SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster men's snowboard team recently competed at the United States Collegiate Skiing and Snowboarding National Championships, qualifying in the first year of the program. The Griffins placed third as a team in the final combined standing with 18 points. Abram Greenspan was the leading individual in the overall standings with a 13th place finish. Greenspan received 78 points for his performance over the four events.

Westminster finished fourth with 54 points in the Half Pipe competition. Greenspan finished fourth in the event with his run one score or 25.3. Brenden Chadwick came in 24th with a score of 12.9 and Graham Banks with 26th behind his score of 12.4. Gregory Pinotte took 33rd with his 10.3 and Mark Speicher placed 72nd at 4.1.

In the Slopestyle event, Westminster finished ninth as a team. They were led by a 17th place finish from Banks. Madars Matiss finished 39th with a 9.4. No other Griffin completed the event.

Greenspan was the second best finisher in the Snowboard X event. He won three of his five heats and placed second in the other two. Matiss also made the final round with four finishes in the top three. Speicher was second in his round one heat, but failed to get through round two. Banks was the other Griffin to get through round one, placing second in his opening round heat.

Westminster was second in the Giant Slalom event behind Sierra Nevada College. Greenspan was second with his combined time of 67.818. Speicher placed 15th with a time of 77.956 while Banks finished 49th behind a time of 89.883.