BIWABIK, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's and women's alpine skiing teams both finished in the top two teams on both days at the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) slalom and giant slalom competitions at Giants Ridge on Saturday and Sunday.
In Saturday's slalom races, the Oles finished second to Northern Michigan in the men's and women's team standings. Sophomore
Ethan Ross led the way for the men with a runner-up finish (1:19.22) after posting two top-four runs on the day. Juniors
Gabe Lessard and
Parker Smith joined Ross in the top 10, with Lessard in seventh (1:21.27) and Smith just behind in eighth (1:21.33) after Smith moved up from 13th with the sixth-fastest second run (37.66).
Sophomore
Merumo Ishimaru was the top finished for the St. Olaf women on Saturday, placing fourth (1:24.38) after logging two top-six runs. She moved up two spots from sixth to fourth with the third-fastest second run of the day (43.43). Senior
Sheridan Westphal (1:25.88) and first year
Kate Young (1:26.12) both had two top-10 runs to finish seventh and eighth, respectively.
On Sunday, the men got a 1-2 finish from junior
Kaarl Damberg and Ross to edge Northern Michigan by just over a second for the team title in the giant slalom. Damberg sat atop the podium with two second-place runs to finish first over the two runs (1:04.09), followed by Ross who moved up from fifth after the first run (33.66) with the fastest second run of the day (30.60). Senior
Sean Nolan was just outside the top 10 in 11th (1:06.17).
The Ole women recorded their second runner-up finish of the weekend on Sunday by finishing less than 1.5 seconds behind Northern Michigan in the giant slalom. Young led the way in fifth (1:07.44) thanks, in part, to recording the second-fastest second run of the day (34.90). Ishimaru joined Young in recording her second top-10 result of the day by finishing seventh (1:08.37) with two top-10 runs. First year
Lexi Jorgensen rose up the standings from 20th after the first run (34.03) to 11th with the eighth-fastest second run (35.58).
St. Olaf competes at the FIS/USSS races at Spirit Mountain next weekend.
