BIG SKY, Mont. – Three Pioneers earned podium finishes on Friday in alpine giant slalom and the University of Denver ski team is in first place overall after the first day of the 2024 RMISA Championships.
Freshman
Christian Soevik registered his first career podium by placing second in the men's race, and sophomore
Sara Rask and senior
Nora Brand picked up their second consecutive podium appearances for the DU women by finishing second and third, respectively.
Overall, Denver had six skiers place in the top 10, including four men. The Pioneers lead this year's Montana State-hosted conference championships with 171 points. The University of Colorado is seven points behind Denver in second place (164) while Utah is third (147).
Six RMISA squads are within 100 points of one another and all eight squads that competed on Friday are separated by just 109 points. Montana State is fourth (132), Westminster is fifth (114) and Alaska Anchorage is sixth (78), while Colorado Mountain College (64) and Nevada (62) round out the day's team scoring in seventh and eighth.
After just missing out on a podium several times this year in slalom, Soevik's first trip to the stand comes in GS and one day after he posted a previous career best in the discipline in ninth. The rookie from Norway was fourth-fastest after the opening run but climbed into the runner-up spot after posting the third-fastest descent in the afternoon.
Soevik timed in at 1:53.14, finishing 12-hundredths of a second behind winner Mikkel Solbakken of Utah (1:52.94). Solbakken's UU teammate Sindre Myklebust was third (1:53.14), as the three podium-getters were separated by just two-tenths of a second.
Denver's remaining skiers in the men's GS finished in order, as sophomores
Adrian Minde Hunshammer and
Thomas Hoffman scored for the squad in sixth and seventh place, and senior
Trey Seymour was eighth. Sophomore
Jack Bowers did not finish his first run.
Like on Thursday in the RMISA Alpine Qualifier, Rask and Brand earned medals and a spot on the stage.
Rask grabbed her second silver of the season by clocking in with a total time of 1:53.98. It was her fifth overall podium of the 2024 campaign and eighth of her collegiate career in GS.
Brand's third-place result marked her third career trip to the stand in giant slalom and the 10th overall in her collegiate tenure. She finished with a mark of 1:54.49 and held her position after being third following run 1.
Colorado's Denise Dingsleder, who placed behind Rask and Brand on Thursday in third place, won the women's race for her third career victory and first with the Buffaloes since transferring from Westminster University.
Sophomore
Josephine Trueblood was DU's third women's scorer in 33rd place. Denver women
Mia Hunt and
Liv Moritz and
Cooper Cornelius of the men's squad did not race, as all three are competing in Nor-Am Cup events this weekend in Eastern Canada.
Both Denver's men's (89) and women's squads (82) finished second in their respective team events.
UP NEXT: The alpine action of the RMISA Championships wrap up on Saturday with slalom races at Big Sky Resort, while the Nordic teams open their conference postseason on the same day with the 7.5K freestyle interval start at Crosscut Mountain Sports Center on the other side of Bozeman. The Nordic 20K classic mass start concludes the 2024 RMISA Championships on Sunday.
DENVER WOMEN GIANT SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
2.
Sara Rask, 1:53.98 (57.25/56.95)
3.
Nora Brand, 1:54.49 (57.40/57.09)
29.
Josephine Trueblood, 1:59.83 (59.94/59.89)
DENVER MEN GIANT SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
2.
Christian Soevik, 1:53.06 (56.98/56.08)
6.
Adrian Minde Hunshammer, 1:53.63 (57.47/56.16)
7.
Thomas Hoffman, 1:53.68 (57.32/56.36)
8.
Trey Seymour, 1:53.79 (57.53/56.26)
DNF:
Jack Bowers (Run 1)
TEAM STANDINGS (through 2-of-8 events): 1. Denver 171; 2. Colorado 164; 3. Utah 147; 4. Montana State 132; 5. Westminster 114; 6. Alaska Anchorage 78; 7. Colorado Mountain College 64; 8. Nevada 62.
WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM TOP 10 (40 finishers): 1. Denise Dingsleder, CU, 1:53.40;
2. Sara Rask, DU, 1:53.98; 3. Nora Brand, DU, 1:54.49; 4. Kristiane Bekkestad, MSU, 1:54.87; 5. Nicola Rountree-Williams, CMC, 1:54.94; 6. Giulia Tintorri, WMU, 1:55.09; 7. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:55.14; 8. Emma Hammergaard, CU, 1:55.18; 9. Elena Exenberger, CU, 1:55.20; 10. Julia Toiviainen, CU, 1:55.63.
MEN'S GIANT SLALOM TOP 10 (45 finishers): 1. Mikkel Solbakken, UU, 1:52.94;
2. Christian Soevik, DU, 1:53.06; 3. Sindre Myklebust, UU, 1:53.14; 4. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 1:53.22; 5. Etienne Mazellier, CU, 1:53.58;
6. Adrian Minde Hunshammer, DU, 1:53.63; 7. Thomas Hoffman, DU, 1:53.68;
8. Trey Seymour, DU, 1:53.79; 9. Isak Staurset, MSU, 1:53.83; 10. Jamie Casselman, MSU, 1:53.96.
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