EAST BURKE, Vt. – The Castleton University men's alpine ski team took to the slopes of Burke Mountain on Saturday for two FIS University giant slalom races.

Only four Spartans were granted entry into a challenging field featuring NCAA Division I racers and skiers from some of the top academies in the state. Lorenzo Mencaccini notched a 13th-place finish in the second race of the day, while Christopher Kerven and Carl Setterstrom were the Spartans' only finishers in the day's first race. Paul Rechberger competed in both races, but failed to finish a pair of difficult second runs on the day.

After a second-run DNF in the opening race, Mencaccini bounced back with a time of 2:00.29, less than two seconds behind the top finisher. The rookie from Italy posted runs of 59.13 seconds and 1:01.16 to land in 13th place.

Setterstrom and Kerven finished back-to-back for Castleton in the opening race of the day, logging times of 2:11.38 and 2:11.71. The Swedes logged nearly-identical times in both runs of the day, as Setterstrom posted times of 1:05.49 and 1:05.99, while Kerven clocked in at 1:05.83 and 1:05.88.

Castleton returns to action on February 22 at Smuggler's Notch for a pair of FIS Slalom races.