PARK CITY, Utah – The University of Denver ski team had four athletes in the top 10 in Thursday's slalom, and the Pioneers moved up to second place in the team standings of the Utah Invitational.
Denver owns 416 team points after six-of-eight events and jumped past Colorado (397) from third to second on the second day of alpine competition in the 2024 season. The RMISA teams competed in slalom for the second consecutive day after also racing in the discipline in the Westminster Invitational on Wednesday.
Freshman
Christian Soevik paced the Pioneers in men's slalom in fourth place, while senior
Nora Brand led the DU women in the same spot. Denver was the only school in the women's race to have all three of its scorers in the top 10.
After posting DNFs in a snowy environment on Wednesday, sophomores
Sara Rask and
Mia Hunt each completed both runs at Utah Olympic Park. Rask placed eighth while Hunt came in 10th for her third career top 10.
Freshman
Liv Moritz tied for 21st in her first career finish, and sophomore
Josephine Trueblood ended 23rd.
Brand climbed from sixth after the first run to fourth with a total time of 1:33.54, missing out on consecutive podiums by 31-hundrdths of a second. Brand, who won Wednesday's slalom in the Westminster Invite, still earned her 10th career top-five result.
Utah's Kaja Norbye (first) and Alaska Anchorage's Ainsley Proffit picked up their second consecutive podiums and were joined on the stage by Kristiane Bekkestad of Montana State.
Soevik also didn't finish Wednesday slalom, but he made up for it by using a big second run to climb up the men's leaderboard and just miss out on a podium spot. The DU rookie was the biggest mover of the day, as he started 25th after the morning session and used the fastest second run (42.12) to finish fourth overall. His total time of 1:30.04 was just one-hundredths of a second behind Westminster's Jeremie Lagier for third (1:30.03).
Colorado's Filip Wahlqvist posted his second-straight victory in slalom with a time of 1:27.52, winning by nearly two seconds over second-place Gianluca Boehm of Montana State (1:29.47).
Sophomores
Thomas Hoffman (15th) and
Jack Bowers (19th) were DU's other two scorers in the top 20. Senior
Trey Seymour was 25th, junior
Cooper Cornelius placed 29th and sophomore
Adrian Minde Hunshammer posted a DNF (run 2).
Host Utah leads its own meet with 533 points. The Utes extended their advantage with three scorers in the top 10 in the men's slalom and two in the first 10 in the women's competition.
UP NEXT: Alpine continues the stretch of four races in four days this weekend with the first giant slalom events of the year. Friday's GS will wrap up the Westminster Invitational while Saturday's speed race will conclude the Utah Invitational.
DENVER WOMEN SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
4.
Nora Brand, 1:33.54 (48.81/44.73)
8.
Sara Rask, 1:35.53 (47.91/47.62)
10.
Mia Hunt, 1:35.58 (49.86/45.72)
T20.
Liv Moritz, 1:37.27 (50.92/46.35)
23.
Josephine Trueblood, 1:38.35 (52.58/45.77)
DENVER MEN SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
4.
Christian Soevik, 1:30.04 (47.92/42.12)
15.
Thomas Hoffman, 1:31.19 (47.34/43.84)
19.
Jack Bowers, 1:32.42 (46.18/26.24)
25.
Trey Seymour, 1:35.20 (49.07/46.13)
29.
Cooper Cornelius, 1:36.18 (48.93/47.25)
DNF:
Adrian Minde Hunshammer (48.31/DNF run 2)
TEAM STANDINGS (through 6-of-8 events): 1. Utah 533; 2. Denver 416; 3. Colorado 397; 4. Montana State 370; 5. Alaska Anchorage 361; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 275; 7. Westminster 140; 8. Wyoming 112; 9. Nevada, 79; 10. Colorado Mountain College 55.
WOMEN'S SLALOM TOP 10 (31 finishers): 1. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:32.75; 2. Ainsley Proffit, UAA, 1:33.07; 3. Kristiane Bekkestad, MSU, 1:33:23;
4. Nora Brand, DU, 1:33.54; 5.Evelina Fredricsson, WMC, 1:33.59; 6. Justine Lamontagne, MSU, 1:34.34; 7. Michelle Kerven, UU, 1:35.28;
8. Sara Rask, DU, 1:35.53; 9. Hannah Saethereng, WMC, 1:35.55;
10. Mia Hunt, DU, 1:35.58.
MEN'S SLALOM TOP 10 (36 finishers): 1. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 1:27.52; 2. Ginaluca Boehm, MSU, 1:29.47; 3. Jeremie Lagier, WMC, 1:30.03;
4. Christian Soevik, DU, 1:30.04; 5. Oliver Parazette, UU, 1:30.08; T6. Iver Naess, UN, 1:30.14; T6. Jan Ronner, UAA, 1:30.14; 8. Raphael Lessard, UU, 1:30.28; 9. Dawson Yates, MSU, 1:30.46; 10. Gustav Voello, UU, 1:30.50.
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