LOVELAND SKI AREA, Colo. – Three Denver Pioneers women's skiers placed on the podium and graduate student
Sara Rask picked up a season-opening win in alpine slalom on the first day of the 2026 Denver Invitational on Monday.
DU had five women's alpine skiers place in the top 10 and six finish in the top 15 to lead the Pioneers to the meet lead after day 1. Rask won her 16th career victory while senior
Mia Hunt and freshman
Elisabeth Creighton tied for third to join their teammate on the stand. Colorado's Louison Accambray placed second.
Sophomore
Stella Buchheister recorded her first career top 10 in sixth and posted the third-fastest time in run 1, and senior
Nicola Rountree-Williams came in ninth for her ninth straight top-10 finish dating back to the 2024 Denver Invitational.
"I thought the women were really impressive today, especially Sara, who keeps rolling, and Mia did exactly what she's been doing all year," said Otto Tschudi Head Alpine Skiing Coach
Joonas Rasanen. "Elisabeth was definitely a big bright spot, and Stella had a great first run.
"By no means is this an overperformance. I think this is where we are, and hopefully we can keep this up throughout the season."
Freshman
Cecilia Pizzinato joined Creighton in making her collegiate debut and placed 13th, climbing up from 20th following run 1 while wearing bib No. 32. Senior
Josephine Trueblood placed 19th in her return to the college circuit after missing the end of last season with an injury.
Rask posted the fastest time in the morning by 73-hundredeths of second and held on to the top spot in the afternoon for her eighth-straight win in the slalom discipline dating back to last year's season opener at Loveland. She is now tied with
Kristine Haugen for fourth overall and second in women's alpine for individual wins in Denver skiing history.
The Stockholm, Sweden, native led a trio of Pios in the top three after the opening descent, as Hunt was second and Buchheister was third. Building off a pair of All-American awards at last year's NCAA Championships and a strong pre-season, Hunt has now recorded career bests in three of her past four slaloms dating back to the Alaska races last February to close out the 2025 regular season.
Buchheister was also trending up at the end of last year as she tied a personal best in 11th in her last college event at the 2025 RMISA Championships in Alaska and just missed out of qualifying for the 2025 NCAA Championships by only a few points.
Like her fellow rookie in Pizzinato, Creighton also had to work her way through the field on the Loveland Valley course. The Montreal, Quebec, native was one of the biggest climber of the day after being 34th in the opening start gate and posting the 11th-fastest time in the morning session.
Denver's women recorded 105 of a possible 111 points to help put the Pioneers in the lead with 163 points after two-of-eight events in the meet. Colorado is eight points back with 155 while defending national champion Utah is third with 127.5 points.
Adrian Minde Hunshammer led the DU men and also climbed up the leaderboard after starting in bib 42 and ranking 23rd after run 1. The senior posted the fastest second run overall to move into eighth place for his fifth career top 10 and first in the slalom discipline. His previous best in the tech event was 11th in the 2023 Alaska Anchorage Invitational.
Sophomore
Pietro Motterlini placed 14th and graduate student
Eirik Kveno came in 20th as the Pioneers' other two scorers on the men's side.
"There's a lot of improvement to do for the men, but there are some positives,"
Rasanen said. "I think Pietro is building on last year, and I think Adrian built off the pre-season to record a nice career best today."
Freshman
Caman Beauregard made his collegiate debut on the men's side but didn't finish his second run. Seniors
Thomas Hoffman (run 2) and
Christian Soevik (run 1) also had DNFs.
The University of Utah had similar success on the men's side as Denver had on the women, as the Utes placed four in the top 10 and were led by Johs Herland's individual victory. Colorado's Stanley Buzek and Feb Alasina were also on the podium in second and third place, respectively. CU's Filip Wahlqvist was in the lead after run 1 but crashed just before the finish line in his second run.
UP NEXT: The alpine skiers stay at Loveland on Tuesday for the slalom events of the Colorado Invitational. Alpine wraps up its portion of the DU Invite on Wednesday with giant slalom at Aspen Highlands, and the week of racing in Colorado concludes on Thursday with another day of GS events in Aspen for the CU Invite.
DENVER WOMEN SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1.
Sara Rask, 1:29.20 (42.28/46.92)
T3.
Elisabeth Creighton, 1:30.05 (44.10/45.95)
T3.
Mia Hunt, 1:30.05 (43.01/47.04)
6.
Stella Buchheister, 1:30.18 (43.09/47.09)
9.
Nicola Rountree-Williams, 1:30.18 (44.06/46.30)
13.
Cecilia Pizzinato, 1:31.17 (45.17/46.01)
19.
Josephine Trueblood, 1:31.70 (44.30/47.40)
DENVER MEN SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
8.
Adrian Minde Hunshammer, 1:31.78 (46.77/45.01)
14.
Pietro Motterlini, 1:32.15 (45.79/46.36)
20.
Eirik Kveno, 1:32.67 (45.70/46.97)
DNF:
Thomas Hoffman (44.56/DNF Run 2),
Caman Beauregard (47.31/DNF Run 2),
Christian Soevik (Run 1)
TEAM STANDINGS (through 2-of-8 events): 1. Denver 163; 2. Colorado 155; 3. Utah 127.5; 4. Alaska Anchorage 125; 5. Montana State 110; 6. Colorado Mountain College 104; 7. Nevada 92.5; 8. Westminster 30
WOMEN'S SLALOM TOP 10 (33 finishers): 1. Sara Rask, DU, 1:29.20; 2. Louison Accambray, CU, 1:29.66;
T3. Elisabeth Creighton, DU, 1:30.05; T3. Mia Hunt, DU, 1:30.05; 5. Ella Bromee, UAA, 1:30.11;
6. Stella Buchheister, DU, 1:30.18; 7. Alexa Brownlie, CU, 1:30.20; 8. Carmen Sofie Nielssen, UAA, 1:30.36;
9. Nicola Rountree-Williams, DU, 1:30.18; 10. Tea Kiesel, MSU, 1:30.45.
MEN'S SLALOM TOP 10 (25 finishers): 1. Johs Braathen Herland, UU, 1:29.59; 2. Stanley Buzek, CU, 1:30.29; 3. Fabio Allasina, CU, 1:31:00; 4. Lucas Ellis, CMC, 1:31.05; 5. Pierick Charest, UU, 1:31.34; 6. Harry Hoffman, UU, 1:31.38; 7. Sindre Myklebust, UU, 1:31.64;
8. Adrian Minde Hunshammer, DU, 1:31.78; 9. Bosse Mikelsson, MSU, 1:31.79; 10. Giorgio Baldo, UAA, 1:32.02.
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