HUNTSVILLE, Utah —Utah skier Chloe Fausa won the women’s giant slalom to open the alpine portion of the Utah Invitational on Thursday afternoon at Snowbasin, as the top three schools in the standings – Denver, Colorado and Utah – stand within 11 points of each other for the meet lead.
It is Fausa’s seventh career win for the Utes, with six of those coming in the giant slalom. She had the second-fastest first-run time.
Colorado’s Tonje Trulsrud continued her strong season thus far with her fourth podium of the year, finishing second in the race – just a hundredth of a second behind Fausa - while Tuva Norbye of Denver placed third for her first podium of the year. Westminster’s Ann-Kathrin Breuning placed fourth overall, the first time she has finished outside of the top two this year.
The Utes scored a team-high 91 points in the race, as Roni Remme had a fifth-place run with Abby Ghent ninth. Denver also had three skiers in the top 10 with Monica Huebner placing sixth and Andrea Komsic in 10th. Others in the top 10 included Alaska-Anchorage’s Charley Field (seventh) and New Mexico’s Katharine Irwin (eighth).
A number of skiers had difficulties with the soft snow conditions and poor light as 16 collegiate skiers did not finish either the first or second runs. Heavy snow fell during the first run although the sun did peak through midway through the second run.
Denver moved into the lead in the overall team standings with 377 points, with Colorado (374 points) and the Utes (368) hot on the Pioneers heels. New Mexico ranks fourth with 313 points with Alaska-Anchorage fifth (262).
The Utah Invitational continues on Friday, Jan. 13, with the men’s giant slalom. Live results available at