Cosmos' Warner 2nd at Stowe

Springfield's Alex Warner posted a strong opening run which would help him finish second overall in the Stowe snowboarding giant slalom Monday afternoon.

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2017-01-25 / Sports Cosmos' Warner 2nd at Stowe Springfield's Alex Warner, shown in an earlier competition, placed second overall in the giant slalom at Stowe Monday. — COURTESY Springfield's Alex Warner, shown in an earlier competition, placed second overall in the giant slalom at Stowe Monday. — COURTESY STOWE, Vt. — Springfield's Alex Warner posted a strong opening run which would help him finish second overall in the Stowe snowboarding giant slalom Monday afternoon. The Cosmos' senior negotiated the course in 28.21 seconds on his first run. That put him in second place behind Marcus Roberge of Rice (25.86) and just ahead of Enosburg's Nick Blaney (28.81) heading into the final run. Warner clocked 29.78 in the second run, good for fourth, while Blaney finished 19th in 35.33. That helped secure the runner-up spot for Warner, who finished with a combined time of 57.99. “Alex has essentially secured a spot at this season's Giant Slalom state meet with his 1st- and 2nd-place finishes in our GS meets,” said Springfield coach Derek Graham. “I hope to see Alex continue his strong season with a podium spot on Thursday. And I am looking for Owen [Kelley] to secure a top-10 finish at our first slope meet at Killington.” Roberge would record the top time (25.75) in the second run as well to take the overall victory with a combined 51.61. Rutland's River Willman, disqualified in the first run, was second the next time down in 28.86. His teammate, Cameron Slenker, was third at 29.57 and combined with his 29.9 in his opening run, left him third overall at 59.47. Blaney ended up fifth overall with 1:04.14. BFA's James Weishaar was fourth overall (1:02.07) with a pair of 5th-place runs. Springfield had two other boarders competing at Stowe, Owen Kelley and Bella Bortlein. “Owen and Bella Bortlein put themselves in position to qualify for the state meet, which was nice to see,” Graham said. “They also improved their finishes from the last GS meet. Owen finished 17th out of 36 boys, while Bella finished 13th out of 20 girls.” Kelley posted an overall time of 1:10.09 with runs of 34.85 (16th) and 35.24 (18th). In the girls race, Bortlein clocked 1:21.45 with times of 41.61 (15th) and 39.84 (15th). Burr & Burton's Allie Nowicki recorded the fastest time in each run (27.88, 27.93) to win the girls event with a 55.81. BFA won the boys team title with 45 points and three top-10 finishers. South Burlington was second with 31 and Enosburg third with 29. Burr & Burton took the girls title with 37, Mill River was second (17), and BFA third (13). Springfield did not have full teams as it takes four entrants to score in boys competition and three in girls races. The Cosmos head to Killington Thursday for a 1 p.m. Slopestyle event.