MSU Alpine Ski team races at Bridger Bowl

MSU finished fourth overall in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA) Championships last week, competing across three days of events.

Alpine skiers raced at Bridger Bowl and earned the third-highest point total, while Nordic skiers competed at Soldier Hollow Nordic Center in Midway, UT and earned the fifth-highest point total.

MSU entered 14 competitors in the alpine races. Thursday featured slalom qualifiers, Friday the slalom championships and Saturday the giant slalom race. The Nordic team competed in the 20K freestyle race on Friday and the 7.5K classic on Saturday.

Both teams finished the RMISA Championships fourth with a combined 526 points.

The MSU ski team hosts one set of regular-season races each year. Usually, the alpine races are held at Bridger and the Nordic races are held at Crosscut Mountain Sports Center. However, due to the lack of snow at Crosscut, the Nordic races were moved.

According to Alpine Head Coach Kristopher Shampeny, the team trains regularly at Bridger so, the athletes know the hill well.

“Competition makes things a little different,” Shampeny said. “Things get tight with athletes on race day, but being at home, I think, relaxes them more.”

Three athletes placed in the top six in the men’s and women’s slalom qualifiers. Sophomore Tea Kiesel placed third in the women’s races, while freshmen Will Steed and Torius Hepsoee placed fifth and sixth in the men’s races, respectively.

Senior alpine skier Justine LaMontagne placed top three in all four of her slalom and giant slalom races. She took the runner-up spot in women’s giant slalom with a time of 1:36.13, just one second shy of the first-place skier. In women’s slalom, LaMontange won her first college gold with a time of 1:45.21.

“I feel like racing at Bridger made it special to wrap it up, because it was the last week of the regular season,” LaMontagne said. “[It was] kind of a full circle moment of like, ‘This is why I came as a freshman.’”

Two Bobcat athletes finished in the top 10 for the men’s giant slalom. Freshman Loic Spiegelberg earned sixth place with a time of 1:35.94. Right behind him in seventh was Steed with 1:35.98, according to the MSU Athletics website.

“Obviously, we want to win as the alpine side of the RMISA Championships,” Shampeny said. “That’s always goal number one, but if we’re in the top three teams at the end of the weekend, we’re doing pretty good. That sets up our Nordic teams too. If they have good races down in Utah, then it will hopefully catalyze us up to the top.”

On the Nordic side, graduate student Simon Chappaz led the team, taking second in the men’s 20K freestyle race. Senior Katey Houser showed up for the ladies' side, placing sixth in the women’s 7.5K classic race.

In addition to the Nordic races last weekend, the NCAA Championships were also moved out of Bozeman due to the lack of snow. The championships will now take place in Park City, UT, from March 11 to 14, according to the NCAA website.

“I know our athletes were really looking forward to having the NCAA Championships here, but hosting the regional championships, for them, it’s almost like a first NCAA Championships,” Shampeny said. “It’s on their home hill, we’re racing the NCAA slope, so it’s exciting for them to see that. It’s pretty cool to see them excited because it gets me excited.”

To follow the Bobcat Ski Team, visit

https://msubobcats.com/sports/womens-skiing and https://msubobcats.com/sports/mens-skiing.