NCAA Previews

Pioneers Look for No. 20: The University of Denver ski teams look to win their 20th national championship while defending last year’s title, when they head to Bethel and Rumford, Maine, for the NCAA Championships from March 11-14. The Pioneers have won an NCAA-record 19 team championships, including five this decade.

Full Squad: Denver won the title last year despite having just 11 of 12 skiers qualified, but DU is sending the maximum 12 skiers to compete in the 2009 NCAA Championships. Alaska-Anchorage and Utah are the only other RMISA teams sending 12 skiers, followed by 11 from Colorado and 10 each from Nevada and New Mexico.

Repeat After Me: John Buchar became just the second Denver skier to sweep the slalom and giant slalom at the NCAA Championships last year, equaling the feat of teammate Adam Cole from 2007. Buchar, who also earned second-team All-American honors in 2007, looks to become the just the first DU men’s alpine skier to defend his title since Peik Christensen won the alpine crown in 1973 and 1974, and just the third ever to repeat. Otto Tschudi is the only other DU men’s alpine skier to win consecutive titles and the only to do it three times, winning the downhill in 1970, 1971 and 1972.

Men’s Alpine: Joining Buchar on this year’s Men’s Alpine Championship team will be Ian Lochhead and newcomer Leif Haugen. Buchar, Haugen and Lochhead ranked third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the RMISA men’s slalom rankings this season, as DU claimed the RMISA Regular Season Men’s Alpine Championship by winning four of five slalom events. In the GS, Haugen led the way ranked fourth, followed by Buchar in ninth and Lochhead in 18th. 

Women’s Alpine: Molly Ryan is the lone returning skier from last year’s NCAA Championships, where Ryan earned second-team All-American honors with a 10th place finish in giant slalom. However, Clare Abbe earned first-team All-American honors after coming in fifth in the slalom at the 2007 NCAA Championships. Newcomer Ida Dillingoeen will also represent the Pioneers straight off a second place GS and fourth place slalom finish at the NCAA West Regionals. Dillingoeen led the way among DU qualifiers in the GS, ranking fourth in the RMISA, while Abbe was seventh among slalom skiers.

Big Shoes to Fill: For the first time in four years, the Pioneers are sending newcomers to compete in the men’s Nordic. Dan Clark, Mike Hinckley and Harold Lovenskiold will look to fill the void left by three-time individual champion and six-time All-American Rene Reisshauer, 2006 classical champion and eight-time All-American John Stene, and two-time All-American Havard Selseng. Those three skiers represented the Pioneers in 2005-08, winning a pair of team titles. However, Hinckley qualified for last year’s championship before an illness sidelined him. Hinckley leads the way for DU, as the seventh overall qualifier in the RMISA, followed by Clark at 18th and Loevenskiold in 21st.

Women’s Nordic: Annelise Bailly and Antje Maempel return to the NCAA Championships after tying for third in the classical and coming in fifth in the freestyle last year, despite having just two of three qualified skiers. Bailly earned first-team All-American honors in both events, coming in third in freestyle and fifth in classical. Maempel was a first-team All-American in classical and second-team in freestyle. This season, Maempel was named the RMISA Women’s Nordic Most Valuable Skier after finishing in the top five of all 12 events, while Bailly raced to seven top-10 finishes. Newcomer Kate Dolan joins DU at this year’s championships after earning four top-10 finishes in 2009. The team swept the final six events of the season.

Pioneers in the NCAAs: The Pioneers won their 19th team championships in 2008, the most by any team in the NCAA. Colorado is second with 16 titles, and New Mexico is third with 10. The 19 ski titles are tied with Arkansas indoor track and UCLA men’s volleyball for the fifth-most team championships in Division I history. Oklahoma State wrestling holds the most national titles with 34. Added to seven hockey national titles, DU has the 13th most championships among all schools.

Team of the 2000s: Denver has won five NCAA Championships in skiing since 2000. Utah (2003), New Mexico (2004), Colorado (2006) and Dartmouth (2007) won the other four titles this decade.

Coached by Champions: Denver’s head coaches, alpine coach Andy LeRoy and Nordic coach Dave Stewart, have their fair share of championship caliber racing. LeRoy won the slalom at the 2000 NCAA National Championships while at the University of Colorado after a six-year stint on the U.S. Ski Team that included a trip to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Meanwhile, Stewart was a 2006 national champion in the sprint relay while racing professionally after graduating from Vermont. Third-year alpine assistant coach Chris Bergfinished seventh in the giant slalom at the 2003 championships. Second-year Nordic assistant coach Hennie Kashiwa was the Nordic captain on DU’s 2005 title team. 

Coaches of the Year: Head alpine coach Andy LeRoy was named 2007 and 2008 Coach of the Year at the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, while David Stewart also earned the award last year.

2009 Season Recap

Alaska-Anchorage Invitational (Jan. 5-10)

The Pioneers took fifth at the Alaska-Anchorage Invitational with 481 points, trailing Colorado (542), New Mexico (529.5), Alaska-Anchorage (529) and Utah (492.5). Antje Maempelwon the classical and was second in the freestyle. 

Seawolf Invitational (Jan. 8-11)

Denver was fourth at the Seawolf Invitational in Anchorage with 506.5 points behind host Alaska-Anchorage (554), Utah (538) and Colorado (514.5). Maempel again led the way, finishing second in the freestyle and fifth in the classical, while John Buchar earned a spot on the podium with his second-consecutive third place finish in slalom.

Colorado Invitational (Jan. 14-17)

With 18 top-10 finishes, Denver placed second overall at the Colorado Invitational with 541 points, trailing first-place host CU (564.5). The men’s alpine and women’s Nordic teams dominated the invitational, winning all four of their races.

Denver Invitational (Feb. 5-7)

For the second-straight meet, the Pioneers finished second (492 points) behind Colorado (540). Buchar won the slalom, and 15 Denver skiers finished in the top-10.

 RMISA Championships/NCAA Western Regional (Feb. 20-21)

The Pioneer skiers finished fourth at the NCAA Western Regional with 483 points. New Mexico won its first meet of the year with 565 points, followed by Colorado (539) and Nevada (485). Maempel and Annelise Bailly went one-two in the freestyle, and Maempel was on the podium in second place in the classical. Ida Dillingoeen had her strongest finishes of the year at second in the giant slalom and fourth in the slalom.