Alpine nationals: Ligety, Cochran tied halfway through men's slalom; Grant leads women

Ted Ligety and Jimmy Cochran are tied at the top after the first run of the men’s slalom Sunday at the Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships.
    Cochran, the first skier out of the gate, clocked 51.91 seconds on the Racing Trail course that drops 200 meters from start to finish. Ligety, the two-time defending U.S. slalom champ, started No. 2 and matched Cochran’s time. Cochran took home the U.S. slalom and giant slalom titles at Alyeska in 2004.
    U.S. C teamer Sterling Grant topped the first run of women’s giant slalom, finishing in 47.86 seconds, with Resi Stiegler second, .07 back, and Hailey Duke third with a time of 48.02.
ALYESKA RESORT, Alaska — Ted Ligety and Jimmy Cochran are tied at the top after the first run of the men’s slalom Sunday at the Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships.
    Cochran, the first skier out of the gate, clocked 51.91 seconds on the Racing Trail course that drops 200 meters from start to finish. Ligety, the two-time defending U.S. slalom champ, started No. 2 and matched Cochran’s time. Cochran took home the U.S. slalom and giant slalom titles at Alyeska in 2004.
    Junior racer Will Brandenburg continued a torrid stretch of racing this week with the third-fastest time in the opening run, a 52.73. Brandenburg has been the top junior finisher in both the national super G (fifth overall) and downhill (eighth overall) events the past two days, in addition to Thursday’s FIS downhill (10th overall) that kicked off racing in Alyeska.
    U.S. Ski Teamer Tim Jitloff, and David Chodounsky of reigning NCAA champion Dartmouth, sit fourth and fifth, respectively, after the first run. Rounding out the top 10 are Paul McDonald, Bode Miller (who started No. 43), Andrew Weibrecht, Roger Brown and Steven Nyman.
    The mens’ second run is scheduled for 1 p.m. local time. The first run of the women’s slalom will begin at 11:30 a.m. local time. 

Grant tops women’s first run
    U.S. C teamer Sterling Grant topped the first run of women’s giant slalom, finishing in 47.86 seconds, with Resi Stiegler second, .07 back, and Hailey Duke third with a time of 48.02. Kaylin Richardson was fourth, Caitlin Ciccone fifth, Jessica Kelley sixth and Julia Mancuso seventh, all within a second of the leader.

Paper combined also up for grabs
    The U.S. nationals combined medalists will be determined later Sunday via a paper calculation of results from the downhill and slalom.