BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Colorado's Lucie Zikova won the NCAA giant slalom national title on Thursday for the first time in her stellar career.

Zikova became the fourth CU woman to win the GS title, picking up her second national title after winning the 2006 slalom. It was her sixth top-five finish at NCAAs, which earns an automatic All-American selection.

The senior didn't finish the GS as a freshman and was fourth in the last two NCAA meets.

"It feels great, it's way more than I ever expected," said Zikova, who picked up her 15th career win. "I think this season that it's the only GS that I have won, so it's a good one to take."

Zikova's team didn't fare as well Thursday, dropping from first to third place. Denver vaulted from a third-place tie into first, with 316.5 points. Utah was second at the meet's midway point, with 288 points. CU is third with 282 points and Middlebury is fourth with 279.

Colorado owned a 33-point lead after Wednesday's cross country freestyle races, the largest first-day lead since the sport went coed in 1983. But the Buffs saw their lead disappear after two skiers had low starting positions Thursday and another had to restart the run twice. They were already one skier short in alpine because they didn't qualify the maximum amount of skiers.

"We definitely have to play catch up now after today, but it was a battle to survive and we know our better days are coming," CU head coach Richard Rokos said. "Classic and slalom are our better events, and in slalom anything can happen."

The classical cross country races will be today, with the men's 20k followed by the women's 15k. The slalom races will finish the meet Saturday.

On Thursday, junior Josh Bryan led the Buffs in the men's GS, with a 24th-place finish. Drew Roberts was 29th out of 33 starters. Denver's John Buchar captured the gold.

With Zikova's gold, and Maria Grevsgaard's Nordic win Wednesday in the 5K freestyle race, Colorado has won multiple individual titles at the NCAA Championships. Zikova's win was also CU's 76th overall NCAA individual ski title.

She had a healthy .38 of a second lead after her first run, and came back with the second best time in the 35-skier field for the second run, posting an overall effort of 1:44.88. That was good for nearly a quarter second win over Utah's Eva Huckova.

It was her fourth career GS victory, and 15th overall. She will finish second all-time in individual career wins by a Colorado skier. She only trails teammate Grevsgaard, who has 18 titles.

NCAA ski championships

Team scores -- 1. Denver 316.5; 2. Utah 288;3. Colorado 282; 4. Middlebury 279; 5. Dartmouth 267; 6. Vermont 252; 7. New Mexico 199; 8. Alaska-Anchorage 177.5; 9. Northern Michigan 153; 10. Nevada 144; 11. Alaska-Fairbanks 135; 12. Colby 126; 13. New Hampshire 125; 14. Williams 115; 15. Bates 81; 16. Montana State 74; 17. St. Scholastica 25; 18. Michigan Tech 15; 19. Wisconsin-Green Bay 14; 20. Gustavus Adolphus 13; 21. Whitman 7.

Men's Giant Slalom -- 1. John Buchar, DU, 1:39.85; 2. Greg Hardy, UVM, 1:39.87; 3. Erik Gilbert, UVM, 1:40.42; 4. Francesco Ghedina, DU, 1:40.70; 5. Alec Tarberry, Midd., 1:40.74; 6. Egil Ismar, UAA, 1:40.88; 7. Vincent Lebrun-Fortin, Colby, 1:40.92; 8. Eric Mann, Will., 1:40.95; 9. Gregory Berger, UN, 1:41.07; 10. Sean McNamara, UNH, 1:41.11. Other CU results -- 24. Josh Bryan, CU, 1:43.55; 26. Drew Roberts, CU, 1:43.71.

Women's Giant Slalom -- 1. Lucie Zikova, CU, 1:44.88; 2. Eva Huckova, Utah, 1:45.11; 3. Lyndee Janowiak, UVM, 1:45.87; 4. Jenni Lathrop, DU, 1:46.06; 5. Kara Crow, UVM, 1:47.05; 6. Jilyne McDonald, UVM, 1:47.15; 7. Malin Hemmingsson, UNM, 1:47.23; 8. Courtney Hammond, Dart., 1:47.94; 9. Megan Hughes, Midd., 1:48.05; 10 (tie). Molly Ryan, DU, and Kristina Repcinova, UAA, 1:48.38. Other CU results -- 20. Rachel Roosevelt, CU, 1:50:25; 23. Karine Falck-Pedersen, DU, 1:51.84; 33. Lisa Perricone, CU, 2:30.19.