BEAVER CREEK, Colo.—Montana State’s Stephanie Gartner and Colorado’s David Ketterer kicked off the RMISA Championship/NCAA West Regional with wins in the giant slalom races on Friday afternoon. Montana State leads the RMISA Championship after the first day of racing.
It was Gartner’s first win and podium of the season. Alaska Anchorage’s Charley Field had her second podium of the year with a second-place finish. Denver Storm Klomhaus had her first podium of the season with a third-place run. Montana State had a race-high 100 points after placing three skiers in the top five with Benedicte Lyche in fourth and Kari Hole in fifth. Denver had three skiers in the top 10 with Tuva Norbye in sixth and Kristine Aasberg in seventh. Tonje Trulsrud finished eighth with Utah’s Roni Remme in ninth and Colorado’s Isabella Fidjeland had her first top-10 finish of the year with a 10th-place run.
For the men, it was Ketterer’s conference-high fifth win of the year but his first giant slalom victory of the season. New Mexico’s Vegard Busengdal earned his sixth podium of the year with a second-place run while Montana State’s David Neuhauser picked up his first podium of the season with a third-place run. Colorado and Utah both had three skiers in the top 10. In addition to Ketterer, Ola Johnasen finished sixth with Max Luukko eighth to give CU a race-high 90 points. For the Utes, Joergen Brath was fourth for a career-best finish with Dominic Demschar seventh and Sam Dupratt 10th. Also in the top 10 was Denver’s Erik Read and Montana State’s Morten Bakke.
Montana State leads the meet with 172 points, followed by Denver (152.5) and Colorado (149) in the top three with Utah fourth (134), New Mexico fifth (124) and Alaska Anchorage sixth (110.5).
The RMISA Championships continue on Saturday, Feb. 25, with the alpine slalom races and the Nordic classic races. Alpine will have live timing available at http://ussalivetiming.com/.
| Date | Race |
|---|---|
| Feb. 24 | Women's Giant Slalom |
| Feb. 24 | Men's Giant Slalom |
| Feb. 25 | Women's Slalom |
| Feb. 25 | Women's 5K Classic |
| Feb. 25 | Men's Slalom |
| Feb. 25 | Men's 10K Classic |
| Feb. 26 | Women's 15K Freestyle |
| Feb. 26 | Men's 20K Freestyle |