Steamboat Springs, Colo. - The Colby Alpine team kicked off the NCAA Championships with the Giant Slalom at Steamboat Resort. The Mules qualified as their largest alpine team since 2015, with two men and two women representing the team.

The weather was relatively good, with sunny skies that gave way to overcast and snow flurries, and then we went back to sunny skies. Although the snow was fairly soft, given the 16 inches of snow received over the last three days, a smaller field kept the track in reasonably good shape.

The men started the day and it would have been harder to script a better start. Harrison Digangi skied a lights out run against steep competition to go into fifth place. Digangi was the top American in the race and by far the fastest of Division 3. His teammate Nolan Sweeney did remarkably well as well as he landed in 14th place.

The women battled next, and Meagan Olsen skied a super first run to sit just inside the All-American position in 10th. An unfortunate mistake from Soria on the bottom flats left her in 29th. But, she was eager to charge on run two.

As the sun shone on the hill, the snow started to deteriorate. Soria moved up slightly to end the day in 26th, and Olsen slipped ever so slightly to 16th. On the men's side, Sweeney held his ground to end the day in 15th, a remarkable result for the freshmen in his first NCAA Championships.

Digangi could have gone easy on the second run to preserve an All-American result, but he was eager to win, and he skied with full attack. A mistake coming onto the flats all but ended his hopes, but he skied with heart top to bottom. The second half of his run proved to be the fastest on the day. He will look to rebound in the Slalom on Friday.

The Mules concluded a fantastic day of team racing in 11th place, the top division 3 school in the race ahead of rivals Middlebury. The team will get a day off before racing under the lights at Howelsen Hill on Friday. That race can be streamed live at ncaa.com.