we don’t know for sure. Right here. All right. Barry Unofficial. Very unofficial here. But a little bit of news. The announcers have decided the announcers have been

Told that the CU Buffaloes by two points. No, Roger, have become the 2024 NCAA national Championships. Clearly unofficial at this point. Unofficial? That’s right. The unofficial. But man, that is big, big news. The first win in I believe nine years and Utah unseated for the first time in

Six. So that is a huge last day. The Nordic team absolutely throwing down on the last day of his NCAA championship. Rice Coker the win for the not mistaken, last time they won was right here in steamboat. I believe that you’re right. Roger. Zach Nemeth crossing the line there skiing for Colby. So

Many strong skiers out here every skier in this field, at the, you know, top of the NCAA divisions, East, central and West. Just the cream of the crop, top of the field. Here comes Luke Ficker or Luke Fricker from northern Michigan, originally from Canmore, Canada, looking strong coming across the

Line. As see you. I think the word is maybe starting to spread through the stadium a little bit here, and the excitement is palpable. All As Ben and Bo comes across for UVM. Jack Young, Jack young from Colby coming across CBC. That’s Colby. And you can see the rumor mill

In action out there, right? Right, right. We no one’s really listening to the live stream. Probably here in the stadium, so the word may not be out, but, we again, unofficially calling this thing for the University of Colorado in what is one of the hardest fought battles, huge day

For Magnus. Bo. Will coach. Deserves a ton of credit for that as well. Just holding off and getting the last laugh to that was, that was that was extreme effort there for Will coach. Absolutely. Yeah. Those guys were charging hard and, really wanted to get him. He hung on which was spectacular,

The Utes man, what an impressive day for those guys, but just not enough. And then kind of the hero for CU not having his best day, but managing to fight hard for those team spots was Johannes Flaten, just like not giving up out there, Roger. And that’s cool to see. You bet. And

Last night seeing see you take both the men’s and women’s slalom championships. So that certainly played a huge role in that move up by the University of Colorado to capture the NCAA title. Absolutely true. Yeah I think, a huge week for them with, wins for the women and GS.

Yeah, both slalom. Yeah. Magnus. Bo today. Unbelievable. Absolutely spectacular. Proud team bib 39 there. That’s Carson Williams racing for Bowdoin. And there are the buffs the hey no now word is out and they are psyched. There’s the flag. See you buffs I know what they’re saying and I cannot repeat it on

The radio. But it’s, something them up something them up. Go. See you. We know that. We know that cheer. Beautiful. I’ve heard that before, but I didn’t think it was true. No. All right. And they’re. You can see. You can see him down on the left hand side of your screen. That’s

Johannes Flaten, who, despite not having his best day, just laid it all out there and really , helped his team to secure those points. I think if he would have been 12th instead of 11th, you know, it might have been an actual. Amazingly, it came down to him at the when the

Day was over. Yeah Yeah, he was the man, the other guy. We do need to acknowledge is, Florian Khnopff from Denver Florian ski in the second today, because du wasn’t really in the conversation. We didn’t talk about them quite as much, but man, he had a great day today,

Florian, you know, the only guy who could even keep Magnus bow in sight out there today, member of the German national team, he won a bronze medal at the Junior Worlds in 2019. So the guy’s got a deep resume, really, really strong skier, he’s a grad student at Denver, and I believe

This is also his last NCAA race. So great way to finish off for him. Also on the podium and there it is. Officially 569.5 points for the CU buffs 560 7.5 for the University of Utah. Almost 600 points on the board. Roger, two points apart. That’s got to be the closest ever. It’s

Got to be. It’s certainly the closest I’m aware of. And look at that number for Dartmouth. Yeah For the, perennial eastern powerhouse UVM. Outdone by Dartmouth this year. Great skiing. Almost on the podium. Denver. 491. Great, great racing by those guys today. Montana State sliding into the number five spot. Very exciting. Pretty

Darn impressive. Of course, the big news CU buffs bringing it home. Wow. What a day. What a week of ski competitions. The NCAA national championships right here in Steamboat Springs, we were so proud to host this here. Yeah, steamboat always putting on world class events, I think there are very few venues

Worldwide that have as much experience in an event hosting as the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, at all levels. You know, everything from World Cup, Nordic combined freestyle, alpine races, to NCAA championships, junior national championships, it’s a really it’s a really broad spectrum of events that happen here in

Steamboat and there you see a great shot of the town of Steamboat Springs and this beautiful stadium that is a fully active rodeo arena. All summer. That’s pretty unique. That is. Yeah. So you can come out here in the summertime, watch some bronc riding and you can come out here in the winter

Time and watch Marius Bo kick some butt out there for the CU Buffaloes. You know, the last time I competed in this arena, it was coming out of that number one chute. Hey, there we go. Roger. Perricone rodeo cowboy. So, yeah, and just just a spectacular, week of skiing and

So enjoyable for all of us to just see this level of competition here in town. But you’re talking about Steamboat’s history and hosting this event and other events, and it really has to do with this cross country venue. It is right on the edge, elevation wise. The

Top is a little bit too high to meet standards. The bottom is a little low, but the average is what they count. And that is a big reason that we are able to host so many different types of events right here, right? Yeah, absolutely. And, and also, you know, Steamboat’s ability to

Always have really good natural snow, is a big part of that too. And really good volunteers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there it is. Okay. Thanks, guys. We’ll check back in with you in awards . Well, like to let everybody know out there, watching this live feed from Steamboat Springs

. Awards are coming up very shortly, so don’t go away. This is going to be very special. Awards ceremony right here. Roger Perricone and Travis Jones , we’re going to sign out for just a minute here, and we’ll be right back with you as soon as awards are ready to go. All

Right. Well, congratulations to every one of these athletes as we move, out of the last day, the last competition in the NCAA championship event, spectacular across the board. Yes.