ASPEN — Summit junior Seth Montgomery slipped and slid across the finish line on his second run, just like everyone else who finished.

The Aspen Highlands Thunderbowl claimed a total of 22 did-not-finishes across two runs in the boys giant slalom state championship, including 15 in a tight-turning and technical second run.

But Montgomery, looking to defend his 2024 giant slalom state title, held on just enough to keep it between the gates — and quick enough.

Montgomery built off a substantial lead after the first run, putting down a time of 35.86 seconds — 1.46 seconds faster than second-place Sky Biglow of Steamboat Springs. His second run of 42.34 seconds was fourth-fastest, giving him an overall time of 1:18.20. That cushion of just under 0.8 seconds over second-place finisher Josh Stephen of Aspen (1:19.02) was enough to earn him a gold medal for a second-consecutive year. 

Montgomery’s victory last year at Loveland came by a much smaller margin, just 0.06 seconds ahead of Aspen then-freshman Matt McDermott.

“It was fun, a hard course at the end but it was good,” Montgomery said. “I like being out here at Aspen. (My other state championship) was right next to where we live and train, so it feels a little different.”

Stephen was just 0.05 seconds behind Biglow on the first run. On the second run, he made his home slope his friend after it antagonized so many others. Stephen set the pace on the second run by nearly 0.40 seconds (posting a time of 41.65, ahead of Steamboat freshman Soren Shepherd’s 42.04).

“The course was set pretty tight and turny so it was pretty difficult to get your ski around, and there was some features in the course, like some jumps, that were just upsetting for some kids,” Stephen said. “I’m pretty happy (winning the second run) considering that I’m on some bigger skis, so everybody else is on smaller skis than me and it makes it a little bit easier.”

Shepherd took third overall and was immediately followed by his Sailor teammate Biglow on the podium. Montgomery’s teammates junior Bergen Harberts and sophomore Aaron Green took fifth and seventh, respectively, to lift the Tigers to the top of the boys Alpine standings after the first day with 170 points. The Sailors — with freshman Pthalo Plomteux placing ninth — finished just three points behind after the giant slalom event. Aspen finished day one in third place with 159 points as freshman Ronan Curran took 10th place and junior Jimmy Stokes took 13th.

The Tigers, also looking to repeat as team state champions, hold a narrow edge heading into day two’s slalom.

“Some of my friends and teammates did better this year, too,” Montgomery said. “We did good as a team. We lost some of the top guys, but this year it’s good because we’ve got more top guys and guys like in the middle area and they’re all skiing really well, too.”

Following tomorrow's action, the first-ever Alpine Skiing State Champion will be crowned, as this is the first year that the team skiing state championship is split between an Alpine Skiing State Championship and a Nordic Skiing State Championship.