For the week of February 26 - March 4, 2003

Sun Valley Snowboard Team members gather at Snow King, Wyo. prior to Sunday’s boardercross race. Front, from left, coach Nate Galpin, Spencer Cordovano, Liz Shanklin, Houston Shaw, Tami Harrison, Laura Parker and Sarah Betts. Middle row, from left, Michael Kunz, Austen Butler, Jeremy Black, David Kunz, Scarlet Caldwell, Gillian Augustus and Bobby Flanigan. Back row, from left, head coach Andy Gilbert, Jens Peterson, Reid Welsh, Edward Sawicz, Yancy Caldwell and coach A.J. Grabos. Express photo by Willy Cook

Sun Valley boarders

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There haven’t been a lot of Intermountain Division snowboard contests this winter—but last weekend’s three-state event in Jackson Hole, Wyo. was a good one blessed with two feet of new, blinding snow.

Andy Gilbert, Sun Valley Snowboard Team head coach, said, "The pipe at Teton Village was filling up with snow Saturday and there was a lot of slipping between runs.

"There was talk of maybe trying to call it after the first run, but the pipe was still in good shape. We just had to do a lot of waxing at the top to keep the boards moving."

And move they did in a field of 65 boarders from Sun Valley, Jackson Hole, Park City and Snowbird. After braving the snow at Teton Village, the kids found more hard pack Sunday for the Snow King boardercross.

"It was a great weekend for the kids," said Gilbert, who guided the team of 17 along with assistant coaches Nate Galpin and A.J. Grabos.

Liz Shanklin and David Kunz captured first places in their classes in the halfpipe. Here are those top class placings for the Sun Valley group:

J1 women: 1—Liz Shanklin. 2—Tami Harrison.
J1 men: 2—Yancy Caldwell.
J2 women: 2—Sarah Betts. 3—Laura Parker.
J2 men: 1—David Kunz. 3—Bobby Flanigan.
J3 men: 2—Jeremy Black.

Sunday’s boardercross at Snow King was a challenging course, one Sun Valley could certainly handle.

"The snow was a little harder and it was a firm base—a fast course that got rutted quickly," said Gilbert. "It had a nice rhythm section that went into a wide-open GS at the bottom."

He said, "The GS tested your ability to ride a line which favored our kids because we still do a fair amount of gate training. They just let it go at the bottom."

Yancy Caldwell, who ranks #14 in the nation in boardercross, finished third in his class. Here are top results:

J1 women: 2—Liz Shanklin.
J1 men: 3—Yancy Caldwell.
J2 women: 1—Scarlet Caldwell. 2—Gillian Augustus. 3—Laura Parker.
J2 men: 1—Houston Shaw.
J3 men: 1—Spencer Cordovano.

Next: About 20 Sun Valley kids will travel to Western Regionals in Aspen, Colo. March 5-10 where they’ll compete in all four disciplines—parallel slalom and giant slalom, boardercross and halfpipe.

 

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