GIRDWOOOD, Alaska (AP) – After putting up with a little teasing from U.S. downhill star Daron Rahlves, Bryon Friedman got to gloat with a whopping victory.

Friedman, a 23-year-old Dartmouth senior who opened the season on the U.S. “B” team, won his first national title Friday, taking the men’s downhill by nearly two seconds in the U.S. Alpine Championships.

Friedman finished in 1 minute, 38.96 seconds, then stood at the base of Alyeska and watched as crowd favorites Bode Miller and Rahlves failed to come close to toppling his time.

“It’s good to come here and put it down and beat them – by two seconds, no less. I’m pretty fired up,” Friedman said.

“Daron was kind of teasing me a little bit this morning. It gave me a little more fire out of the start and I was pumped and ready to go.”

Earlier Friday, Jonna Mendes won the women’s race for her third national championship and first in a speed event. Mendes finished in (1:44.25) on the same course where she won an FIS prelude to the national championships the day before.

Mendes was nearly a full second ahead of second-place Julia Mancuso (1:45.18) on Friday. Libby Ludlow was third (1:45.41).

After a disappointing season on the World Cup circuit, Mendes said she took her own little spring break by visiting her boyfriend in New York, avoiding anything that had to do with skiing.

“This win is so meaningful to me,” said Mendes, a two-time national champion in the giant slalom. “It’s ending a really frustrating and hard season for me on a good note.”

The downhill races opened the five-day event at Alyeska Resort, which was scheduled to host the U.S. Nationals last year before they were moved because of warm weather and bad snow conditions.

Weather isn’t going to be a problem this year. The resort about 40 miles southeast of Anchorage received more than a foot of snow earlier this week and temperatures were barely in the 20s by the time the men’s run ended early Friday afternoon.

The gusting wind that whipped against the mountain Thursday had died down considerably by the time the races started.

Friedman was the fourth skier to go and set an unbeatable time by nailing the top half of the course and carrying the speed the rest of the way. Jeremy Transue, a member of the U.S. “C” team, surprised the field and finished second (1:40.85). Rahlves, the top all-time U.S. skier in the downhill and winner of Friday’s FIS downhill, was third (1:40.94).

“I chose early because I wanted to be in the finish, waiting to see if those guys could beat my time,” Friedman said. “I knew they’d hear the time at the start and they knew what they would have to beat. The tactic seemed to pay off pretty well.”

Miller, who didn’t arrive in Alaska until early Friday as he traveled from Italy, finished 10th (1:42.34).

“I’m surprised that I wasn’t a little faster, but the guys who are here are good enough to score on the World Cup any day. It’s a high level of competition,” said Miller, who finished No. 4 in the overall World Cup standings.

Mendes of Heavenly, Calif., won back-to-back GS titles at the U.S. nationals in 2001-02, but had never won in downhill. She placed third in last year’s downhill at Lake Placid, N.Y., and took second in the super giant slalom, which she will race in Saturday.

Kevin Francis of Bend, Ore., fell in the top half of the course and injured his knee. He injured his right knee in the fall and was taken down the rest of the mountain on a sled by the ski patrol, giving a thumbs-up to show the crowd he was OK when he reached the bottom.

Francis’ fall caused a 10-minute delay before Miller’s run, which placed him briefly in fourth.

AP-ES-03-19-04 2015EST