March 9, 2005

STOWE, Vt. - Florence Roujas (Embrun, France) and 2004 slalom champion Pia Rivelsrud (Aalesund, Norway) placed in the top-10 in the women's giant slalom to help the University of Denver ski team to stand in third place with 173 total points after day one of competition at the 2005 NCAA Ski Championships at Stowe Mountain Resort in Stowe, Vt., this afternoon. Host Vermont is in first place with 216 points and Colby College holds on to second place with 186 points.

"The conditions at the alpine events weren't ideal, and ones we have never skied before," said Director of Skiing Operations Kurt Smitz. "It had rained the night before, so we were skiing basically on a sheet of ice. Florence (Roujas) adjusted to it by the second run, and Ligare skied pretty solid. We have been in this situation before after the first day and I know we are capable in other areas."

Roujas was the highest placing Pioneer in fourth place, earning her first-ever All-America honors with a combined time of 1:57.94 to earn 39 points. She had the fastest second run, but still could not catch leader Jamie Kingsbury of Vermont. Rivelsrud placed ninth with a combined time of 1:59.77 and earned 34 points. Newcomer Karine Falck-Pederson (Slependen, Norway) rounded it out for Denver finishing 22nd-place with a combined time of 2:05.62 and 21 points. Overall the Pioneers finished in second place with 94 points behind Vermont (114).

On the men's side as a team, Denver finished in fifth place with 79 points behind Vermont (102), Colby College (96), Middlebury College (91) and Utah (89). Junior Todd Ligare (Park City, Utah), in his first-ever appearance at the NCAA Championships, led the way for the men with a 12th-place finish (1:47.21) to earn 31 points. Senior Dominik Schweiger (Wangle, Austria) followed in 17th-place with a combined time of 1:48.24 and 26 points. Senior David Lamb (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) recorded the fastest morning time of the three male Pioneers (53.30) but was three seconds slower in the second run for a combined time of 1:49.63 good enough to finish 21st-place.

Host Vermont swept the giant slalom event with Kingsbury and Greg Hardy claiming top honors for the Catamounts in the men and women's giant slalom.

Denver will be back in action for the men's 10K classical race and women's 5K classical race at 7:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., respectively at the Trapp Family Lodge.

NCAA Championship Team Scores - 1. Vermont, 216.0; 2. Colby, 186.0; 3. Denver, 173.0; 4. Utah, 154.0; 5. Dartmouth, 150.0; 6. Middlebury, 122.0; 7. Williams, 117.0; 8. New Mexico, 11.0; 9. Colorado, 86.0; 10. Nevada-Reno, 85.0; 11. New Hampshire, 84.0; 12. Montana State, 45.0; 13.Bosie State, 44.0; 14. Alaska -Anchorage, 39.0; 15. Western State, 29.0.

Men's Giant Slalom 1. Greg Hardy, UVM, 1:45.49; 2. Warner Nickerson, CCBC,1:45.51; 3. Will Christianson,1:46.02; 4. John Rusten, MID, 1:46.08; 5. Lars Loeseth Sunde, UNM, 1:46.09; 6. Robert Saunders, CBC, 1:46.18; 7. Luke Patterson, UNR, 1:46.31; 8. Evan Weiss, DAR, 1:46.47; 9. Ben Thornhill, UU, 1:46.59; 10. Paul Epstein, UVM, 1:46.94.Other Denver Finishers: Todd Ligare 1:47.21; Dominik Schweiger, 1:48.24; David Lamb 1:49.63

Women's Giant Slalom Women's Giant Slalom--1. Jamie Kingsbury, UVM, 1:55.03; 2. Abbi Lathrop, Colby, 1:57.53; 3. Courtney Calise, Dart., 1:57.56; 4. Florence Roujas, Denver, 1:57.94; 5. April Mancuso, Utah, 1:58.00; 6. Jilyne McDonald, UVM, 1:58.09; 7. Stephanie Vaughan, UNH, 1:58.34; 8. Amy Cochran, UVM, 1:59.13; 9. Pia Rivelsrud, Denver, 1:59.77; 10. Rachel Roosevelt, CU, 2:00.34. Other Denver Finishers: Karine Falck-Pedersen, 2:05.62