LYME CENTER, N.H. – Sara Rask closed her collegiate career with another gold trophy, as the University of Denver skiing senior won the women's giant slalom on Friday at Dartmouth Skiway to conclude the alpine races of the 2025 NCAA Championships.
 
Rask swept the women's alpine national title events after winning slalom on Wednesday. She is the first Denver woman to earn the NCAA Championships double since Amelia Smart did it in 2018 as a freshman, and she is the first women's GS champion for the Pioneers since Storm Klomhaus in 2020.
 
"It feels amazing to end like this," Rask said of her national championships. "This is something that I've wanted to do since I came here. It just feels so right to end it like this."
 
It is the 98th individual national championship in DU skiing history, and Rask becomes the 19th Pioneer to sweep the NCAA title events. Overall, it was the sixth time a Denver women's skier finished with gold in each race and the third time in women's alpine, as Kristine Haugen also accomplished the feat in 2013.
 
Each of the last three NCAA Championships have featured a women sweep the alpine races, as DU junior Thomas Hoffman's sister, Madison Hoffman of Utah, did it in 2023 and Colorado's Magdalena Luczak won both in 2024.
 
Friday marked Rask's first win in giant slalom since the RMISA Alpine Qualifier in Montana on Feb. 22, 2024 and just her sixth GS victory of her time on the DU hilltop. Rask finishes her collegiate career with 15 victories, 27 podiums and 38 top-10 finishes in 41 races.
 
"I think we saw the Sara that we've seen a lot," said Joonas Rasanen, the Denver Otto Tschudi Alpine Skiing Head Coach. "She had that spicy-tuna mentality that she's had a lot in slalom all year. For her to go seven-for-seven in this year's college slalom races is incredible, and we couldn't be more proud of her. To come out and make it happen at the championships is amazing. We're super happy for her to end her college career on a high note. It's incredible, and for her to do it in GS—her second run was really good once she came off the pitch. She's obviously special, and she has changed our program."
 
The Stockholm, Sweden, native was 12-hundredths of a second behind leader Luczak after run 1 and then produced the fastest second run time to finish 55-hundredths of a second faster than second-place Justine Lamontage of Montana State. Luczak did not finish her second run after crashing halfway down the course.
 
"I'm super happy, and I'm super happy to [sweep]," Rask said. "I also hope that Magdalena is OK. It was a pretty brutal crash, and I hope she is OK."
 
Junior Mia Hunt earned a top 10 in women's GS as well by coming in 10th, two days after she earned her first All-American award by placing seventh in slalom. She ended 2025 with nine top-10 results in the 11 college races she finished.
 
"To walk away from here as a two-time All-American, it's really cool," Rasanen said of Hunt. "[Alpine associate head coach] MR [Hostetter] and I couldn't be more proud of what Mia has accomplished this year, and how far she's come in the three years in this program. She's definitely held her own and was a massive part of our success this week."
 
The men bounced back in GS after having a tough slalom two days ago, as each of the three skiers placed in the top 12 and were within 21-hundredths of a second of one another.
 
Thomas Hoffman posted a season high in giant slalom in ninth place, which was also his best result in the discipline since coming in seventh at the 2024 RMISA Championships in Montana.
 
Freshman Pietro Motterlini earned his first career All-America award by coming in 10th, while graduate student Loic Chable ended in 12th.
 
"I'm proud of the boys for sure," Rasanen said. "I know they were a little disappointed, but it was a good showing from them today."
 
Utah freshman Johs Herland won the men's giant slalom, while Dartmouth's Benny Brown was second and Colorado's Filip Wahlqvist was third.
 
Overall, the Pioneers recorded 123 points on Day 3 and has earned 284 points heading into the final two events at this year's national championships. DU is in fifth place but trails Vermont in fourth by just 24 points and the squad is within 100 points of Dartmouth in third (380.5).
 
"The whole week, our team put on a good effort," Rasanen said. "We came one athlete short (in qualifying), but I don't think it slowed us down at all. Everyone put their game face on and performed to their highest level. Do I think we could have done better, absolutely, but overall it was a positive week for the boys and especially for the girls."
 
Utah remains in front with 417 points, and while Colorado finished with the most alpine points with 268 points, the Buffaloes are still in second with 382 points.
 
UP NEXT: The 2025 NCAA Championships conclude on Saturday morning with the customary Nordic mass start races. The cross-country athletes are set to ski the 20-kilometer freestyle at Oak Hill Outdoor Center, with the men starting at 8 a.m. MT and the women wrapping up the championships at 10 a.m. MT.
 
 
DENVER WOMEN GIANT SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1. Sara Rask, 1:56.23 (54.84/1:01.39)
10. Mia Hunt, 1:58.80 (55.81/1:02.17)
 
DENVER MEN GIANT SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
9. Thomas Hoffman, 1:54.60 (54.29/1:00.31)
10. Pietro Motterlini, 1:54.63 (54.29/1:00.34)
12. Loic Chable, 1:54.70 (54.08/1:00.71)
 
TEAM STANDINGS (through 6-of-8 events): 1. Utah 417; 2. Colorado 382; 3. Dartmouth 380.5; 4. Vermont 308; 5. Denver 284; 6. Alaska Anchorage 204; 7. Middlebury 184.5; 8. New Hampshire 173; 9. Montana State 156; 10. Colby 103; 11. Alaska Fairbanks 69; 12. Westminster 61; 13. St. Michael's 50.5; 14. Boston College 41; 15. Nevada 38.5; 16. Bowdoin 35; 17. Plymouth State 23; 18. St. Lawrence 22; 19. Williams 15.5; T20. Harvard 14; T20. Michigan Tech 14, 22. Northern Michigan 12; 23. St. Scholastica
 
WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM TOP 10 (30 finishers): 1. Sara Rask, DU, 1:56.23; 2. Justine Lamontagne, MSU, 1:56.88; 3. Hanna Larsson Nethhorst, UVM, 1:57.94; 4. Carmen Nielssen, UAA, 1:58.02; 5. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:58.16; 6. Claire Timmermann, UU, 1:58.27; 7. Dasha Romanov, UNH, 1:58.38; 8. Zoe Zimmerman, DAR, 1:58.53; 9. Louison Accambray, CU, 1:58.68; 10. Mia Hunt, DU, 1:58.80.
 
MEN'S GIANT SLALOM TOP 10 (32 finishers): 1. Johs Herland, UU, 1:53.35; 2. Benny Brown, DAR, 1:53.54; 3. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 1:53.66; 4. Bradshaw Underhill, MID, 1:53.69; 5. Simen Strand, UU, 1:53.83; 6. Daniel Gillis, DAR, 1:54.36; 7. Etienne Mazellier, CU, 1:54.42; 8. Sindre Myklebust, UU, 1:54.48; 9. Thomas Hoffman, DU, 1:54.60; 10. Pietro Motterlini, DU, 1:54.63.


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