Results

The University of Denver ski team opened up the 2016 season with a three-day event at the Utah Invitational at Park City Mountain Resort in Park City, Utah. Denver finished first overall in the alpine standings with a total of 320 points.

"This was a solid start to the collegiate season for us and we are happy to come out on top," head coach Andy LeRoy said. "We were hit hard by food poisoning after day one and had to leave more than half the team in bed for the women's GS. By no means did we show our best skiing, but it is early and there were plenty of good turns made by all. We will travel to Big Sky, MT tomorrow and I believe you will see a stronger team by the weekend."

The Pioneers began the first day of competition on Monday with two first-place finishes in the giant slalom. Sophomore Erik Read (Calgary, Alberta) finished first overall in the men's race, while senior Kristine Haugen (Lommedalen, Norway) placed first in the women's race.

Haugen had the fastest two runs of the day (45.90, first run) and (47.82, second run). Read recorded the fastest time in the first run (58.30), while teammate Max Marno (Centennial, Wyo.) had the second best time in the second run (58.01).

Freshman Tuva Norbye (Oslo, Norway) also found herself on the podium after the first day of competition as she finished third overall in the women's giant slalom, while teammate Monica Hubner (Garmisch, Partenkrichen) placed sixth overall.

Other notable finishes in the men's race included Sebastian Brigovic (Rijeka, Croatia) in eighth place, Taylor Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.) in ninth, Alex Leever (Vail, Colo.) in 13th and Marno who finished 15th overall.

On Tuesday, Norbye picked up a fourth place finish in the women's giant slalom, while Hubner finished in eighth place.

Read showed another strong performance for the men in today's giant slalom as he finished second overall. Read's second run also recorded the fastest time in that race (55.82). Other noteworthy finishes in the men's race included Brigovic (ninth), Shiffrin (10th), Marno (13th) and Leever (16th).

The team will now travel to Big Sky, Montana this weekend to compete in the Montana State University Invite.