For the week of January 22 - 28, 2003

Pushing limits
at SV Moguls

22 medals go to home team

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By MICHAEL AMES
Express Staff Writer

In the only Intermountain division event hosted by Sun Valley this season, local freestylers enjoyed the warm sun on Baldy’s Roundhouse slope and used the home-mountain advantage to earn a substantial share of medals.

"I think I was pretty fast…and I guess the judges liked my air, too," said Sun Valley Freestyle Ski Team‘s Kylie Douglas.

Britt VanPaepeghem shows her stuff. Express photo by Willy Cook

Kylie placed first in her F2 age bracket (girls 15-16) in Saturday’s best of two run event. Douglas teammate Britt VanPaepaghem placed third in the same event.

Numerous local skiers found their ways to the podium all weekend—of 110 total competitors on Saturday, 10 medals in 8 age brackets went to Sun Valley skiers.

In addition to Douglas’ first place Saturday, Katie Fieguth took first in the F3 (13-14), Christine Cordeau bested the rest in FS (over 18), her brother Shane Cordeau did the same in M2 (15-16) and Karl Fostvedt came out on top of his M4 (11-12) age group.

Along with these firsts, Ross Falcone and Jake Kaiser finished second in M3 and M5 respectively. Katie Sheffield earned third place in F4.

Both days on the hill were witness to feats of daring as many competitors pushed their limits.

Inverted tricks were not uncommon for some, while others chose the competition as a prime time to attempt new tricks.

Though her first run was the fastest course time for any girl of any age bracket all weekend, Kylie Douglas decided her second run on Saturday would be the time to test her as-of-yet unproven 360.

"I’ve been learning helicopters and my coach wanted me try one…I landed it," Douglas modestly said of her impressive stunt. She went on to tell of her "crash a few turns later…I’m pretty sure no one missed it…I landed right on top of the second jump."

Shane Cordeau flies through the air. Express photo by Willy Cook

Sun Valley girls went on to win heaps of medals on Sunday. Douglas finished fourth in her F2, but second and third went to teammates Britt VanPaepaghem and Katie Zuck.

In F3 Katie Fieguth took first and Lauren Phillips was right behind. F4 also saw first and second going to Sun Valley skiers with Sophia Schwartz taking first and Racheal McGinnis having the second spot on the podium.

The guys were no less successful Sunday morning, pulling in seven podium spots.

The M4 bracket was all Sun Valley. First, second and third went Fostvedt, Grill and Parker respectively. In addition to that domination, Nic Hanscom took first in M1, Corey Warren second in M2, Gilbert Banks finished second in M3 and Jake Kaiser pulled third in M5.

The final event of the weekend was the always crowd-pleasing dual moguls.

In this event two skiers bumped side-by-side to the finish where sanctioned judges quickly ruled on the winner. A bracket system was used for the duals and the field was gradually whittled down to the eventual winners.

Next weekend finds local skiers traveling all day Thursday for a weekend at Heavenly Mountain in Lake Tahoe.

If Sun Valley Moguls was any sign, the season should be an awesome one for local talent. By the way, check next week’s Local Life for more dynamite freestyle photos.

Weekend bests follow:

F2: 1—Kylie Douglas. 3—Britt VanPaepaghem. 4—Katie Zuck. 6—K. Suttor. F3: 1—Katie Fieguth. 2—Lauren Phillips. 4—B. Malarkey. F4: 1—Sophia Schwartz. 2—Racheal McGinnis. 3—Kaylie Sheffield. 4—Sierra Brand. 5—Kali Phillips. 6—Sylvie Krekow. FS: 1—Christine Cordeau.

M1: 1—Nic Hanscom. 5—Collin Collins. 10—Scott Sanders. 12—Devin Sheffield. M2: 1—Shane Cordeau. 2—Corey Warren. 8—Reed Boeger. 9—Kurtis Fieguth. M3: 2—Ross Falcone and Banks Gilberti. 5—Chase Englehardt. 10—Marc Coury. 12—Cord Roth. 16—Andrew Coury.

M4: 1—Karl Fostvedt. 2—Austin Grill. 3—North Parker. 7—Austin Moses. 8—Barry Marshall and Sam Colesworthy. 9—Trace Page. 10—Gene Fairbrother. 11—Austin Bourret. M5: 2—Jake Kaiser. 4—Nathan Moses. 4—Trevor Brand. 5—P. Parker. MS: 10—Joshua Zuck.

 

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