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The Steamboat Springs High School Alpine ski team finished Thursday's slalom race at the Colorado High School State Skiing Championships with three top-15 finishers.

Racing one of the flattest courses in the state at Ski Cooper, Sam Glaisher paced the Sailors with a third-place finish in the boys event, finishing two seconds behind overall winner Nick Stenicka, of Middle Park. Teammate Tommy Lyon finished 11th. Jeffrey Gay came in 20th.

On the girls side, Hanna Berglund moved up from 19th place after one run to finish 12th.

"It was super cold, but the snow was soft," Steamboat coach Kate Warner said.

As a team, the Steamboat girls finished the day fifth, while the boys team sat in fourth after the first day of competition. Middle Park led the girls field with Evergreen in second, Battle Mountain in third and Vail Mountain in fourth. Battle Mountain and Middle Park were tied for first in the boys competition, with Aspen in third.

Warner said the first run in the boys and girls event was pretty straightforward. In the girls' second run, there were several quick turns, while the boys course in the second run favored technical skiers, she said.

The attention now turns to today's giant slalom event. Although the course will change hills, Warner said it will be flat again.

In addition to having the right wax, Warner said the skiers will have to take what the course gives them.

"It's a different hill but a little flatter," she said. "They know it's flat and what to expect. They have to make sure they are not over-skiing it and just be really aggressive and have a good start."

At a meet earlier this year on the same hill, Berglund won the event with teammate Jamie Gay finishing second.

Warner hopes for similar results today.

"They did great (Thursday)," she said. "But I expect them to do better (today)."