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MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 3.2.7 X-Originating-IP: 160.81.239.98 Catamounts Sweep Giant Slalom in Day One of NCAA Ski Championship For complete results please visit the UVM Athletics web site at http://www.uvmathletics.com and click on the NCAA Ski Championship button on the left margin STOWE, Vt. - The University of Vermont swept the men's and women's giant slalom races to take a 30 point lead over Colby College on the first day of competition at the 2005 NCAA Ski Championship at Stowe Mountain Resort in Stowe, Vermont. The Catamounts took advantage of skiing on their home hill and poor weather conditions, which included wind gusts of over 50 miles and hour and below zero temperatures. In the women's giant slalom, Vermont junior Jamie Kingsbury (Waitsfield, Vt.) won her second national chaionship in three years. Kingsbury, who also earned her third All-American citation, won the race by two seconds, posting a time of 1:55.03. Kingsbury is the first Catamount to win two national championships in the women's giant slalom and just the fourth athlete in the history of the program. Abbi Lathrop of Colby College finished second with a time of 1:57.53 and Dartmouth's Courtney Calise was third (1:57.53). Florence Roujas and April Mancuso of Denver finished 4-5, with times of 1:57.94 and 1:58.00, respectively. Overall, the Catamounts went 1-6-8 in the event as freshman Jilyne McDonald (Bellevue, Wash.) and junior Amy Cochran (Keene, N.H.) finished sixth and eighth to earn All-America honors in their first NCAA appearances. “It's nice to be in the winners circle for sure,” said Kingsbury. “It was hard snow and I like the hard snow. I had a good lead so for the second run I just wanted to make it down without any major mistakes.” In his first NCAA appearance, Vermont freshman Greg Hardy (Stratton, Vt.) won his first race of the year with a time of 1:45.49 to earn a national championship in the men's giant slalom. Hardy was second after the first run of the day (52.21) and used a solid second run (53.28) to take over first place. Hardy is the third Catamount since 2000 to win the national championship in the men's giant slalom. Warner Nickerson of Colby College finished second by two-tenths of a second (1:45.51) and Charles Christianson of Williams College was third (1:46.02). Lars Loeseth Sunde of the defending national champion New Mexico squad was the top skier from the West in the event. He finished fifth overall with a time of 1:46.09. Vermont's Paul Epstein (Carlisle, Mass.) finished 10th to earn All-America honors, posting a time of 1:46.94. Kingsbury and Hardy are the second duo two sweep the giant slalom event at the NCAA's in Vermont history. Former standouts John Minahan and current assistant coach Erica MacConnell swept the giant slalom in 2001. The 2005 NCAA Ski Championship continues on Thursday, March 10 with the men's 10K classical (9:30am) and the women's 5K classical (11:30am) at the Trapp Family Lodge. Vermont Athletic Communications