As Katie Ulvestad was perched atop the Greyhawk run, she knew something special was going on down the mountain.

One by one, her St. Olaf College teammates were notching stellar slalom runs. She heard the announcer’s voice in the distance mentioning her college and the skiers’ high placements in the standings. And the cheers from the skiers and the crowd got her in the mood to rip into a top-notch slalom performance of her own.

“I was getting feedback on the radio about how the course was running — it pumped me up,” said Ulvestad, a 20-year-old junior. “My team was fast before I ran. I didn’t feel any pressure, I just let it go, I was aggressive on the course and it paid off.”

Soon Ulvestad was off, tearing down the mountain toward her teammates waiting for her to join them.

Ulvestad, a Redmond High 2010 graduate, made her mark during the recent alpine United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association national championships at Sun Valley, Idaho, by finishing fourth in the slalom and 15th in the giant slalom and winding up in seventh place overall and earning second-team All-American honors. (She was first-team All-American in the slalom and second team in the giant slalom.)

Thanks to some solid freshmen and depth of the Division III St. Olaf (Northfield, Minn.) alpine team, the women finished third overall. Combined with the school’s first-place nordic squad, St. Olaf won the national President’s Cup.

Ulvestad, who also competed at nationals as a freshman and sophomore, first strapped on skis at age 3 and began competing at Stevens Pass when she was 7 or 8. During her senior year at Redmond High, she competed for Team Alpental Snoqualmie.

“At first, it was a family vacation thing. When I got into racing, I just got hooked on the sport,” said Ulvestad, who was also part of golf, soccer and track and field teams at Redmond. “You become close to the community of skiers… and there’s never a dull moment.”

St. Olaf freshman Lisa Koetke from Redmond (Interlake High class of 2012) competed in the giant slalom at nationals and earned second-team academic All-American honors this season.

The 18-year-old first took up skiing at age 2 and in high school competed for a club team at Stevens Pass and qualified for the Western Region championships. At St. Olaf, she enjoys being part of a team where everybody contributes to its success.

When Koetke’s out on the course, she gets “an adrenaline rush every time I race. I love it, all my memories are attached to racing. I can’t imagine myself not racing.”

Koetke’s brother Paul, a 2010 Interlake graduate, competed at nationals for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) and was 10th overall combined in slalom and giant slalom. The second-team All-American’s squad finished sixth overall combined.

Another Eastsider, McKenna McNabb from Bellevue (Forest Ridge class of 2011) was also part of the St. Olaf women’s alpine team, finishing 12th overall and second-team All-American in the giant slalom and overall. She was also a second-team academic All-American.

Below: Lisa Koetke, top, and Paul Koetke. Courtesy photos