The DU men’s and women’s skiing teams competed in a giant slalom event at the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Skiing Association (RMISA) Invitational at Utah on Thursday and Friday. Thanks to two star athletes, Denver fared well and sits in sixth place in RMISA standings.

On Thursday, the women competed and earned 94 points across the two races at Park City Resort. Standout sophomore Reece Bell (Eagle, Colo.) was the top finisher for DU. She came in 13th place with 19 points in the first race and ninth in the second race with 23 points. Senior Amelia Smart (Invermere, British Columbia) and her younger sister, sophomore Eleri Smart (Invermere, British Columbia), also competed. 

Amelia, who was coming off two wins last week, placed three spots behind Bell in the first race with 17 points and 14th in the second race with 19 points. Eleri placed 25th in the first race and did not start in the second.

Sophomore Galena Wardle (Aspen, Colo.) took 17th place with 16 points in the first race and did not finish the second.

The men’s team hit the slopes on Friday and was able to place well in the first race before the second was postponed.

Senior Tobias Kogler (Salzburg, Austria) came out on top and set the times to beat, picking up his first win of the season and 40 out of DU’s 72.5 points for the day. Kogler put up the best time on both runs of the first and only race. The other two players to earn points for Denver were junior Tristan Lane (Aspen Colo.) who finished 14th with 17 points and junior Simon Fournier (Montreal, Quèbec) who tied for 16th with 15.5 points. DU’s 369.5 points through seven races have the team in fifth place in the RMISA tournament standings.

Up next, DU will compete in slalom and giant slalom races in Park City on Feb. 18 and 19.