Utes Claim Third Consecutive NCAA Skiing Championship

Saturday, March 12

Midway, Utah

All Day

University of Utah

15/20K Freestyle (M)

Photo by: Nick Grace

Utes Claim Third Consecutive NCAA Skiing Championship

3/12/2022 3:52 PM | Skiing

2022 NCAA Championship Results FINAL Photo Gallery

Sophia Laukli wins first individual national title in women’s 15K freestyle to cap the event

MIDWAY, Utah – Utah junior Sophia Laukli put in a dominant performance Saturday to win the NCAA women's Nordic 15-kilometer freestyle championship at Soldier Hollow, as the Utes cruised to their third consecutive NCAA team title and fourth in the last five completed national championships. Overall, it is the Utes' 15^th team national championship in program history.

The Utes took the crown by amassing 578 total points over the three-day competition, followed by Vermont in second place (511.5), Denver in third (436.5) and Colorado in fourth (435).

"It's amazing, especially (being) here and winning it at home in front of the big crowds and everybody that's up here cheering us on," said Utah Director of Skiing Fredrik Landstedt. "It's just an incredible feeling. Winning our third straight, it feels great. There's always more pressure when you are trying to do it at home. But we were able to do it here and after some bad weather on Wednesday, it was really good in Park City and near perfect conditions here at Soldier Hollow as well."

No better feeling??#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/9se40IObDA
— Utah Ski Team (@utahskiteam) March 13, 2022

Sophomore Novie McCabe—who captured the women's 5k classic national title on Thursday—finished second in 37:09.5, following her teammate Laukli, who crossed the line in a winning time of 36:35.7. Sophomore Sydney Palmer-Leger, who won both national championship races last year in leading Utah to the team title, contributed valuable points with an eighth-place finish in today's race (38:53.8) to earn the fourth All-America award of her career.

It was Laukli's first NCAA individual championship and gave her three first-team All-America honors for her career. She tied for second in Thursday's 5K classical race behind McCabe. McCabe's runner-up performance today raised her tally to four career first-team All-America honors.

"I knew that it was definitely possible on a good day, but I haven't been racing (collegiately) a lot so I didn't know what kind of shape that I was in," Laukli said. "I knew it was going to be pretty fun to race with Novie (McCabe) and with Sydney (Palmer-Leger) and try to ski away from the pack. I felt really good. I had some really fast skis so that worked to my advantage and it ended up just playing out really well."

Laukli credited the home-course fans for helping her through the grueling race.

"I was grateful that everyone was in the hardest places on the course because I definitely pushed a lot harder there. This is why I love racing in the U.S. and why I keep doing that. Just this whole vibe the entire uphill, it's so motivating and so cool."

Junior Samuel Hendry placed second in the Men's 20K Freestyle to earn his fourth career top-three finish in an NCAA Championships race. His performance, along with a 12^th-place finish by graduate student Bjørn Riksaasen and 14^th-place by junior Luke Jager, helped the Utes to a second-place team finish in the race, with 73.0 points, just behind team winner Vermont (78).

Hendry led the way for the Utes in the day's opening race, the men's 20K Freestyle, covering the course in 43:07.9, just seven seconds behind national champion Ben Ogden of Vermont. It was Hendry's second consecutive runner-up finish in the NCAA Championships 20K Freestyle, and the fourth top-three NCAA finish of his career.

"I'm really happy with second, especially to such a strong guy like Ben (Ogden of Vermont)," Hendry said. "Ben is coming off a wonderful season going to the World Cup and the Olympics. He is definitely the biggest guy out there. Thursday we really struggled and probably had our worst day as a team in my time at Utah. So it was great to bounce back today and be in there. We knew that was not the norm, that was the exception. So it was easy to put it behind us."

Utah Head Nordic Coach Miles Havlick said the way the women's race played out was aligned with the way the team talked last night about the approach to the race.

"We were hoping they would stick together for the first couple of laps, and then start jockeying for position, and who wanted to take it," Havlick said. "They obviously had a really high pace from the beginning. Sophia's been waiting for that one. She's been second several times at NCAAs, so a national championship is amazing for her. Novie was just a little bit off, behind her, but incredible day. They've just been pushing each other all year. Sydney has had some struggles with her legs a little bit, so they were kind of cramping out there with the heat and with the effort, but she pushed it all the way to the end and gave it everything she could."

Today's performances saw four Utes earn All-America honors (Hendry, Laukli, McCabe and Palmer-Leger), bringing Utah's total for this year's NCAA Championships meet to 14. With Laukli's individual title today, paired with McCabe's national title on Thursday, Utah has swept the women's Nordic races in consecutive years. Palmer-Leger won both races at last year's championships.

The team title is Coach Landstedt's third championship at Utah (2019, '21 and '22) and fifth overall in collegiate skiing. Along with Landstedt, this is head alpine coach JJ Johnson and head Nordic coach Miles Havlick's third national championship as coaches at Utah. It's Mary Joyce's second national championship as the Utah assistant alpine coach.

"It was a tougher season because we had people out for the Olympics and the World Cup circuit, and then we had skiers over in Norway for the World Junior Championships and the U23 World Championships," Landstedt added. "So we had athletes all over the place and that made it tougher for us during the regular season even to sometimes put a team together for a meet. It's also hard for the team dynamics when they are all over the place. But at the same time, everyone was super psyched because we had Olympians, people in the World Cups and people in Norway, and they were all skiing well and getting medals in Junior Worlds. Overall, it was a different year but a great year for sure. But I think this year showed off the quality of our program because we not only have the top collegiate program in the country, but we also have one of the top ski clubs all over the country. We have everyone working for the team and that seems to be something that we have been very successful at lately."

This is the University of Utah's 29^th team national championship in school history, and fourth national title for Utah skiing in the past five completed NCAA Championships, dating back to 2017.

Utah came into the day holding a 27.5 point lead over Vermont, 32.5 points over Denver and 37 points over Colorado. The Utes' men's team scored 73 points in the 20K freestyle, while Vermont amassed 78 to narrow Utah's team lead to 22.5, but the women's team came up big with 100 points in the 15K race to Vermont's 56 to seal the win.

Champs ??@utahskiteam pic.twitter.com/xkpZqSifxo
— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) March 13, 2022

CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES:

Utah Athletics now has 112 individual national champions, including 80 by the ski program
Laukli's victory on Saturday was the 35^th individual championship by a Utah women's skiers, and 13^th by a Utah women's Nordic skier.
In the two women's Nordic races, Utah claimed four top-two finishes and scored 202.5 total points (102.5 in Classic and 100 in Freestyle). Last year the women's Nordic team scored 197 points en route to the overall team title.
This is the seventh time the state of Utah and the University of Utah has served as host of the NCAA Skiing Championships.
Utah has won four of the last five titles and 13 since skiing went coed in 1983, most in the nation.
The Utes were dominant in the RMISA regular season, winning all but one meet through the regular season and entered the NCAAs as the champions of the RMISA.
The leader at the midway point has now claimed 14 of the last 20 titles, while schools leading after three days (or six events) have won 22 of the last 26 times (though Utah rallied from 34½ points behind Denver to win the 2017 crown).
Utah is the first team to lead the competition from wire-to-wire since 2011. Before this year the last three teams to lead from wire-to-wire were Denver (2002, 2010) and CU (2011).

ADDITIONAL QUOTES:

Fredrik Landstedt
On how confident he was during the week:
"I felt good about our team but I get nervous for sure. Any time you ski alpine it swings so quick. You have one person ski out and it's 30 points less. It can swing 60-70 points in just one race. You can never be sure. But it's always tight."

On the women's 15K freestyle race:
"We knew that all three of them could be up there. It's very tough competition between those three as well, so they really went out there and almost tried to beat up each other almost a little too much. But it turned out well. Sydney (Palmer-Leger) had a cramp the last two laps and was fighting super hard to get the position she had. And Sophia (Laukli) had an amazing day and really good skis. Novie (McCabe) is always up there and fighting really hard. So it was great to see them perform so well."

On the men's 20K freestyle race:
"Sam (Hendry) had an amazing race. We've been waiting for this but he hasn't felt too good in his body the last few competitions. But today he was right on it, you could see it in him. He really wanted to go. On the last lap, he asked me how many he had to go, and I told him that was it and he had to go now. But he was really feeling good for sure. Then Luke (Jager) and Bjorn (Riksaasen) weren't having their best days but they were really fighting hard and go the points they needed."

Miles Havlick
"We were hoping to be even after the boys' race and they held their own. They skied a great race, fighting all the way to the end. Sam had some ups and downs this season and finally everything clicked, and he was second again. Really great day by him. Bjorn and Luke were just duking it out, trying to keep as many spots as they could. Obviously, a 20K is not easy. It was a great day!"

"They were definitely out for redemption today. They were a little frustrated after Thursday's race. This morning they were fired up. Conditions were just as they always are out here at Soldier Hollow, so we were ready."

"It's really a testament to all the hard work they've put in over the summer and fall, and they've obviously been exposed to the highest level of racing at the Olympics, so this is their new standard and they're so motivated, and great friends, and really push each other every session. This is just showcasing it well today."

Sophia Laukli

"When I was warming up I was like, oh no, this might be a long race. But, honestly, I tend to race better when I warm up and feel a little bit off. So I was hoping that was going to be the case today and it definitely did work. The course was great for me. A lot of gradual climbing and it was good."

On the race strategy:
"I ended up leading a lot. There was a part where Novie started to lead and I noticed that my skis were a lot faster than hers so it didn't make sense for her to lead. So I ended up ahead most of the time and I was able to get a little bit of a gap."

"When I pulled away, I was not sure if it was going to be the right call. I was feeling good but it was a long race, so I was just hoping that I wasn't going to blow up. I'm always nervous about breaking away too early so it wasn't the most confident breakaway. It just gradually got bigger and luckily it was enough."

On her thoughts at the finish line:
"I thought Novie was really close behind me so I was going to try to ski as fast as I could until the end, but then I saw them handing the flag to me, and so I thought I would take it and hoped it's enough. But it was not until I came down the last downhill it really sank in because I tend to fall when I'm doing well and I was just praying that I would just stay on my feet. It was a great feeling."

Samuel Hendry

"Mass start racing is always so fun. We started out pretty mellow and the first couple of laps I went out pretty controlled and was just trying to stay out in front, get some feeds and just kind of keep things under control and keep everyone in contact. It was on that fourth lap Ben Ogden put in a big effort going up the big climb. Luke Jager and Andreas Kirking chased that down and I followed them up the hill. Fortunately, Ben took a feed in the stadium and slowed down and I could catch back on and then a couple more caught up to us, and at that point we had a group of four or five. Everyone was pretty tired after that move and we were just kind of taking it easy. On the last lap we were climbing up the hollow and Bernhard Flaschberger put up a pretty big effort and everyone was able to hang with that. I knew I had some energy left and I knew Berny was going to hurt himself from that. So I decided to let him do that and try to save something. I knew Ben Ogden had another big effort in him and I just had to be patient. Then we came around to that middle section and those two short climbs. We hit the big climb right at the end and Ben went, and it was just crazy, he blasted off. That's a long climb so I just tried to pace myself and save a little bit. JC Schoonmaker made another push and I kind of exploded up there and shook him off. I wish I could have given Ben a bigger push but he was just too strong."

"My strategy for the mass start races is to just expend as little energy as possible early on. If I feel really good I can try to make something happen. But usually it's going to come down to the last climb or second to last climb. I just try to save as much for those as possible."