Killington, VT - The realignment in divisions that highlighted the Clarkson University Alpine Ski team's off-season did little to change the results for the Golden Knights, as the Green and Gold's men's squad finished first among 13 teams in the slalom at the Castleton Invitational at Pico Peak.

Clarkson's men won the event by 12 seconds over the next team in the invitational, while the women finished in the middle of the pack, coming in sixth out of 11 squads. The Golden Knights will compete in the giant slalom on Saturday to finish out the event.

Junior David Simon (Montvale, NJ) was the top performer in the slalom on Friday afternoon, finishing his two runs with a time of 1:34.08. Senior teammates JP Phaneauf (Montreal, QUE) and Cedrik Proteau-Dubois (Ste-Adele, QUE) rounded out the top three on Friday, with Phaneauf coming in second in 1:34.46 and Proteau-Dubois taking third in 1:35.63. Senior Bill O'Connor (Mahopac, NY) also raced well and would have allowed the Knights to still take first if any of the top three had faltered, finishing in sixth place with a time of 1:37.38. Sophomore Christian Perryman (West Lebanon, NH) struggled in his first day of 2012, but battled to a 47th place showing.

Clarkson's women didn't quite match the men's performance, but still had a few skiers come through with solid times. Senior Jill Clevenger (LaGrangeville, NY) was the top finisher with a time of 1:45.17, good enough for 13th among 60 skiers. Classmate Sophia LeBlanc (Cumberland, ME) was one spot behind Clevenger in 14th with a time of 1:46.15. Sophomore Sarah Shafer (Petoskey, MI) came in 29th with a time of 1:52.89 to round out the times for the Knights. Freshmen Mycala Stebbins (Canandaigua, NY) and Rachel Barat (New Rochelle, NY) finished in 41st and 54th place, respectively.