LOVELAND SKI AREA, Colo. – Senior Sara Rask of the Denver Pioneers ski team opened the season with an individual win as the 2025 alpine campaign began on Monday with a RMISA Qualifier slalom race at Loveland Ski Area.
 
Rask picked up her eighth career win and third in the slalom discipline, as she led after the first run and held her position in snowy conditions in run 2 in the afternoon. Her last victory came in giant slalom in the previous RMISA Alpine Qualifier race on Feb. 22, 2024, and it was her first time on the podium in slalom since also doing it on this Loveland course on Feb. 11, 2023 in that year's Denver Invitational.
 
"I'm just really excited to start the college season again," Rask said of her mindset entering this year's RMISA circuit. "I've just had so much fun skiing lately, and I've been very excited to ski fast."
 
Rask finished with a two-run time of 1:30.21 and led four Pioneers in the top 10 in the non-meet event.
 
Monday's race was a prequel to the start of the 2025 Denver Invitational on Tuesday at Loveland Ski Area and served as an extra qualifying race for athletes to earn points for this year's NCAA Championships. No team scores were recorded.
 
Junior Nicola Rountree-Williams recorded a career best in fourth place in women's slalom in her Pioneer debut after transferring from Colorado Mountain College. Her previous career high on the RMISA circuit was a fifth-place result at Loveland on Feb. 6, 2024 during the DU Invitational.
 
"I started right behind my teammate Sara, and it kind of helped a bit to see her go," Rountree-Williams said. "She was very aggressive and kind of inspiring in a way. I went in the first run feeling pretty good and feeling pretty familiar with the hill. I gave it a good shot. There were definitely things I could have improved, had a few mistakes here and there, but overall I was pretty happy with it."
 
Alaska Anchorage's Ella Bromee in second and Colorado's Ashley Campbell in third finished between Rask and Rountree-Williams on top of the women's leaderboard
 
On the men's side, junior Thomas Hoffman built on his strong finish to 2024 with his second career podium as runner-up behind winner Filip Wahlqvist of CU by 43-hundredths of a second (1:27.76). He had the second-quickest first run and held that position in the afternoon in tougher, snow-flying conditions.
 
"I had a nice early bib today, I started third and that was the result of a lot of hard work and effort put in at the end of last season, which moved me up the rankings to give me a good start position," Hoffman said. "From there, I was able to capitalize and move into second and then the game was on. There was a lot of pressure to stay up there and luckily we got it done."
 
Junior Christian Soevik came in 10th for his ninth career top 10 in men's slalom while graduate student Loic Chable placed 16th in his first race at Denver after transferring from Westminster University.
 
Freshman Pietro Motterlini, who was celebrating his birthday, was 31st in his first college race and junior Eirik Kveno placed 34th in his RMISA debut after missing all of last season with an injury following his transfer from St. Michael's College. Junior Adrian Minde Hunshammer was 33rd and senior Cooper Cornelius placed 36th.
 
Freshman Stella Buchheister came in 14th in her first collegiate race in women's slalom and junior Josephine Trueblood finished in 23rd. Junior Mia Hunt was disqualified in her second run after having the 14th-fastest time in run 1.
 
UP NEXT: The Denver Invitational begins on Tuesday with another slalom race at Loveland Ski Area before the meet moves to the other side of the Continental Divide to Copper Mountain Resort for the giant slalom on Wednesday. The DU Invite concludes with Nordic races at Maloit Park in Minturn on Feb. 8-9.
 
DENVER WOMEN SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1. Sara Rask, 1:30.21 (43.51/46.70)
4. Nicola Rountree-Williams, 1:31.88 (44.47/47.41)
14. Stella Buchheister, 1:33.05 (46.28/46.77)
23. Josephine Trueblood, 1:34.38 (45.87/48.51)
DQ: Mia Hunt (45.51/DQ Run 2 Gate 55)
 
DENVER MEN SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
2. Thomas Hoffman, 1:27.76 (43.34/44.42)
10. Christian Soevik, 1:29.61 (44.01/45.60)
16. Loic Chable, 1:30.22 (44.68/45.54)
31. Pietro Motterlini, 1:32.79 (47.18/45.61)
33. Adrian Minde Hunshammer, 1:32.89 (47.67/45.22)
34. Eirik Kveno, 1:33.36 (48.08/45.34)
36. Cooper Cornelius, 1:33.63 (47.75/45.88)
 
WOMEN'S SLALOM TOP 10 (30 finishers): 1. Sara Rask, DU, 1:30.21; 2. Ella Bromee, UAA, 1:30.52; 3. Ashley Campbell, CU, 1:31.24; 4. Nicola Rountree-Williams, DU, 1:31.88; 5. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:31.90; 6. Claire Timmermann, UU, 1:32.00; 7. Tea Kiesel, MSU, 1:32.04; 8. Louison Accambray, CU, 1:32.05; 9. Carmen Nielssen, UAA, 1:32.20; 10. Kaila Lafreniere, UU, 1:32.77.
 
MEN'S SLALOM TOP 10 (50 finishers): 1. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 1:27.23; 2. Thomas Hoffman, DU, 1:27.76; 3. Etienne Mazellier, CU, 1:28.31; 4. Raphael Lessard, UU, 1:28.80; 5. Oliver Parazette, UU, 1:28.91; 6. Gianluca Boehm, MSU, 1:28.98; 7. Alejandro Puente Tasias, WMU, 1:29.44; T8. Sindre Myklebust, UU, 1:29.56; T8. Jan Ronner, UAA, 1:29.56; 10. Christian Soevik, DU, 1:29.61.
 

DONATE: Fans interested in making a donation to the Pioneers Athletic Fund can do so by clicking here. Your gift will transform the lives of our student-athletes by giving them the first-class resources needed to excel in the classroom and beyond. Thank you for Building Pioneers for Life!