The St. Lawrence University men's and women's alpine ski teams opened the 2013 carnival season on Friday, competing in the giant slalom at the UVM Carnival at Mount Mansfield. Sophomore Allison Visconti earned her first career podium finish, coming in third place overall.

Visconti, who had previously had a career-best finish of 14th place in GS, used a second run time of 1:06.05 to propel herself to third place with a combined time of 2:08.52.

"It was a great day for Ali. To have a breakthrough in giant slalom like this was a positive step for both her and the team," said St. Lawrence head coach Willi Steinrotter. "We had a number of quality results despite some difficult conditions and are looking forward to tomorrow's slalom."

Senior Ashley-Kate Durham posted her 22nd collegiate top-20 finish in 2:09.94 to close in 13th place. Durham, who won this event last winter at the UVM Carnival, was in seventh place after the first run.

First-year student Ciar Colgan capped the team's scoring in 46th place, while classmate Amie Lonza followed in 48th in her first collegiate event. Sophomores Kelly Appenzeller and Maria Hillenbrand also competed for the Saints on Friday (DNF).

On the men's side, junior Dustin Martin picked up his second career top-10 with a time of 2:04.47, good for 9th overall in the GS. Martin, who recorded the 8th-fastest second run, was followed on the team by sophomore Graham Scott in 16th position.

Junior Ben DeFlavio and graduate student Jeremy Lawless tied for 31st place to cap the Saints' scoring (2:05.65), while junior Nick Scalia and rookie Nick Stenicka (DNF 2nd) also raced for St. Lawrence.

Kate Ryley of UVM won both runs to sail to victory in the women's race in 2:05.65, nearly two seconds ahead of teammate Kristina Riis-Johannessen. The duo led the hosting Catamounts to victory in the team event. Meanwhile, Middlebury's David Donaldson edged UNH's Sam Coffey for the individual title by a mere .17 seconds in the men's GS.

The alpine portion of the 2013 UVM Carnival will finish tomorrow, Saturday, January 12 when teams compete in the slalom. The Nordic events for the UVM Carnival will be held on February 2 and 3.