BOULDER — Katie Hartman wanted to win an NCAA ski title this season for the University of Colorado, for her own career advancement and, most of all, to honor the spirit of a teammate who was killed in a climbing accident last summer.
But if the Buffs are to win their 18th NCAA title next month, they will have to do it without her.
Two days after winning a gold medal in super-G at the World University Games in eastern Turkey, Hartman tore the ACL and partially tore the MCL in her left knee Jan. 31.
“It’s hard, because you want to look at the positive, you want to be so excited about the gold,” Hartman said gloomily on the CU campus last week, crutches at her side. “This was a huge blow to me, because I had a lot of goals and aspirations this year.”
They were closely tied to the memory of Spencer Nelson, who died last August when he was hit by a rock while descending South Maroon peak near Aspen. Nelson, 20, was from Winter Park and would have been a sophomore this season.
“You don’t expect something like that,” Hartman said. “I’d never lost anyone that close. Your world kind of just falls away.”
Everyone on the team took his death hard, but especially Hartman.
“We were friends when he came here, but for some reason, he and I had a connection — we just clicked,” Hartman said. “He became my little brother, almost. I just kind of took him under my wing.”
Hartman, a senior, aspires to make the U.S. Ski Team when she finishes at CU, but now she’s hoping the NCAA will grant her another year of eligibility next season so she can win that title for Nelson — even though it probably would put off her World Cup dreams another full year.
“My year was dedicated to him,” Hartman said. “I would love to have won NCAAs this year for him.”
Hartman has had her share of frightening injuries. In 2005, she suffered a severe head injury while training in Chile and was taken to a hospital in a helicopter. In her most recent crash, she was leading the race by a substantial margin when she suddenly lost control.
“It was one of the craziest things ever, to go from good solid skiing to flying through the air,” Hartman said. “When I was sitting there after my crash, I was in a good amount of pain. I always have the idea in my head that I’m invincible. This one was different. I was in way more pain than I had been in my other crashes. I’m not much of a crier. For pain to put me in tears is a big deal.”
Intercollegiate racing typically has been regarded the graveyard of ski careers, a place for racers who weren’t quite good enough to make it on the World Cup circuit. But Hartman, 22, still believes she has what it takes to race with Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso.
“I still want to ski, and I believe that I’m still getting faster the older I get,” Hartman said. “I don’t feel that old, but in ski racing a lot of people believe that 22, 23 is old. There’s still women winning World Cups at 30.”
Indeed, Vonn has every intention of racing at age 30 when the 2015 world championships come to Vail-Beaver Creek.
“People say by going to college you’re giving up your dreams, you’re giving up your hopes of making the U.S. Ski Team,” Hartman said. “I disagree. I believe it’s a different route. And, yeah, it’s a lot harder. But I believe you can do it.”
Buffs coach Richard Rokos said he believes Hartman “absolutely” is good enough to race for the U.S. Ski Team.
“I think they would be foolish if they don’t take her,” Rokos said. “I can say that she is a winner. She will work even harder now to rehab. She will come back stronger.”
First she has to have her knee repaired and rehabilitated. And her career clock is ticking.
“Right now it’s kind of a bump in the road, I guess you could say, or a large pothole,” Hartman said. “To go from a high to something that puts you out for the season is really a bummer.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com
