Montana State University
NCAA Championship-Alpine
Bobcats Sit in Sixth After Day Two of NCAA Championships
3/8/2012 6:42:00 PM | Men's Skiing, Women's Skiing
MSU picks up fourth All-American on opening day of Alpine competition
Montana State Skiing opened up day two of the NCAA Skiing Championships with the first day of Alpine. The Bobcats, after a fourth place finish at day one, now sit in sixth place with 264.5 points. (Results)
Vermont is the current leader with 396 points.
In the Women's Giant Slalom, Kelly McBroom placed 19th, with a first run in 53.35 and an 50.77 in her second. Stephanie Irwin produced a 23rd place performance in 1:44.41 (53.98 – 50.43). Rounding out the Bobcat women was Marissa Riopelle in 28th, clocking in with a combine time of 1:44.71 (54.29 – 50.42).
Harvard's Rebecca Nadler was the ladies' champion in 1:41.83 (52.08 – 49.75) and marked the Crimson's first alpine skiing champion, men's or women's, in program history.
MSU produced another top-ten finish on day two. Mike Radford led the way in the giant slalom, coming in ninth with a combined time of 1:33.50. His first-run time of 46.58 put him in fifth going into the second. Radford's top-ten finish marks two other notable pieces. The Sand Point, Idaho native now joins the ranks of Michael Schallinger, David Norris and Tyler Reinking as an All-American. Not only is he is one of the best in Giant Slalom, he marks the first male alpine All-American since 1981.
Teammate Geoff Irwin placed 32nd overall with a combined time of 1:52.96 (48.58- 1:04.37).
The men's giant slalom champion was Adam Zika of Colorado with a combine clock-in of 1:31.80 (45.77 – 46.03). He was in first after his opening run. Remarkably, Zika's sister, Lucie, was also the NCAA Champion in both the slalom in giant slalom in Bozeman in 2008.
“We saw a lot of good things today,” said Director of Skiing Dan Brelsford. “Obviously Mike's top-ten is a huge accomplishment not just for him but for our program altogether. I think we put together some good runs today to really give us momentum headed into Saturday's competition.”
Day three of the Championships begins on Friday, March 9, at 9 a.m., with the men's 20K Classic, followed by the Women's 15K Classic at 11 a.m. and will be broadcasted on the internet at www.ncaa.com/liveschedule
