LACROSSE, Wisc. - The NMU alpine ski team opened its 2025 season with a weekend at Mt. LaCrosse in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, coming away with both teams winning the weekend.

The women finished first in both the giant slalom on Saturday and slalom on Sunday, trailed by St. Olaf in second in both events. The men finished second to St. Olaf in the giant slalom on Saturday before claiming first in the slalom on Sunday, a race which was cut short to one run due to technical difficulties. With a better combined weekend score, the men came out on top overall.

Overall weekend scores for the women can be found here, and overall weekend scores for the men can be found here. 

Temperatures were frigid over the weekend, but it made for a very good racing surface, said head coach Erik Lundtiegen. 

"This was a great way to start the year. Our practices at Marquette Mt. have been very good and it showed in our results. Both the Men and Women's team swept the podium in the slalom event, we had individual champions in all 4 events, and I am very proud of the team. We had some very long days due to timing malfunctions, but we skied well and won the weekend."

On day one in the giant slalom, the men finished second with their combined time of 3:34.14, trailing only St. Olaf by a second, at 3:33.08. Reed Heathman claimed gold, finishing with his combined time of 1:09.76 after producing runs of 37.61 and 32.15, both of which were the fastest run times among all racers in their respective runs. St. Olaf claimed spots two and three, and it was Andrew Truman in fourth with his time of 1:10.53, just .17 seconds off of second place. The final racer to score for the men was Nathan DeHart, finishing in 7th with his time of 1:11.84.

The women opened the weekend with a win in the giant slalom, posting a combined score of 3:39.32, outing St. Olaf in second with a time of 3:46.27. The 'Cats claimed two podium spots, led by Tommie Springer atop the podium with her time of 1:11.49, beating the next closest by nearly two seconds. Springer produced the fastest run of run one with a time of 37.95 and followed that up with the second-fastest run two result at 33.54. Rounding out the podium was Reagan Olli, who sat in second after run one before finishing in third with her time of 1:13.61, just .28 seconds behind second place. Just missing the podium and rounding out NMUs scoring was Onalee Wallis in fourth, posting a 1:13.70 finish time after producing the third-fastest time in each respective run.

Both the men's and women's teams dominated the slalom on Sunday, with both teams sweeping the podium. The men, who only had one run due to technical difficulties, were led by Kyan Hopke in first with his time of 18.69, followed by Heathman in second with 18.73, and a tie for third between NMUs Truman and Anthony Petkov with times of 18.83.

The women were led by Olli, who finished first after posting the fastest run one time of 19.88 and a run two time of 21.80, a combined time of 41.68 to claim gold. Sitting 5th after her first run, Ella Wichert climbed three spots after posting the fastest run two time, finishing with a combined time of 41.81 for silver. Wichert narrowly beat out her teammate Ainsley Kirk for second, who posted runs of 20.09 and 21.48 to finish at 41.82, just .01 seconds behind Wichert to round out the podium and claim bronze. 

The team will look to continue its hot start this coming weekend, on the road to Giants Ridge, Minnesota for its second competition of the season.