Cullman Fifth In GS At WUG

TARVISIO, Italy - University of Colorado junior Mia Cullman finished fifth here Thursday in the giant slalom, the best finish by an American skier this week in the 2003 World University Games.

Cullman finished in a time of 2:41.50 behind four skiers who finished just .26 of a second apart, led by gold medal winner Anastasij Popkova from Russia in 2:39.15. Cullman's second run time of 1:18.42 in the afternoon was the fastest run of the day, propelling her from 10th after the morning run into fifth despite starting the day as the No. 24 seed, and thus, in the 24th starting position.

Cullman's finish was the best of the week by any American on the slopes, bettering a pair of previous sixth place finishes, including one by CU's own Brad Hogan in the downhill.

Senior Tove Pashkowski had two solid runs and finished 16th in 2:45.55, despite starting in the 35th position. CU's other representative, freshman Amy Beresford, didn't finish her second run.

"Mia put together a fabulous second run," said CU head coach Richard Rokos, the Team USA leader at these games. "Three of the four skiers who beat here were seeded in the top six, and the other one was No. 12, so for her to come from the 24th starting position to finish fifth was quite an achievement. Tove also skied well; she started near the middle of the pack and had to pass a lot of people to get to where she did."

The men's giant slalom is next up on Friday, with CU to be represented by the freshman Hogan, who is seeded No. 12 out of 114 skiers scheduled to compete. The highest American seed, Hogan also finished 11th in the Super-G here in addition to his downhill finish. Sophomore Tyler Shepherd is seeded No. 17, and senior Jed Schuetze 54th.

The men's giant slalom is on Friday, with the women's slalom Saturday and the men's slalom set for Sunday to conclude this year's games.