For the week of May 8 - 14, 2002

SVSEF chief Schowengerdt steps down

Administrator during rapid growth

---

After more than a decade of involvement with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation as an administrator and then executive director, Sheryl Schowengerdt is retiring.

Schowengerdt is considered one of the country’s foremost race secretaries and program administrators, according to a SVSEF press release.

She was hired out of Snowbird, Utah in 1991 by head SVSEF alpine coach and then-executive director Lane Monroe.

During Schowengerdt’s tenure the SVSEF grew tremendously in size and complexity to an organization that encompasses alpine, freestyle, snowboard and cross country teams.

"Sheryl brought great professionalism to her handling of the complex interaction of athletes, coaches and parents," according to SVSEF trustee William Cannell.

Under Schowengerdt’s directorship, the SVSEF has been selected as USSA Club of the Year, USSA Cross Country Club of the Year, and has been nominated to the U.S. Olympic Committee’s prestigious Rings of Gold Award.

During this year’s Olympic Winter Games Schowengerdt represented the SVSEF and Sun Valley as the assistant jury secretary on the men’s course at the Snowbasin downhill and super giant slalom.

She was invited by USSA to work at the U.S. National Alpine Championships, and also served as the chairman of the Alpine Competition Committee of the Intermountain Division of the USSA this season.

Sheryl is well known for her prowess at organizing high-level competitions.

Teams across the country have complimented the SVSEF for the exceptional speed at which the results of her races have been processed and posted on the Internet.

During Sheryl’s tenure as SVSEF director she has been accompanied by her husband Stephen. He is officially an Alpine D Team coach, but he is unofficially responsible for much of the SVSEF office’s technological versatility. Stephen is responsible for creating the SVSEF’s informative web page (www.svsef.org), which has become useful both to SVSEF athletes and parents, and to the public.

Ruben Macaya, SVSEF Alpine Program Director said, "In my 30 years of coaching at the international level, Sheryl is one of the most knowledgeable, organized, and productive ski racing program administrators I have ever known."

Although she has retired, Sheryl is helping the SVSEF Board redefine the job of executive director in anticipation of hiring a new person to the job.

She is assisting the SVSEF board with ideas as its members consider some re-structuring.

The Sun Valley Ski Team’s alpine banquet is Thursday, May 9 at 6 p.m. at Elkhorn Resort, at which time coaches and athletes will have a chance to tip their hat to Schowengerdt.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.