TOAS / RED RIVER, N. M. - The Alaska Anchorage ski team had a shaky start in day one of the New Mexico Invitational, finishing seventh among other Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association members on Friday morning.

The Seawolves registered 292 points, while host New Mexico leads with 470 points, followed by Colorado (428) in second and Montana State (363) in third.

Sophomore Laura Rombach paced the Seawolves, posting UAA's only top-10 finish of the day. Rombach led the Nordic squad to 81 points with a fourth-place individual effort.  The Neukirch, Germany, native completed the 5K classic in a time of 17 minutes, 41.09.

UAA received points from junior Kelsey Coolidge (20^th, 19:35.7) and sophomore Sarah Tegeler (25^th, 20:57.8).

Leading the men's Nordic squad was senior Tor Christopherson in 20^th place. The Anchorage native raced to a time of 31:24.7 in the 10K classic. Rookie Sam Lindsey (31:37.7) was 23^rd, while senior Karl Schauer (32:32.4) was 30^th.

On the slopes, the Alpine team received identical16th-place finishes from freshmen Petra Gantnerova and Andreas Adde in the women's and men's giant slalom, respectively. Gantnerova produced a two-run time of 2:12.70, while Adde was clocked at 2:07.05.

Also recording points on the women's side was freshman Kayla Fry (21^st, 2:14.34) and sophomore All-American Alex Parker (27^th, 2:15.70). Freshman Cameron Brewington (2:07.85) was 22^nd, while sophomore Halfdan Falkum-Hansen (2:08.31) was 24^th.

The Seawolves were without some of their top performers, as senior All-American Kristina Repcinova (Alpine) and All-American's Max and Lex Treinen didn't compete in the classic.

UAA will conclude the invite on Saturday morning. The races are scheduled to commence with the women's 10K freestyle at 7 a.m. AST at Toas Ski Valley and the men's slalom at 7:30 a.m. AST at Red River.