Great Lakes Wire

The Wildcats had a strong showing on the first day of their season at the USCSA Giants Ridge event in Minnesota. Both the men's and women's teams secured numerous top-10 finishes in the Giant Slalom race.

On the men's side, six competitors placed in the top 10. Brad Seaborg led with a gold medal finish, completing his runs in 57.78 seconds and narrowly defeating Ethan Ross of St. Olaf by 0.21 seconds. Seaborg's initial run was recorded as the fastest of the day at 27.17 seconds. Andrew Truman earned bronze with a total time of 58.50 seconds, while Aaron Grzelak came close to reaching the podium with a fourth-place finish at 58.58 seconds.

Other notable performances included Reed Heathman finishing sixth, Will Blackmer eighth, and Mitchell Forsberg tenth.

In the women's competition, Tommie Jo Springer claimed first place after her second run posted as the fastest of that segment, resulting in a total time of 1:02.09 minutes. Ella Wichert also performed well, securing third place for her team.

Northern Michigan University (NMU) controlled much of the leaderboard with Reagan Olli, Kaylee Byrne, Maya Bubolz, Cassidy Whitener, Madalyn Stern, and Emily Creek filling positions four through nine.

Jacey Johnson finished just outside this group at eleventh place followed by Erin Hoelzel at thirteenth position; Julia Greene took fourteenth spot whereas Georgette Sake completed twentieth rounding out 'Cats' efforts.

The Wildcats will continue competing tomorrow at Giants Ridge where they are set to participate in Slalom events.