SEAN MCNAMARA

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Sean McNamara (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.) of the University of New Hampshire raced to 10^th place Thursday in the giant slalom at the 2008 NCAA Skiing Championship to earn his third career All-America honors.

Through three days of competition, which included Nordic freestyle races on Wednesday and the mass start classic on Friday in addition to the giant slalom competition, UNH is in 14^th place with 131 points.

McNamara, who was a two-time All-American in 2006, led the Wildcats’ alpine squad to the fourth-highest team score in the giant slalom with 70 points. He completed his first run in 51.54 seconds and second run in 49.57 for an overall time of 1:41.11. Michael Cremeno (Pembroke, N.H.) was the next fastest ‘Cat in 17^th place overall with an aggregate time of 1:41.56. Willie Ford (Plymouth, N.H.) completed the team scoring in 23^rd place in 1:42.75.

The trio of women’s alpine skiers compiled 35 points in Thursday’s giant slalom at the Bridger Bowl. Emily Capaul (Campton, N.H.) led the way in 25^th place at 1:51.97 and was followed by Aileen Farrell (Ottawa, Ontario) at 1:54.84 and Veronique Archambault-Leger (Verdun, Quebec) closed the scoring in 31^st place at 2:03.19.

In the opening day of competition, UNH’s Nordic duo of Sarah Wright (Wyoming, Minn.) and Natasha Kullas (Timmins, Ontario) raced in the 5K freestyle at the Bohart Ranch. Wright was the 25^th skier to cross the finish line and completed the course in 19 minutes, 24.6 seconds. Kullas took 35^th place in 20:18.8.

On Friday, Bohart Ranch was the site of the 15K women’s mass start classic race. Wright once again was the top ‘Cat with a time of 1:05:42.4 for 35^th place. Kullas was clocked in 1:12:47.4 for 39^th place.

The 2008 NCAA Ski Championship concludes March 8 with the alpine’s slalom competition at Bridger Bowl.