Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Junior Olympic
athletes ski to victory

On Baldy

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By MEGAN THOMAS
Express Staff Writer

Blue skies and hard snow provided the perfect ski racing conditions for the USSA Chevrolet J3 Junior Olympic and J4 Festival held last weekend on Bald Mountain.

The collection of 200 western region athletes from Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming gathered in Sun Valley for the prestigious alpine event.

The crème of young athletes ages 12 to 14 years old, including 13 Wood River Valley athletes on the Intermountain Region division team, competed in three days of racing on Bald Mountain and came away with outstanding results.

According to Hailey Ski Team coach Ken Corrock, "the tough hill made the good kids come out and ski well."

Intermountain J3 skier Kiley Staples, 15, of Utah’s Rowmark Ski Academy attacked the steep, hard terrain throughout the weekend dominating the women’s events.

Staples won both the women’s slalom and giant slalom and placed third in super giant slalom to win the overall women’s combined.

In the men’s races competition was fierce with no single athlete dominating the field. Corrock noted that the Intermountain athletes skied exceptionally well, owning many top ten results.

Intermountain athletes Zach Collins of Snowbird, Utah and Christopher Dancy of Park City took first and second in the men’s super giant slalom, Nikolai Dziezyc of Jackson Hole third in the giant slalom and Sun Valley athlete Tristan Brown second in the slalom.

Tristan Brown consistently skied well to earn third place in the men’s overall combined.

Other highlights in the Junior Olympic men’s field included the slalom race with Far West skier Ryan Macken winning the J3 event by an impressive five seconds.

J4 festival skier Michael Radford from Far West took consistency to the next level winning all three J4 events. Intermountain’s Jared Goldberg skied well with a third place in super giant slalom and third in giant slalom.

In the J4 festival Hailey Ski Team member Jasmine Campbell skied exceptionally well in the women’s events.

Qualifying for the event was incredibly challenging as each region selected only three female and three male racers. The event was a unique opportunity for younger skiers to taste a higher level of competition.

Campbell took third in the women’s J4 giant slalom, and third overall for female J4 racers. Campbell’s finishes were especially impressive considering she moved here from the Virgin Islands four years ago.

She exuded the glow of a champion as she explained that Sun Valley skiers had the home field advantage because "you don’t have long car rides and you know the whole mountain."

Campbell and all of the athletes showed exceptional sportsmanship and heart over three days of racing.

Chief of Race and head coach of the Sun Valley ski team Ruben Macaya announced to athletes and parents at the awards ceremony on Sunday, "Earlier, I mentioned I was excited to be a coach in America, today I say I am proud to be a coach in America."

He pointed to the fighting spirits of each individual racer and compared the athlete’s efforts throughout the weekend to the determination of brothers Phil and Steve Mahre in the 1984 Olympics.

Throughout the competition, Intermountain team members from the valley exemplified the fighting spirit Macaya admired.

Sun Valley’s Calley Brown exuded exceptional determination, racing with a broken growth plate in her wrist protected by a fluorescent green cast. Despite the cast, she raced well, finishing in the top 25 in every event.

Hailey ski team racer Meghan Luck won the coveted "Hard Charger Award" given to male and female racers who moved up the most places from their start position in any event during the series.

Starting 84th, Luck charged to eighth overall in the women’s slalom. On the men’s side racers Kevin Bennett and Andy Hackbarth tied for the "Hard Charger Award."

The "hard chargers" and all of the young racer’s attitudes promise an array of up and coming Olympic talent.

Organizing Committee members for last week’s races included Kathleen Eder, Gloria Brown, Kathy Rothgeb, Nick Maricich, Wally Rothgeb, Macaya and Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation executive director Don Wiseman.

 

Top results follow:

Overall

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Combined winner J3 men: Jake Baker (FW).
Combined winner J3 women: Kiley Staples (IMD).

 

Friday events

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J3 men’s SG: 1—Zach Collins (IMD) 59.61. 2—Christopher Dancy (IMD) 59.83. 3—Christopher Hinkley (Alaska) 1:00.26. 4—Soren Ireland (SV), 16—Tristan Brown (SV). 27—Barrett Cincotta (HST). 54—Ryon Campbell (HST). 56—Travis Stone (SV). DNF—Casey Bennett (HST).

J3 women SG: 1—Kelsey Collins (FW) 1:00.54. 2—Erica Jacobson (FW) 1:01.07. 3—Kiley Staples (IMD) 1:01.26. 17—Calley Brown (SV). 18—Meghan Luck (HST). 24—Natalie Hague (SV). 42—Alisa Durkheimer (SV). 50—Shanny Cohen (SV). 60—Ainsley Gourlay (SV).

J4 men’s SG: 1—Michael Radford (FW) 1:06.90. 2—Derek Strand (NO) 1:02.25. 3—Jared Goldberg (IMD) 1:08.40.

J4 women’s SG: 1—Gabrielle Anthony (FW) 1:03.94. 2—Joelle Chevalier (FW) 1:04.47. 3—Cate Kistler (FW) 1:05.70. 11—Jasmine Campbell (HST).

 

Saturday events

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J3 men’s GS: 1—Tommy Ford (PNSA) 1:51.41. 2—Jake Baker (FW) 1:52.68. 3—Nikolai Dziezyc (IMD) 1:52.84. 6—Tristan Brown (SV). 11—Barrett Cincotta (HST). 28—Travis Stone (SV). 35—Ryon Campbell (HST). 74—Casey Bennett (HST). DQ—Soren Ireland (SV).

J3 women’s SL: 1—Kiley Staples (IMD) 1:17.45. 2—Laura Hoff (FW) 1:19.98. 3—Christina Schueler (PNSA) 1:21.23. 8—Meghan Luck (HST). 21—Calley Brown (SV). 28—Natalie Hague (SV). 31—Ainsley Gourlay (SV). 41—Shanny Cohen (SV). DNF—Alisa Durkheimer (SV).

J4 men’s GS: 1—Michael Radford (FW) 1:56.05. 2—Nick Daniels (FW) 1:56.19. 3—Jared Goldberg (IMD) 1:58.99.

J4 women’s SL: 1—Joelle Chevalier (FW) 1:24.55. 2—Gabrielle Anthony (FW) 1:24.59. 3—Vanessa Berther (PNSA) 1:28.87. 8—Jasmine Campbell (HST).

 

Sunday events

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J3 men’s SL: 1—Ryan Macken (FW) 1:21.34. 2—Tristan Brown (SV) 1:26.02. 3—Clayton Krueger (NO) 1:26.44. 12—Casey Bennett (HST). 18—Soren Ireland (SV). 27—Travis Stone (SV). 58—Ryon Campbell (HST). DNF—Barrett Cincotta (HST), J3 women’s GS: 1—Kiley Staples (IMD) 1:54.70. 2—Erica Jacobson (FW) 1:54.96. 3—Laurie Huff (IMD) 1:55.56. 14—Calley Brown (SV). 19. Shanny Cohen (SV). 21—Natalie Hague (SV). 44—Alisa Durkheimer (SV). 56—Meghan Luck (HST). DNF—Ainsley Gourlay (SV).

J4 men’s SL: 1—Michael Radford (FW) 1:30.55. 2—Robert Pulford (FW) 1:33.18. 3—Addis Goldman (PNSA) 1:33.67.

J4 women’s GS: 1—Gabrielle Anthony (FW) 1:58.30. 2—Vanessa Berther (PNSA) 2:00.95. 3—Jasmine Campbell (HST) 2:03.77.

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