HANOVER/LYME CENTER, N.H. – The University of Denver ski team begins the 2025 NCAA National Collegiate Championships this week in New Hampshire, hosted by Dartmouth College.
 
Due to rain forecasted this week in the Hanover area, the original alpine schedule has been flipped, with the men's and women's alpine slalom beginning this year's national championships at Dartmouth Skiway near Lyme Center on Wednesday morning. The giant slalom events have been moved to Friday to accommodate the weather.
 
The Nordic competition begins at Oak Hill Outdoor Center in Hanover with the men's and women's 7.5-kilometer classical interval start on Thursday. The 2025 national championships then conclude with the 20K freestyle mass start.
 
Denver is aiming to win its 25th national title and first since 2018 this week. The Pioneers, who own the most skiing titles in the NCAA, have placed third at each of the last four championships. Denver's 491 points in 2024 were its most since its 2018 win (604) and was 78 points behind winner Colorado in what was one of the tightest national meets in history.
 
The Pioneers qualified a full 12-member team, but only two of the three women's alpine qualifiers will race. Senior Sara Rask will lead the Pioneers in her third NCAAs and will be joined by junior Mia Hunt, who is at her second. Junior Nicola Rountree-Williams, who qualified for her first collegiate nationals, will miss this year's championship with a season-ending injury suffered earlier this season. DU did not have a fourth women's alpine qualifier to take Rountree-Williams' spot.
 
Men's alpine features graduate student Loic Chable, junior Thomas Hoffman and freshman Pietro Motterlini. Hoffman is at his second-straight NCAAs while Chable is set to make his debut with the Pioneers after racing at the previous two national championships with Westminster University.
 
Men's Nordic is one of the most experienced groups, with senior Andreas Kirkeng at his fourth NCAA Championship while graduate student Florian Knopf and senior Elijah Weenig are both at their second each. Knopf earned two first-team All-American honors last year, and Weenig returns to DU's lineup after previously racing in 2023 in Lake Placid.
 
Women's Nordic has two individuals set to make their debuts at the national championships and a DU newcomer in graduate student Lea Wenaas. Sophomore Maja Moland and freshman Eve-Ondine Duchaufour are both set to race at their first collegiate nationals. Wenaas will be attending her third NCAAs but first with the Pioneers after racing the previous two years at New Hampshire.
 
DU also had five additional Nordic skiers that qualified and were named as alternates: freshman Anna Stewart, junior Selma Andersen, sophomore Krystof Zatloukal, junior Micah Steinberg and freshman Landon Wyatt.
 
During the 2025 Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association season, Denver finished third overall in the team standings with 2,712 points earned across the seven meets. The Pioneers finished with the most Nordic points at 1698.5, beating out Utah by 3.5 points. Denver was third in the alpine standings with 1013.5 points.
 
The Pioneers placed in the top three in each of the meets this year, including coming in second at the DU Invitational (633.5 points) and winning the Nordic-only Alaska Fairbanks Invitational (345 points)—their first team victory since the 2020 RMISA Championships.
 
Denver last raced at the NCAA Championships in the state of New Hampshire in 2021 when UNH hosted in Jackson, and the Pios finished third. The last time Dartmouth hosted in Hanover was in 2003 where DU finished fifth.
 
Live video of the national championship races is available on NCAA.com and live result links will be posted on DU skiing schedule page on DenverPioneers.com and RMISASkiing.com.
 
Full schedule and athlete season recap biographies are below.
 
2025 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE
Wednesday, March 5 (Dartmouth Skiway)
6:30 a.m. MT – Men's alpine slalom, first run
7:20 a.m. MT – Women's alpine slalom, first run
9:45 a.m. MT – Men's alpine slalom, second run
10:35 a.m. MT – Women's alpine slalom, second run
 
Thursday, March 6 (Oak Hill Outdoor Center)
8 a.m. MT – Women's Nordic 7.5K classic, interval start
10 a.m. MT – Men's Nordic 7.5K classic, interval start
 
Friday, March 7 (Dartmouth Skiway)
7:30 a.m. MT – Women's alpine giant slalom, first run
8:25 a.m. MT – Men's alpine giant slalom, first run
10:30 a.m. MT – Women's alpine slalom, second run
11:25 a.m. MT – Men's alpine slalom, second run
 
Saturday, March 8 (Oak Hill Outdoor Center)
8 a.m. MT – Men's Nordic 20K freestyle, mass start
10 a.m. MT – Women's Nordic 20K freestyle, mass start
 
All times mountain and subject to change
 
 
DENVER SKIER BIOGRAPHIES
Sara Rask, Sr., Women's Alpine
Rask swept women's slalom during the RMISA season, winning all six races and earning her first-ever title in the RMISA Championships on Feb. 22 in Alaska. In addition to her six victories, the senior finished with eight total podiums by placing second in a pair of giant slalom races in Park City, Utah, on Feb. 8-9 in the RMISA Alpine Qualifier and Utah Invitational. The Stockholm, Sweden, native placed in the top 10 in 10 of the 11 races she finished during the campaign. The now three-time NCAA qualifier was recognized as the women's alpine RMISA Skier of the Meet for the Alpine Qualifiers after winning slalom in the season opener on Jan. 6 at Loveland Ski Area and then placing second in GS in Utah on Feb. 8.
 
Mia Hunt, Jr., Women's Alpine
Hunt is on her second NCAA team (2023) and is coming off her best season with the Pioneers. The junior recorded seven top-10s in nine races finished, including posting her first career top-five placements to close the RMISA Champaign. She was fifth in both the Alaska Anchorage Invitational and RMISA Championships' women's slalom on Feb. 21-22 in Alaska. The Park City, Utah, native posted back-to-back sixth-place results in slalom at the Montana State Invitational on Feb. 4 and giant slalom in the RMISA Alpine Qualifiers in Park City on Feb. 7, which at the time where her previous best results. Hunt, who made her FIS Alpine World Cup debut in Killington, Vermont, on Dec. 1, tied her career high in GS by placing sixth at the Alaska Anchorage Invitational on Feb. 19.
 
Nicola Rountree-Williams, Jr. Women's Alpine
Rountree began the season with top 10 finishes in each of her first four races. She grabbed her third and fourth career top-five placements in the first week of the year, earning a then-career best in fourth in slalom at the RMISA Alpine Qualifier on Jan. 6 at Loveland before picking up her first career podium in third in giant slalom at the Denver Invitational on Jan. 8 at Copper Mountain. While she made her first-ever NCAA Championship roster, she is unable to compete at this year's nationals due to a season-ending injury suffered in Montana in early February that forced her to miss the final eight races of the RMISA campaign.
 
Loic Chable, Gr., Men's Alpine
Chable was one of DU's most consistent men's alpine skiers during the season with eight top-20 finishes and six top-10 results. The graduate student recorded a season best in slalom in the second race of the year at Denver Invitational by finishing fifth—his first of three top-five placements during the year. Chable also recorded a pair of fourth-place results in giant slalom: on Feb. 3 at the Montana State Invitational and Feb. 20 at the RMISA Championships. The Villars, Switzerland, native also earned a top 10 in slalom at the conference meet by placing eighth on Feb. 22 in Alaska.
 
Thomas Hoffman, Jr., Men's Alpine
Hoffman had his best season on the college circuit as he recorded three podiums and five top-five finishes in his junior campaign. The Manly, Australia, native began the year on the podium with a runner-up placement in men's slalom at the RMISA Alpine Qualifiers at Loveland on Jan. 6 and closed the regular season with his first career victory in slalom at the RMISA Championships on Feb. 22 in Girdwood, Alaska. Hoffman's season best in giant slalom was 13th at the DU Invitational on Jan. 8 at Copper Mountain.
 
Pietro Motterlini, Fr., Men's Alpine
Motterlini recorded six top-15 finishes during his freshman campaign and placed in the top 20 in nine of the races. The Milan, Italy, native recorded his first career podium in third at the Alaska Anchorage Invitational giant slalom on Feb. 19 at Alyeska Resort and produced his best slalom result of the season three days later on Feb. 22 by coming in 13th to conclude the RMISA Championships
 
Andreas Kirkeng, Sr., Men's Nordic
Kirkeng placed in the top 10 in all 12 men's Nordic races in his senior season, finished in the top five nine times and won five events. He started the season by earning another U.S. Cross Country National Championship in Alaska and sweeping the races at the Alaska Anchorage Invitational on Jan. 2-5. The Lier, Norway, native also won the 15K freestyle at the Utah Invitational on Jan. 19, 7.5K classic at the Montana State Invitational on Jan. 26 and classic sprints at the Alaska Fairbanks Invitational on Feb. 16. He owns 17 career victories entering his fourth NCAA Championships and has picked up All-American honors in each of the previous three national meets.
 
Florian Knopf, Gr., Men's Nordic
Knopf began the season with top 10 finishes in each of his first 11 races before placing 11th in the 20K freestyle at the RMISA Championships in Anchorage on Feb. 22. He recorded a career-best seven podiums during the season and placed runner-up four times in men's Nordic. The graduate student from Bernau am Chiemsee, Germany, finished in the top five in seven straight events during the middle of the season from Jan. 24-Feb. 21 and earned podium spots in four consecutive races from Jan. 26-Feb. 16. Knopf was third behind Kirkeng in the 7.5K classic at the RMISA Championships on Feb. 21.
 
Elijah Weenig, Sr., Men's Nordic
Weenig had the best collegiate campaign of his career, and he recorded seven top-10 finishes and his first two career top-five results in men's Nordic. After starting the season in eighth place in the 10K freestyle at the Alaska Anchorage Invitational on Jan. 2, Weenig recorded five straight top-10 placements in a three-week span beginning at the Utah Invitational on Jan. 19 and going through the DU Invite on Feb. 9. He recorded a career best in fourth place in a pair of freestyle events, the 20K at the Montana State Invitational on Jan. 24 and the 10K pursuit on Feb. 9 at the DU home meet, where he also posted the fastest time among the men on the day. The Jackson, Wyoming, native also produced the best classical results of his career in 2025 with back-to-back seventh-places finishes in the 7.5K interval start at the MSU Invite on Jan. 27 and Denver Invitational on Feb. 9 at Maloit Park in Minturn.
 
Eve-Ondine Duchaufour, Fr., Women's Nordic
Duchaufour placed in the top 20 in all 12 races in 2025 and posted 10 top-10 finishes in women's Nordic. The freshman picked up her first of three top-fives on the campaign in fourth at 20K classic at the Alaska Anchorage Invitational on Jan. 5 and recorded the first podium of her career two weeks later in third place in the Utah Invitational 15K freestyle on Jan. 19. It was the first podium by a Pioneer in women's Nordic since Vera Norli in the 2022 Utah Invite. Five of the Les Rousses, France, native's top-10s were in the freestyle, but she closed the regular season with some of her best results in the classical by finishing fourth in sprints at the Alaska Fairbanks Invitational on Feb. 16 and sixth in the 7.5K interval start at the RMISA Championships in Anchorage on Feb. 21.
 
Maja Moland, So., Women's Nordic
Moland is heading to her first NCAA Championship after being an alternate last year as a freshman. A year ago. Moland finished in the top 20 in each of her 10 races, recording four top-10 results. The Andebu, Norway, native began the year with a then-career best in fifth in the 10K freestyle at the Alaska Anchorage Invitational on Jan. 2 before bettering that performance two weeks later in fourth in the 15K skate at the Utah Invite on Ja. 19. The sophomore also had her first fop-five in the classical by coming in fifth in the 7.5K interval start at the Montana State Invitational on Jan. 26. Her final tune-up race for nationals was a ninth-place result in the 10K freestyle at the Alaska Fairbanks Invitational on Feb. 17.
 
Lea Wenaas, Gr., Women's Nordic
Wenaas placed in the top 10 in 11-of-12 women's Nordic races in 2025, including in each of the final eight events. The graduate-student transfer from New Hampshire will be heading back to a course she knows well at the NCAA Championship and will be coming in with momentum after finishing third in the 20K freestyle at the RMISA Championships on Feb. 22 in Anchorage. That was the second of two podiums in 2025 with her previous coming with a victory in the 10K freestyle pursuit on Feb. 9 at the Denver Invitational. That was the first victory by a DU woman in Nordic since Eveliina Piippo's 2020 national championship win in the 5K freestyle. The Oslo, Norway, native had four top-five finishes during the year, with each coming in the final six races.
 

DONATE: Fans interested in donating to the Pioneers Athletic Fund can do so by clicking here. Your gift will transform the lives of our student-athletes by giving them the first-class resources needed to excel in the classroom and beyond. Thank you for Building Pioneers for Life!