Stowe, Vt. - Townsend Mikell finished in fourth place in Thursday's Giant Slalom to open the UVM Carnival and lead Colby's men's team to a sixth place finish.  The women's team, with one lone finisher, slid down to 10th place in the 13-team field. Originally scheduled as a Friday-Saturday series, race organizers moved events up a day to avoid extreme conditions later this weekend. 

Starting with bib 57, Mikell (headline photo) used a great first run to leap into the top-20, and then made another major move with the second-fastest second run, landing in fourth place overall.  Harrison Digangi pieced together two good runs to finish 22nd.  The Mules had a trio of athletes just outside the top-30 in Teagan Turner (32nd), Topher Davenport (34th), and Winthrop Flaggert (36th). Milan Novak won the race for Middlebury. 

Kate McKenney (photo left) was Colby's lone finisher on the women's side, but the first-year made the most of it.  Finishing in seventh place, second for Division III athletes, McKenney now has another top result to pair with her second place finish in the Colby GS to start the season.  Kjersti Moritz of Middlebury took the gold to complete a Panther sweep. 

The Mules are back in action Friday to complete the UVM Carnival with the Slalom.