MARQUETTE, Mich. – The St. Olaf College men's and women's alpine skiing teams both punched their tickets to the United States Collegiate Ski & Snowboard Association (USCSA) National Championships with strong performances at the USCSA Regional Championships at Marquette Mountain on Saturday and Sunday.

The St. Olaf women earned one of two automatic qualifiers in the Midwest Region by placing second in the giant slalom and third in the slalom, while the men claimed the wildcard qualifier after finishing second in the giant slalom and fifth in the slalom.

In Saturday's slalom, junior Kaarl Damberg led the Ole men with a third-place finish in 1:14.04, recording a pair of top-five runs to earn a spot on the podium. Classmate Parker Smith was also in the top 10 in seventh (1:16.21) after two top-10 runs. Junior Gabe Lessard with 34th (1:25.31) to add St. Olaf's third counting score among the Class A team members. Senior Sean Nolan was a third Ole in the top 20 in 17th (1:18.28).

The Ole men were fifth of 15 teams with a time of 3:55.56, trailing Northern Michigan (3:41.31), UW-Madison (3:53.51), Minnesota Duluth (3:54.55), and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (3:54.62) in the team standings.

The St. Olaf women took third in Saturday's slalom with three of the top-12 individual finishers. First year Kate Young led the way in ninth (1:20.44), followed by senior Sheridan Westphal in 10th (1:22.03). Junior Rachel Tanner was not far behind in 12th (1:23.15) to round out the Oles' three counting scores.

Young, Westphal, and Tanner's times put St. Olaf third in the team standings with a combined time of 4:05.62. Northern Michigan was first (3:48.77) followed by the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (4:03.55).

Damberg followed up his third-place slalom finish by winning the giant slalom on Sunday with a time of 53.77 seconds over two runs, including the fastest opening run of the day (27.23). The win was the junior's third of the season and his eighth podium. Smith added his second-straight seventh-place finish (55.33) and sophomore Ethan Ross was ninth (55.80) to give the Oles three of the top-nine finishers.

The three top-10 finishes helped the St. Olaf men to second in the team giant slalom standings (2:44.90), as the Oles finished 1.45 seconds behind Northern Michigan, which had three of the top-five individuals.

Sophomore Merumo Ishimaru, Young, and Westphal were all in the top 10 in the women's giant slalom on Sunday to lead St. Olaf to a runner-up team finish (2:52.60). Northern Michigan had two of the top-three finishers to sit atop the team standings (2:50.87).

Ishimaru was seventh in both runs to finish seventh (56.94), while Young also had two top-10 runs to place eighth (57.23). Westphal was right behind Young in ninth (58.43). Young now has a team-high 10 top-10 finishes this season, while Westphal has eight.

The Oles compete at the FIS/USSS events at Buck Hill on Saturday and Sunday, March 5-6 before heading to Lake Placid, N.Y. for the USCSA National Championships from March 7-13.