Justine LaMontagne Wins Slalom to Lead Bobcats During Day One of 2026 RMISA Championships

Friday, February 27

BOZEMAN

Montana State University

20K Freestyle (M)

Justine LaMontagne

Photo by: Kelly Gorham

Justine LaMontagne Wins Slalom to Lead Bobcats During Day One of 2026 RMISA Championships

2/27/2026 8:45:00 PM | Men's Skiing, Women's Skiing

2026 RMISA Results - Day 1

Bobcats shine in Alpine events at Bridger Bowl

By: Bill Lamberty

BOZEMAN, Mont. (Feb. 27, 2026) – Montana State's Justine LaMontagne won the 2026 Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association championship in the Women's Slalom to lead a strong showing by the Bobcats during day one of the RMISA Championships.

LaMontagne, a senior, posted a time of 1:45.21 to win the regional championship. She finished third in the day's first run, finishing in 54.47, then moved up a spot to finish second in the afternoon run (54.21). LaMontagne had at the top of the run one standings, trailing teammate Tea Kiesel (50.25), a sophomore, who was in second. But Kiesel did not finish the second run and LaMontagne's consistency boosted her into first.

"We had a pretty god day (Friday)," said Montana State alpine coach Kris Shampeny. "We had Justine and Tea sitting second and third after the first run, and five guys ranked from seventh to 14^th. We had a few mistakes on the second run, but ultimately the team pulled together some good skiing and we ended with Justine winning her last slalom race at Bridger Bowl."

In the Nordic competition at Soldier Hollow, Utah, a Bobcat finished 10^th in both the men's and women's competition of the 7.5K Classic. Senior Katey Houser posted a mark of 25:39.9 for the MSU women while grad student Simon Chappaz's 19:33.8 was good for 10^th in the men's race of the interval start event.

"We did not have our best day today in the classic race," said MSU Nordic head coach Adam St. Pierre. "I will take most of the blame as my kick wax application was not good enough today resulting in skis that were too slow to allow the skiers to be competitive. On the plus side we learned a lot about our skis and wax application that we can use when we race here again for NCAA's. It is also good to know that even with bad skis, we have men and women capable of fighting for top 10 (finishes). With good skis, they will fight for podium (finishes)."

Montana State skiers scored the third-most alpine points on the day, with the women's team compiling the second-highest point total. Freshman Lily Sewell finished 16^th in the women's slalom (1:49.24), while freshman Solveig Goenningsaeter was 20^th (1:50.16), freshman Victoria Clancy 26^th (1:52.87) and freshman Zoe Gray 27^th (1:54.19).

Three Bobcats finished in the top 10 of the men's slalom. Freshman Bosse Mikelsson marked a 1:44.19 on two runs for finish seventh, while teammate Torius Hepsoee, a freshman, was one spot behind (1:44.33). Senior Gianluca Boehm's mark of 1:44.69 was good for 10^th, sophomore Caleb Unger finished 26^th (1:48.76), freshman Ian Haupt 27^th (1:48.76) and freshman Will Steed 31^st (1:50.27). Loic Spiegelberg did not finish the second run, and Luc Dalton did not finish the first run.

"The team is really starting to peak coming into the NCAA championships," Shampeny said of his alpine squad.

In the men's interval start race, junior Gavin Galyardt finished 22^nd (20:29.5) and Fredrik Nilsen 23^rd (20:38.8) to round out MSU's scoring. Freshman Woody West posted a time of 21:50.3 to finish 31^st. In the women's race, senior Felicie Chappaz finished 15^th, freshman Ellinor Ness 21^st (28:04.0), sophomore Maeve MacLeod 23^rd (28:37.4), freshman Ella Ronci 25^th (29:26.4) and sophomore Sabine Comeau 26^th (30:35.4).

The RMISA Championships conclude on Saturday at Bridger Bowl (alpine) and Soldier Hollow (Nordic).

ALPINE EVENTS AT BRIDGER BOWL (Bozeman, Montana)
Live Timing for Alpine: https://www.live-timing.com/races.php
Feb. 26: Slalom (RMISA Qualifier), 1^st run - 9:30 am women/10:15 men, 2^nd run – 12:30 pm women/1:15 pm men
Feb. 27: Slalom (RMISA Championships), 1^st run - 9:30 am women/10:15 am men, 2^nd run – 12:30 pm women/1:15 pm men
Feb. 28: Giant Slalom at Bridger Bowl (RMISA Championships) , 1^st run - 9:30 am women/10:15 am men, 2^nd run – 12:30 pm women/1:15 pm men

NORDIC EVENTS AT SOLDIER HOLLOW (Midway, Utah)
Live Timing for Nordic: https://my.raceresult.com/383378/
Feb. 27: 7.5K Freestyle Interval Start at Soldier Hollow, 9 am – Men's start/10:30 am – Women's start
Feb. 28: 20K Classic Mass Start at Soldier Hollow, 9 am – Women's start/10:30 am – Women's start

#GoCatsGo