Melanie Dahlberg and Johs Braathen Herland each earned silver medals as the Utah Ski Team began the alpine portion of its home meet with giant slalom events at the Spencer F. Eccles Olympic Mountain Center in Park City, Utah.
Utah athletes placed in the top 11 in both women’s and men’s races. The team finished second in both GS events, missing a win in the women’s competition by just four points.
Head alpine coach JJ Johnson commented on the conditions: “The snow was so good for the entire field. We had a good training block here after the Nevada races. Having the crew back and Pierick back from Europe has been really nice. The skiing here today was probably the best I’ve seen on this hill since we’ve been back training. It paid off and they came out and raced today.”
Sunday featured hard snow and clear weather, which contributed to favorable racing conditions.
After Sunday’s results, Utah holds second place overall with 504 points, behind Colorado with 556 points. Denver is third with 405 points.
In the women’s race, Melanie Dahlberg moved up from fourth after her first run to finish second with a time of 2:00.34. Kaila Lafreniere recorded her best finish of the season in eighth place (2:04.48), while Maisie Blyth finished 11th (2:02.39) after climbing from 20th at midday due to a strong second run. Maddie Kaiserman placed 16th.
For Dahlberg, this marked her third podium appearance of the season.
On the men’s side, Johs Braathen Herland reached his eighth podium in nine collegiate starts this season with a time of 1:57.49, finishing just six-hundredths of a second behind first place. Pierick Charest returned to collegiate racing with an eighth-place result (1:59.39), his second top-10 finish this season, while Harry Hoffman finished 11th (1:59.58).
The competition continues Monday with another GS event that will serve as an RMISA qualifier rather than count toward team scores for the Utah Invitational; individual results will still contribute toward NCAA Championships qualification.
Tuesday’s schedule features slalom races for teams across RMISA to conclude the Utah Invitational.
Coach Johnson said, “The skiing here today was probably the best I’ve seen on this hill since we’ve been back training.”
Fans can follow updates from the Utah Ski Team on social media @utahskiteam or through their mobile app.
