When the sun shines happily and snowstorms spread a fresh coat of white on trails and trees, it’s pretty hard to beat Steamboat’s Howelsen Hill as a ski race venue. That’s exactly what greeted the country’s best collegiate skiers for Day 1 of nordic competition at the 2024 NCAA Ski Championships as racers lined up for a 7.5 k individual start skate race.
Pitch-perfect Colorado spring conditions softened the corners—literally and figuratively—on an otherwise stark, challenging, three lap, 2.5 k course that climbed out of the Howelsen Hill rodeo grounds, turned corners, kept on going, and finally relented for a fast downhill to the finish. Located way up at 7,000 feet of elevation, the course—and the challenges of the mid-distance race distance—combined to present a true test for collegiate skiing’s young, versatile talent. The climbs would task the aerobic capacities, but the ability to recruit fast twitch fibers was one that would play a role in determining who could cover the 7.5 k the fastest. It was a utility-players race, and would make for an interesting spectacle for the spectators.
Men’s 7.5 k Skate Individual Start
At last year’s NCAA Championships in Lake Placid, Dartmouth’s John Steel Hagenbuch finished second in the 10 k skate behind then-University of Alaska-Fairbanks (now-University of Utah) skier Joe Davies. Hagenbuch came into Steamboat knowing he just needed to take one more step. The metaphor became something more literal when Thursday’s startlist was posted; Hagenbuch started one bib behind Davies, bibs 37 and 36, respectively.
Through three 2.5 k laps, Davies and Hagenbuch would remain tied to each other. Davies went through the first 2.5 k checkpoint in first place, splitting less than a second with a group of early start leaders Florian Knopf (University of Denver), and Will Koch (University of Colorado). One start place behind though, Hagenbuch was able to emerge from that pack. He came through the 2.5 k checkpoint seven seconds ahead of the leading group containing Davies and another pre-race favorite, the University of Denver’s Andreas Kirkeng. Hagenbuch’s lead was one of the only distinguishable features from the first lap of racing. The second place through eleventh place skiers were all within ten seconds through one lap, which only served to impart that the 7.5 k race would make for a race in which seconds split would be places gained or lost.
Through the second lap, some clarity began to emerge. The lead times had started to splay, with Knopf and Koch continuing to top the early starters through the five kilometer mark. Davies would again set the high bar at the checkpoint, taking nine seconds on Knopf to go into the lead, momentarily. Again though, Hagenbuch followed in short order. His time check showed that he had kept his lead steady over Davies at around eight seconds. Behind Hagenbuch, the last starter in the field, UU’s Tom Mancini had started to pick up time, as well. He moved from eighth place at 2.5 k into the fifth spot, 22 seconds off Hagenbuch.
Hagenbuch’s season has been defined by milestones on a national, and international scale. When he has made moves towards a first National Championship, or a World U23 Championship podium, it has come cleanly, and decisively, in the final moments of a race. So, with a lead at five kilometers, the look ahead to the finish raised questions more in line with “Will he be able to put more time on the field?” than “Will he win?” Davies would fall into a similar category, crossing the line in first place, with a twenty second gap over Koch who would finish fourth on the day. As Davies crossed the line, Hagenbuch was coming off the downhill leading to the Steamboat Springs stadium, and would answer the questions raised at the 5 k checkpoint with an affirmative, “Yes!” He gained a couple more seconds over Davies and the field, to total eleven, en route to winning the race. UU’s Mancini, meanwhile, surged, to move ahead of Koch and finish third place, giving UU a dual podium in second and third place.
For Hagenbuch, the win will round out a milestone-filled season with a particularly meaningful one. After three years on the college circuit, Hagenbuch (a junior) is now an NCAA Champion, and has opened up the door to complete a rare NCAA sweep for an American male skier (the last skier to do so was Ben Ogden for the University of Vermont in 2022). “He’s been skiing at a really high level all winter,” said Dartmouth Men’s Head Cross Country Coach, Brayton Osgood, of Hagenbuch’s race. “And he’s done a tremendous job all season of balancing international competition, EISA Carnival racing, and his academic commitments. He skied confidently and strong today, I’m so impressed with his approach and racing today.” Osgood added that Hagenbuch’s race helped set a tone for the entirety of the Big Green on Thursday: “As a full team, this was the best day we’ve had at NCAA Championships in my time at Dartmouth – all six of our skiers in the top-20, three All-Americans, and two podiums including a National Champion. We are really proud of this team.”
Women’s 7.5 k Skate Individual Start
The University of Utah (UU) Women’s team is in the middle of a streak—three straight years of NCAA individual championships. That streak has been made possible by a trio of skiers, Sophia Laukli, Novie McCabe, and Sydney Palmer-Leger. The youngest of the trio, Palmer-Leger had started the impressive run for the UU team by sweeping NCAA Championships as a Freshman in 2021 at Jackson, New Hampshire. Since those victories, she has worked steadily, skied with consistency, and been a factor in nearly every race she has started. She hadn’t, however, skied back to the top step of the NCAA podium.
