RENO, Nev. – Denver Pioneers skiing sophomore
Stella Buchheister secured her first career top-five finish on Sunday in the Nevada Invitational's women's alpine slalom at Mount Rose-Ski Tahoe.
Buchheister led Denver with a fourth-place finish, as she and the other RMISA skiers once again navigated a tough course that softened up considerably from run 1 to run 2. The Dillon, Colorado, native moved up six spots from her initial run, climbing from 10th and registering a total time of 1:45.62 to finish just off the podium. She was 13-hundredths of a second behind Colorado's Louison Accambray in third (1:45.49).
"First run, it was definitely good solid skiing. It wasn't anything crazy, maybe a little bit conservative, so my second run was definitely a fight,"
Buchheister said. "I decided to go for it and really attack, even if the conditions weren't great. It ended up working out, so I'm very happy."
After posting a season-best finish last season was a pair of 11th-place results, Buchheister already owns three top 10s in the first four slalom events of the 2026 campaign.
"I'm super happy with the start,"
Buchheister noted. "I think it's definitely gone better than last season in pretty much every way. I'm happy with the start and excited to keep building on it."
Freshman
Cecilia Pizzinato also earned a top 10 for the Denver women was seventh and senior
Josephine Trueblood was the team's third scorer by posting back-to-back top-15s in 13th place. Senior
Nicola Rountree-Williams came in 19th.
Senior
Christian Soevik paced the Pioneers men's alpine group on the slalom course in sixth place. His classmate
Adrian Minde Hunshammer finished 10th, and sophomore
Pietro Motterlini placed 11th to help DU finish second in the men's team event.
The Pioneers are in second place overall with 142 points in the Nevada Invitational, which is taking place for the first time since February 2010. They trail leader Utah by only 28 points and currently have a 26.5-point advantage over third-place Montana State in the alpine-only meet that officially concludes on Tuesday with giant slalom.
Denver had six skiers who did not finish on the day, with graduate student
Sara Rask, senior
Thomas Hoffman and freshmen
Caman Beauregard and
Elisabeth Creighton not completing the morning decent. Sophomore
Liv Moritz was fastest in run 1 among all women and grad student
Eirik Kveno was ninth in the men's standings after his first run, but both got caught in the soft snow in the 11 o'clock hour local time and ultimately posted a DNF.
After placing second behind Colorado Mountain College's Lucas Ellis in Saturday's slalom, Utah's Johs Herland won for the fifth time in six races in men's alpine. Ellis was second while Westminster's Alejandro Puente Tasias recorded back-to-back finishes in the bronze position.
The Utes took the top two spots in the women's race with Melanie Dahlberg earning the win and Christian Jacobsen placing second. UU posted 94 team points in the women's event; Denver had its third-most with 74, four behind Colorado (78).
UP NEXT: The third day of racing in Lake Tahoe is Monday with an individual RMISA Alpine Qualifier in giant slalom. The Nevada Invitational officially concludes on Tuesday with men's and women's GS.
DENVER WOMEN SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
4.
Stella Buchheister, 1:45.62 (52.36/53.26)
7.
Cecilia Pizzinato, 1:46.17 (51.08/55.09)
13.
Josephine Trueblood, 1:47.28 (53.50/53.78)
19.
Nicola Rountree-Williams, 1:47.98 (53.21/54.77)
DNF:
Liv Moritz (49.46/DNF Run 2)
Sara Rask (Run 1),
Elisabeth Creighton (Run 1)
DNR:
Mia Hunt
DENVER MEN SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
6.
Christian Soevik, 1:39.65 (47.66/51.99)
10.
Adrian Minde Hunshammer, 1:40.52 (48.40/52.12)
11.
Pietro Motterlini, 1:40.53 (48.12/52.41)
DNF:
Eirik Kveno (48.18/DNF Run 2),
Caman Beauregard (Run 1),
Thomas Hoffman (Run 1)
TEAM STANDINGS (through 2-of-4 events): 1. Utah 170;
2. Denver 142; 3. Montana State 115.5; T4. Colorado 109; T4. Colorado Mountain College 109; 6. Nevada 97; 7. Westminster 94; 8. Alaska Anchorage 70.5
WOMEN'S SLALOM TOP 10 (25 finishers): 1. Melanie Dahlberg, UU, 1:44.28; 2. Christian Jacobsen, UU, 1:44.96; 3. Louison Accambray, CU, 1:45.49;
4. Stella Buchheister, DU, 1:45.62; 5. Tea Kiesel, MSU, 1:45.89; 6. Erica Lynch, UN, 1:46.13;
7. Cecilia Pizzinato, DU, 1:46.17; 8. Cathinka Lunder, CU, 1:46.19; 9. Ainsley Proffit, UAA, 1:46.55; 10. Paige DeHart, CU, 1:46.55.
MEN'S SLALOM TOP 10 (20 finishers): 1. Johs Herland, UU, 1:37.97; 2. Lucas Ellis, CMC, 1:38.33; 3. Alejandro Puente Tasias, WU, 1:39.10; 4. Feb Allasina, CU, 1:39.19; 5 Torius Hepsoee, MSU, 1:39.41;
6. Christian Soevik, DU, 1:39.65; 7. Peyton Wells, UN, 1:40.06; 8. Bossee Mikelsson, MSU, 1:40.30; 9. Dylan Timm, UAA, 1:40.48;
10. Adrian Minde Hunshammer, DU, 1:40.52.
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