Salt Lake City, UT - The new Westminster Griffins Alpine Ski Team is off to a racing start this year as both men's and women's teams qualified for the 2009 National Championships. After their recent strong showing at the regional championships in Steamboat Springs, Colo., the team departed for Winter Park, Colo. to compete in the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) Nationals currently underway.


The women’s regional championships last week were dominated by Westminster’s team as they placed first in the overall competition out of 18 teams. Individual Griffins placed first, second, third, fourth, and 10th led by Kendall Brown and her combined time of 1:35.21. Perrine Voisin Chappaz took second with a time of 1:35.82. Ulrikke Nicolaisen was third at 1:36.39, while Wiktoria Glowczynski took fourth at 1:37.59. Melissa Gill posted a time of 1:39.02 for 10th overall.

Westminster’s men’s team placed second overall behind Rocky Mountain College out of 20 teams. Lorentz Gedde-Dahl put together a combined time of 1:29.53 for a first place finish, nearly two seconds better that the next best racer. Ryan Donovan placed third with a combined time of 1:31.47. Gabriel Lepine placed sixth while teammates Zach Collins, ninth, and Sage Dynham, 20th, completed the field for the Griffins.

“We are very pleased with the foundation that has been laid in the first year of our men's and women's alpine and snowboard programs,” said Shay Wyatt, director of Westminster’s Athletics. “Our student-athletes, along with ski coach Chris Hendrickson and his staff have worked very hard this year to establish quality programs.

“Our alpine teams posted impressive results at the USCSA Regional Championships, though more importantly, our alpine and snowboard student-athletes achieved a combined fall semester GPA of 3.4,” he continued. “Both of these achievements are on course for the goals we set forth both academically and athletically.”