The University of Colorado fired the opening salvo of RMISA competition today (Jan. 7) at their home invitational, the Spencer Nelson Memorial, held at Eldora Mountain Resort. While Colorado assumed the team lead with 239 points, Utah has the Buffs close in sight a scant three points down, tallying 236 on the day's races.

Colorado and Utah dominated the women's giant slalom, each placing four skiers in the top 10. Women's winner Erika Ghent of Colorado, who threw down the fastest times for both runs of the day, was joined on the podium by her teammate Katie Hartman in third. Utah's Tii-Maria Romar squeezed between the Buffs in second for crucial Ute points. Noticeably absent from the top 10 was Denver whose best finisher, Sterling Grant, finished the day in twelfth.

In men's giant slalom action, Utah's Nick Cohee led the charge to the win followed by Colorado's Adam Zika in second and Denver's Espen Lysdahl in third. Andreas Haug of Colorado provided the clutch points to surpass the Utes with his fourth place finish.

Team scores following Day 1 of the Colorado Invitational:
University of Colorado - 239
University of Utah - 236
University of New Mexico - 190
University of Denver - 182
University of Alaska Anchorage - 175
Westminster College - 149
Montana State University - 131
Colorado Mountain College - 51

RMISA competition continues tomorrow (Jan. 8) with the slalom races and next weekend with the Nordic portion of the CU Invitational.

Image of Erika Ghent by University of Colorado