PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Junior Mathilde Nelles (Malmedy, Belgium) earned a pair of podium finishes, including a first place, as the Plymouth State University women's alpine ski team opened its season with two Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) slalom races at the UNH Alpine Carnival at Mittersill on Cannon Mountain on Friday.
 
Nelles took second in the day's first race after finishing just 0.15 seconds behind Francesca English of UVM. She got her revenge in the second race of the day, though, topping English by more than 1.60 seconds to claim the top spot.
 
As a team, PSU finished second out of five teams in both races.
 
The Basics:

• UNH Alpine Carnival (Women's SL – Race One)
  • Highest finish: Second (Nelles)
  • Top-10 finishes: Three (Nelles, Quimby, Olmo)

• UNH Alpine Carnival (Women's SL – Race Two)
  • Highest finish: First (Nelles)
  • Top-10 finishes: Three (Nelles, Quimby, Olmo)

Team Scores:

• UNH Alpine Carnival (Women's SL – Race One)
  • UNH (124), Plymouth State (119), St. Lawrence (92), UVM (80), Boston College (56)

• UNH Alpine Carnival (Women's SL – Race Two)
  • UNH (124), Plymouth State (120), St. Lawrence (93), UVM (78), Boston College (56)

How it Happened (Race One):

• Nelles was 0.86 behind the leader after posting a 45.90 in her opening run. She made up substantial ground in the second run with a time of 48.08 to finish with a combined 1:33.98 – just out of first place in her first collegiate competition.
• Senior Gigi Quimby's (Pepperell, Mass.) first run of 48.65 was good enough for eighth, and she moved up a spot after her second run to finish with an overall time of 1:37.30 for seventh.
• Sophomore Carmela Olmo (Val D'Aran, Spain) also posted a top-10 finish by taking ninth in 1:39.20.
• Freshman Claire MacDonell (Toronto, Ontario) and junior Katie Townsend (Layton, Utah) took 16th (1:43.34) and 18th (1:46.39), while sophomore Zoe Simpson (Portland, Ore.) was in 16th after her first run, but was unable to complete the second.

How it Happened (Race Two):

• Nelles was even better in the second race, building a lead of 0.60 seconds after an initial run of 45.22. She posted the fastest second run as well (48.32), to increase her lead on the way to the first place finish in 1:33.54.
• Quimby (47.25) and Olmo (48.78) were in seventh and 11th after their first runs, but both moved up with strong second runs. Quimby took sixth with a time of 1:37.39, while Olmo finished eighth in 1:38.23.
• MacDonell just missed a top-10 finish after placing 11th in 1:39.63, followed by Townsend in 15th (1:44.12) and Simpson in 17th (1:45.42).

Up Next:

• The women are on the hill next, skiing a pair of giant slalom races in the EISA VT ME Carnival at Stowe Mountain Resort on Feb. 4.
• The men compete in their two GS races the following day.