Ski teamers debut in Wyoming, Utah
At Jackson Hole, Park City
Top Sun Valley Ski Team alpine racers are off and
running gates.
They made their 1999-2000 race season debuts Dec. 12-16 at the Union
Cellular Wild West Classic in Jackson Hole, Wyo. and Dec. 18-21 at the Eric Hays Memorial
giant slaloms in Park City, Utah.
Among Sun Valley racers having good weeks were Jessica Hamilton, Katie
Ann Deist and Biche Rudigoz.
At the Hays Memorial, University of Utah collegiate racers dominated
the top spots in the Intermountain Division event that attracted 105 men and 43 women to
CB’s run.
University of Utah race winners were 20-year-old Vermont skier
Elizabeth Sherry (GS, SL) and Jernej Bukovec, 21 (men’s GS).
Other Eric Hays race winners were Colorado’s Jessica Lyle, 20, of
Rowmark (GS); Maine’s Parker Gray, 20, the Eastern downhill champion from Sunday
River (GS); and Jed Schuetze, 20, of Colorado (SL).
Rudigoz, 18, cracked the top ten in Sunday’s GS. He placed 10th of
90 finishers, just 1.69 seconds off the winning time.
Hamilton, 15, finished a strong fifth in Monday’s SL won by
UU’s Sherry. Hamilton was the second J2. Winning J1 in eighth place overall was Deist
while teammate Kat Latham was 10th and the second J1.
Also competing were the Sarchett brothers, Jeff and Robin. Jeff placed
4th in Sunday’s GS and Robin’s best was 14th in Saturday’s race.
Here are Sun Valley’s top class placings for the first two races,
Saturday and Sunday. Monday’s SL class results are in parentheses. Tuesday’s
races were too late for presstime.
Men’s J1 (ages 17-19): 3—Biche Rudigoz (8th SL) and
Carl Rixon Jr. 17—Doug Paddock (20th SL).
Women’s J1: 1—Katie Ann Deist (SL). 4—Kat Latham
(2nd SL). 5—Sarah Mazzola.
Men’s J2 (15-16): 4—Griffin Post (5th SL). 5—Wes
Powell (9th SL). 7—William McNeal. 10—Zachary Brown (7th SL). 11—Evan
Peebles (13th SL). 13—Christopher Tatsuno (10th SL). 15—Marcus Acker (20th SL).
22—Whit Henry (23rd SL).
Women’s J2: 3—Jessica Hamilton (2nd SL).
Men’s J3 (13-14): 1—Sean Higgins (1st SL).
Women’s J3: 2—Laura Durkheimer.
At Jackson Hole Dec. 12-16, Sun Valley’s Maggie Acker was third
overall, .66 seconds behind Canada’s Katerine Tichy, in the second giant slalom. It
was Sun Valley’s best overall finish in the five-day series.
Unfortunately, Acker, one of America’s most promising young
skiers, later suffered a knee injury and had surgery at Sun Valley this week.
Here are the best overall placings for Sun Valley skiers at Jackson
Hole:
13—Katie Ann Deist (SL). 14—Jessica Hamilton (GS, SL).
15—Carl Rixon Jr. (GS). 21—Biche Rudigoz (GS). 28—Zach Latham (GS).
33—Kat Latham (GS). 34—Sarah Mazzola (SL). 60—David Clemens (SL).
