RED LODGE, Mont. – The Westminster men's and women's alpine ski teams began the 2010 season with strong performances at the Rocky Mountain Invitational over the weekend. The three day event featured a giant slalom race on Friday followed by separate slalom events on Saturday and Sunday.

The men's team won the overall event behind a first-place finish on Friday and Sunday and a second place finish on Saturday for a combined score of four. Rocky Mountain College finished second with five points followed by Montana State in third with nine points.

In Friday's giant slalom event, Westminster won the team title thanks to placing three racers in the top five overall. Marc Perathoner finished second with a two-run time of 1:34.94. Lorentz Gedde-Dahl placed fourth at 1:36.40 followed by Juergen Karner in fifth with a time of 1:37.37. Jacob Ringbrandt, Gabriel Lepine, and Tyler Kjesbo placed sixth, seventh, and ninth respectively for the Griffins.

The top three finishers for each team count towards the team standings.

On Saturday, Westminster finished second overall in the slalom event anchored by a 1-2 finish in the individual results. Westminster's Jens Christian Aune won the individual title with a time of 1:26.25. Gedde-Dahle placed second with his time of 1:27.36. Ringbrandt was seventh overall with a time of 1:38.35 and Lepine finished 13th at 1:42.00.

Sunday's slalom event saw the Griffins bounce back and win the team title. Westminster placed in each of the 2-5 positions led by Karner in second with a time of 1:33.57. Gedde-Dahle finished third behind a time of 1:33.73 with Perathoner coming in fourth at 1:34.02. Lepine's time of 1:35.49 placed him fifth. Zach Collins and Ringbrandt rounded out the Griffin team in seventh and eighth respectively.

The women's event was dominated by the defending national champion Griffins. Westminster won the team title all three days for three total points. They were followed by Rocky Mountain in second with seven points and Montana State in third with 10 points.

On Friday, Kendall Brown won the giant slalom title with a time of 1:40.75 in two runs. She was followed by fellow Griffin Maria Camill Fraschini in second place at 1:41.47. Ulrikke Nicolaisen finished fifth with her time of 1:44.37. Perrine Voisin, Wiktoria Glowczynski, and Kelsey Nilson completed the Westminster field in sixth, ninth, and 11th overall respectively.

Brown backed up her giant slalom win with a slalom victory on Saturday. Brown posted a two-run time of 1:37.85 for a second consecutive individual title. Glowczynski finished third with her time of 1:40.38 with Fraschini recording a fifth place finish thanks to a time of 1:43.42. Nicolaisen finished sixth and Voisin came away with a seventh place result for the Griffins.

Sunday saw Brown make it a clean sweep of the individual titles as she posted a time of 1:34.15 in the slalom event. Nicolaisen finished fourth at 1:40.75 followed in fifth by Glowczynski at 1:40.94. Nilsen posted a sixth-place result at 1:43.72 to round out the Westminster field.