GIRDWOOD, Alaska – Freshman
Pietro Motterlini recorded his first career podium on Wednesday for the Denver Pioneers ski team as the Alaska Anchorage Invitational resumed with alpine giant slalom at Alyeska Resort.
Motterlini tied for third place with Utah's Simen Strand with a time of 1:32.55, as the Pioneer rookie moved up five positions after being eighth following his opening run. Junior
Mia Hunt led the Denver women with her fifth top 10 of the season and third in giant slalom with a sixth-place result.
Junior
Christian Soevik in 11th and senior
Eirik Kveno in 16th were the other two men's scorers for DU, while junior
Thomas Hoffman tied for 20th. Freshman
Stella Buchheister also earned points for the Denver women in 23rd place.
Motterlini's podium was the third by the Denver alpine men this season, as Hoffman had a pair of runner-up placements in slalom at the RMISA Alpine Qualifier at Loveland on Jan. 6 and Montana State Invitational at Bridger Bowl on Feb. 4.
Pioneers senior
Sara Rask did not finish her second run after being tied for fifth in her initial descent. Junior
Adrian Minde Hunshammer DNF'd in his second run as well after posting the 11th-fastest time in run 1. Graduate student
Loic Chable and senior
Cooper Cornelius each did not finish their first runs.
Denver dropped back to third place on the UAA Invitational leaderboard with 450.5 points but is just 30.5 points back of second-place Colorado (481) and trails leader Utah (509.5) by 59 points.
A pair of CU Buffaloes earned individual victories as Jacob Dilling finished atop the podium ahead of Montana State's Jamie Casselman in the men's giant slalom, and Magdalena Luczak won the women's giant slalom by beating out a pair of Utah Utes in Kaja Norbye and Claire Timmermann in second and third place, respectively.
UP NEXT: The Pioneers continue four days of alpine races on Thursday with another giant slalom event, which will officially kick off the 2025 RMISA Championships. The Alaska Anchorage Invitational officially closes on Friday with alpine slalom before the skiers race the discipline again on Saturday in the conference championships.
The Nordic teams begin their RMISA Championships on Friday with the 7.5-kilometer classical interval start at Kincaid Park in Anchorage and race the 20K freestyle mass start on Saturday in the fine tune-up event for the NCAA Championships on March 5-8 in Dartmouth, New Hampshire.
DENVER WOMEN GIANT SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
6.
Mia Hunt, 1:31.11, (45.08/46.03)
23.
Stella Buchheister, 1:35.58 (48.57/47.01)
DNF:
Sara Rask (45.05/DNF run 2)
DENVER MEN GIANT SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
T3.
Pietro Motterlini, 1:32.55 (47.20/45.35)
11.
Christian Soevik, 1:33.03 (47.36/45.67)
16.
Eirik Kveno, 1:34.01 (48.49/45.52)
T20.
Thomas Hoffman, 1:34.57 (49.22/45.35)
DNF:
Loic Chable (run 1),
Cooper Cornelius (run 1),
Adrian Minde Hunshammer (47.78/DNF run 2)
TEAM STANDINGS (through 6-of-8 events): 1. Utah 509.5; 2. Colorado 481;
3. Denver 450.5; 4. Montana State 341; 5. Alaska Anchorage 320; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 231; 7. Westminster 93; 8. Nevada 91; 10. Colorado Mountain College 71
WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM TOP 10 (30 finishers): 1. Magdalena Luczak, CU, 1:29.46; 2. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:30.30; 3. Claire Timmerman, UU, 1:30.46; 4. Louison Accambray, CU, 1:30.40; 5. Elise Hitter, WM, 1:31.07;
6. Mia Hunt, DU, 1:31.11; 7. Kaila Lafreniere, UU, 1:31.46; 8. Guro Hestad Vognild, WM, 1:31.94; 9. Tea Kiesel, MSU, 1:32.24; 10. Giulia Tintorri, WM, 1:32.68.
MEN'S GIANT SLALOM TOP 10 (32 finishers): 1. Jacob Dilling, CU, 1:31.42; 2. Jamie Casselman, MSU, 1:31.93;
T3. Pietro Motterlini, DU, 1:32.55; T3. Simen Strand, UU, 1:32.55; 5. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 1:32.56; 6. Justin Bigatel, CU, 1:32.74; 7. Johs Herland, UU, 1:32.77; 8. Gianluca Boehm, MSU, 1:32.84; 9. Sindre Myklebust, UU, 1:32.90; 10. Raphael Lessard, UU, 1:33.02.
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