Lake Placid, NY – Freshman Andrew Yoviene won his first collegiate race for the Clarkson University Alpine Ski team, leading the men's giant slalom race and helping the Golden Knights to a nearly eight-second gap for first place on Friday afternoon at Whiteface Mountain.

The Golden Knights' men took first among six scoring teams, while the women had to settle for fifth out of seven squads, though they were a little less than two seconds out of third place. The two teams will be back to compete in the slalom on Saturday.

Yoviene had the fastest first run and was narrowly edged on the second run, but it was enough for him to complete the day with a time of 2:04.17, 1.49 seconds faster than the second-place finisher in the 42-skier field. Sophomore Colden Mrak finished fourth just 1.90 seconds behind Yoviene, closing with a time of 2:06.07. Junior Greg Murray followed in fifth in 2:07.66 to complete Clarkson's scoring times. Even if Yoviene had somehow faltered, Clarkson's fourth and fifth racers performed well enough that the Golden Knights still would have won the crown for the day. Ryan Riley took 10th in 2:09.05 and Asa Frankowski finished 13th with a time of 2:10.50.

Clarkson's women once again were led by a pair of seniors as Kara Van Herwarde took eighth (among 46 competitors) with a time of 2:13.14 and Casey Abraham placed ninth in 2:13.38, with both finishing a little over four seconds off the pace. Freshman Rhiannon Allison pushed her way into the top 20, claiming the 20th spot in 2:23.88 to round out the Golden Knights' scoring. Sophomore Caroline Bonin came in 24th in 2:27.67 and Libby McCusker finished 26th in 2:30.50.