HANOVER, N.H. – Graduate student Lea Wenaas and senior Andreas Kirkeng led the Denver Pioneers ski team with All-American performances in the women's and men's Nordic 20-kilometer freestyle on Saturday to wrap up the 2025 NCAA Championships at Oak Hill Outdoor Center.
 
Denver's Nordic squad bounced back after a tough opening race on Thursday in the 7.5K classical interval start, as four of the six athletes placed in the top 15 on the final day of competition. The Pioneers garnered 100 points in the two events to climb past Vermont and finish fourth in the team standings with 384 points.
 
"We were all hoping for more this week, but there were some tough conditions, and we were on the wrong side of it," said Denver Nordic head coach Rogan Brown. "This was an emotional championships for the Nordic team. We had a lot of seniors on their last championships and were looking for some top results that they had the potential to get. It's been a great ride with them all.
 
"The classic race on Thursday was bittersweet with Elijah [Weenig] leading the team with a personal best and great classic race, but we battled challenging conditions and came away from the day wanting a lot more. The team was very resilient and motivated heading into the final day of the championships and wanted to leave their mark. I was so proud of all of them for taking on another difficult day with guts and determination."
 
Utah won the 2025 NCAA title with 590 points for its fifth team victory in the last six championship. Colorado was second with 513 points, and host Dartmouth was just 5.5 points behind CU in third place (508.5).
 
Wenaas earned first-team All-American honors by placing fourth in the women's mass start event. She timed in at 51:14.0, 13 seconds behind Tilde Baangman of Colorado in third place (51:02.0) and 16 seconds up on fifth-place Selma Nevin of Utah (51:31.0).
 
"It was pretty fun," Wenaas said. "I had a rough day on Thursday, so I was really ready to just give it my all out there, and it all just worked out and I had a great six laps out there."
 
It was the first fop-five by a Denver woman at a national championship Nordic race since Eveliina Piippo won the 5K freestyle interval start in 2020 in Bozeman, Montana. Linn Eriksen was the last Denver woman to place in the top five in a mass-start distance event at the NCAAs, as she was third in the 15K freestyle in 2018 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
 
Most of the women's skiers on Saturday stayed together for the first 3.3K, but Baangman, Alaska Fairbanks' Kendall Kramer and Utah's Erica Laven decided to pull away from the main group after the first lap. Wenaas was a bit behind them at the time, but she went for it to catch up to the leaders and stayed with them until the final lap when the four of them separated from each other.
 
"I was just thinking that I was going to hang onto the lead (pack)," Wenaas said of her race day strategy. "Once they go, just try and hang on for as long as I could and see how far it would get me.
 
"Just being able to ski with these really amazing skiers was a really good feeling out there."
 
Kramer went on to win the individual national championship while Laven placed second.
 
DU freshman Eve-Ondine Duchaufour finished 15th and sophomore Maja Moland was 37th as they each completed their first national championships.
 
Kirkeng led DU's men by clocking in at 46:01 to finish seventh and pick up second-team All-American honors. He has earned an All-America award in each of his four national championships.
 
Graduate student Florian Knopf placed 13th and senior Elijah Weenig was 21st
 
"It was fantastic to watch Lea really put it out there with a courageous race effort, charging with the lead group and coming in a solid fourth place, and Andreas grabbing an All-American placement," Brown said. "As a group, we definitely were after some better results than what we came up with, but I'm proud of how these Pioneers on the Alpine and Nordic teams were out there supporting each other, and giving it their best all week."
 
Utah took two of the three spots on the men's podium as Joe Davies won in 43:34.0 and Brian Bushey was third in 45:11.0. Dartmouth's John Steel Hagenbuch finished 1:10 after Davies (44:44.0) to pick up the silver.
 
The Pioneers' fourth-place finish as a team earned the group a trophy as part of the NCAA's best four squads. DU has finished in the top four in each of the last five national championship meets.
 
UP NEXT: The collegiate season is now over, but both the Nordic and alpine squads still have several non-NCAA races in the next month before officially wrapping up the 2025 winter campaign.
 
 
DENVER WOMEN 20K FREESTYLE INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
4. Lea Wenaas, 51:15.0
15. Eve-Ondine Duchaufour, 53:40.0
37. Maja Moland, 57:52.0
 
DENVER MEN 20K FREESTYLE INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
7. Andreas Kirkeng, 46:01.0
13. Florian Knopf, 47:07.0
21. Elijah Weenig, 47:49.0
 
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS (after 8-of-8 events): 1. Utah 590; 2. Colorado 513; 3. Dartmouth 508.5; 4. Denver 384; 5. Vermont 368; 6. Middlebury 252.5; 7. Alaska Anchorage 251; 8. Montana State 234; 9. New Hampshire 208; 10. Alaska Fairbanks 176; 11. Colby 120; 12. Westminster 61; 13. St. Michael's 56.5; 14. Boston College 41; 15. Nevada 38.5; T16. Bowdoin 35; T16. St. Lawrence 35; 18. Michigan Tech 32; 19. Northern Michigan 24; 20. Plymouth State 23; 21. Williams 18.5; 22. Harvard 16; 23. St. Scholastica 7
 
MEN'S 20K FREESTYLE TOP 10 (39 finishers): 1. Joe Davies, UU, 43:34; 2. John Steel Hagenbuch, DAR, 44:44.0; 3. Brian Bushey, UU, 45:11.09; 4. Benjamin Dohlby, UAF, 45:40.0; 5. Logan Moore, MID, 45:49.0; 6. Luke Allan, DAR, 45:51.0; 7. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 46:01.0; 8. Johannes Flaaten, CU, 46:05.0; 9. Philipp Moosmayer, UAF, 46:07.0; 10. Zachary Jayne, UU, 46:08.0.
 
WOMEN'S 20K FREESTYLE TOP 10 (39 finishers): 1. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 50:14.0; 2. Erica Laven, UU, 50:50.0; 3. Tilde Baangman, CU, 51:02.0; 4. Lea Wenaas, DU, 51:15.0; 5. Selma Nevin, UU, 51:31.0; 6. Katey Houser, MSU, 51:40.0; 7. Ava Thurston, DAR, 51:41.0; 8. Astri Lunde, CU, 51:43.0; 9. Shea Brams, MID, 51:46.0; 10. Kate Oldham, MSU, 51:49.0.


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