Skiing Utes Finish Third at NCAA Championships

The University of Utah Ski team wrapped up their season Saturday morning in Lake Placid, NY. with a third place finish. The team totaled 471 points to fall from second at the NCAA championship, behind runner up University of Denver with 478 points and NCAA champion University of Colorado with 505 points. The University of Vermont (443) and University of New Mexico (402) rounded out the top five.

Utah Junior Andy Trow led the way for the men and finished the year off with All-American honors in the slalom. It was his fourth all america honor and third in the slalom where he placed seventh. Ana Kobal was the leader for the women' team as she just missed out on a top ten finish placing 12th in the slalom. The women had a much stonger performance then the men this week, scoring 282 points to the men's 189. The women were particularily strong in the cross-country section of the competition where they scored 178 of their 282 points.

The Utes were placed in a favorable position to take the title as they sat only seven points behind Colorado heading into Saturday morning. The Utes struggled with the slalom races however, with only Andy Trow recording a top ten finish in the men's race. Colorado was able to extend their lead over the Utes to 10 points going into the women's slalom. Colorado was able to use the final event to wrap up the title as Thea Grosvold finished sixth and Jessica Honkonen placed seventh in women's slalom, cementing Colorado's victory. Denver had a very strong day, placing three men in the top four of the men's slalom and two women in the top three of the women' slalom to climb past the Utes for second place.

The win gives Colorado their 20th national championship in skiing. The Utes have been close to securing a national title themselves, but have come up just short in recent years. In the past five years the Utes have finished second three times and third place once.