LA CROSSE, Wis. – The St. Olaf College men's and women's alpine skiing teams each had five of the six podium finishers on their way to winning the team titles in both the giant slalom and slalom races at Mt. La Crosse this past weekend.
Junior
Sheridan Westphal won both the giant slalom and slalom races on the women's side, while sophomore
Ethan Ross was the runner-up in both events on the men's side. First year
Kate Young was the runner-up to Westphal on both days, while junior
Kaarl Damberg was on the podium both days in third.
Men's Recap
In Saturday's giant slalom, the men finished first of six teams with a time 3:12.06 from its top-three finishers, edging Minnesota Duluth by over eight seconds for the team title. Ross led the way with his first of two runner-up finishes on the weekend, edging Damberg by .02 seconds as the duo finished second and third, respectively, with times of 1:03.57 and 1:03.59. Junior
Parker Smith rounded out the team's top three in fifth place (1:04.90).
In Sunday's slalom competition, St. Olaf had the top-three finishers and four of the top-five to finish in first place as a team with a time of 3:14.38. That time was nearly 23 seconds ahead of second-place Minnesota Duluth. First-year
Graham Barwick (1:03.72) was the top finisher, finishing .05 seconds ahead of Ross with a time of 1:03.72. Damberg rounded out the Oles' three podium finishers in third (1:04.29).
Women's Recap
On Saturday, St. Olaf started the weekend by winning the giant slalom by four and a half seconds over Minnesota Duluth after sweeping the podium places. Westphal led the way with a time of 1:09.49, followed closely by Young (1:10.33) and first year
Lexi Jorgensen (1:10.48).
Westphal and Young produced another 1-2 finish in the slalom on Sunday to help the Oles edge Minnesota Duluth by less than a second in the team competition with a time of 4:22.65. Westphal was atop the podium in 1:22.70, followed by Young in second (1:24.24). Jorgensen placed seventh (1:35.71) to round out St. Olaf's three times.
The Oles compete at the Tengdin FIS series at Buck Hill on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 14-15.
