Liz Thompson '09 led the Bobcats in the slalom on her third trip to the NCAA Skiing Championships.

BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Bates junior Liz Thompson (Rangeley, Maine) led three Bates women with a 19th-place finish out of 35 competitors in the slaloms on Saturday, as the NCAA Skiing Championships came to a close at Montana State University.

Bates' combined alpine and Nordic ski teams placed 15th out of 21 teams at the Championships, with 153 points, nipping host Montana State (145). It is Bates' third consecutive top-15 national finish.

Thompson had a two-run combined time of 1:33.11 to place 19th just after Molly Ryan of the University of Denver (1:32.08). Junior teammate Emily Sampson (Plymouth, N.H.) came in 25th in 1:34.68 and first-year Micaela Holland (Belmont, Mass.) was right behind in 26th at 1:34.77.

The three-woman Bates alpine contingent scored 95 points, to combine with junior Nordic men's skier Sylvan Ellefson (Vail, Colo.) for the team's 15th-place finish.

Bates was one of only two Division III colleges (along with Middlebury) with three women in the field at NCAAs. It was Thompson's third trip to NCAAs and the second for Thompson.

View complete final 2008 NCAA Skiing Championships results (PDF).