CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine -- Senior captain Arie van Vuuren matched his career-best carnival performance on Friday, placing ninth in the giant slalom to pace the Bates alpine skiing teams on day one of the Colby Carnival at Sugarloaf Mountain. 

The Bobcat men placed seventh out of 14 teams with 61 points while the women finished 12th with 24 points. 

On his first run, van Vuuren (Boulder, Colo.) raced to the finish in 50.92 seconds, an outstanding time that set him up well for his second run. The Bobcat senior made sure to finish his second run cleanly, coming in at 52.26 seconds, good for a combined total of 1:43.18, about three seconds behind the winner of the GS, Vermont's Joachim Jagge Lindstoel. 

van Vuuren earned 31 carnival points and 29 NCAA points for his efforts. The Bobcats also got a top-30 performance from sophomore Bo Underhill (Newbury, N.H.), who shined in his collegiate debut, finishing with a combined time of 1:44.10, good for 20th place. Underhill earned 20 carnival points and 11 NCAA points. First-year Kyle Kagan (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) rounded out the scoring for Bates, racing to the finish in a combined time of 1:47.16, good for 35th place and 10 carnival points.

On the women's side, senior Daphne James (Sausalito, Calif.) scored all of the Bobcats' points, finishing in a career-best 16th place with a combined time of 1:50.76. Her showing was good for 24 carnival points and 15 NCAA points. 

The Bates alpine and Nordic skiing teams combined for 180 points on day one, good for ninth place out of 14 schools. Bates alpine skiing returns to action Sunday at the Colby Carnival when the Bobcats compete in the slalom.