The snow conditions were incredible, and the young talent leaving the gates was amazing last weekend on Baldy's Hemingway run for two of the winter's biggest kids' ski races.
Over 200 of the Intermountain Division's best young ski racers from Idaho, Utah and Wyoming gathered for North and South Series J4-J6 technical races on the Warm Springs side of Baldy.
Sunday's Lonnie Basolo Memorial giant slalom, organized by the Hailey Ski Team, was a J4 Festival qualifier for a big regional meet later in March. Staged since the late 1980s, it's named for the young Hailey ski racer who died in a 1986 ski accident on Baldy.
Held in honor of longtime Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation coach Lane Monroe, Saturday's Monroe Cup provided a slalom test for 207 kids ages 12-and-under.
All in all, it was a great weekend.
Hailey Ski Team coach Matt Brown said, "The races went off like clockwork—perfect weather and awesome snow conditions. The Sun Valley Race Department helps out so much. We had some amazing skiing for the 11-12 year olds."
Perhaps the most amazing was Sun Valley first-year J4 Tanner Farrow, who put the hammer to both Monroe Cup slalom runs and was the fastest of 104 two-run finishers with a time of 1:10.33, a winner by .79 seconds.
Tanner Farrow, 11, turned around Sunday and placed second overall just .07 seconds behind Basolo Memorial boys' GS champ Maxwell Staples, 10, a second-year J5 from Park City, Utah.
Farrow was the only Sun Valley or Hailey ski teamer to win his class both days last weekend, in SL and GS.
But there were other podium performers from the local hill.
Delaney Willey, a second-year J4 out of the Hailey Ski Team, placed second overall to Park City's Sydney Staples in the closest finish of the weekend Saturday. Staples' SL time was 1:01.80 and Willey's was 1:01.83.
Willey ended up third overall to GS winner Sydney Staples Sunday in the Basolo GS. So, the brother and sister team of Maxwell and Sydney Staples from Park City took home the coveted Basolo Memorial trophies for the fastest times of the giant slalom.
In J5 boys, Connor Farrow of Sun Valley picked up the class win in the Monroe SL, good for ninth place overall, and he was second in his 9-10 age class in the Basolo GS.
J5 girls saw some fine podium skiing on Hemingway and Cozy by Nicole Roos of Sun Valley and Amanda Stelling of the Hailey Ski Team.
Roos joined Tanner and Connor Farrow as the only local age class winners last weekend with a J5 victory in the Basolo GS. And Roos was third in SL. Meanwhile, Stelling placed second in SL and third in GS.
Tanner Josey rounded out the local podiums with a third place Sunday in J6 boys' GS.
Here are local class placings or the 65 local skiers in the Monroe Cup and Basolo Memorial events last weekend. In all, there were 207 racers, 131 boys and 76 girls from around the region:
MONROE CUP SLALOM
J4 boys (11-12): 1—Tanner Farrow. 4—Miles Sweek. 18—Harlan Collins. 22—Rory Lynch. 28—Bergen Palmer. 32—Tyler Davis. 33—Jordan Levin. 35—Ryan Foster. 39—Jacob Korobkin. 45—Zachary Israel. 46—Kyle Hoopes. 51—William Eagan. 52—Christopher Preucil. 57—Dylan Carroll. 58—Chase Caulkins. 59—William Nero. 61—Brandon Barry.
J4 girls: 2—Delaney Willey. 8—Nina Hirner. 10—Jessie Jarvis and Hannah Rudolph. 13—Alexi Fitch. 15—Gracie Brown. 16—Halsey Pierce. 23—Ali Levy. 27—Hannah Lynch. 28—Kyra Wiethorn. 31—Erin Murphy. 33—Marly Morgus. 37—Sierra Fox. 42—Josie Dawson.
J5 boys (9-10): 1—Connor Farrow. 4—Adam Brown. 5—Kipling Weisel. 6—K.J. Savaria. 8—Zack Freeman. 9—Cole Caulkins. 10—Blake Jarvis. 14—Christopher Nalen. 17—Colin Waycott. 19—Karl Wilander. 22—K.C. McGee. 23—Ben Kanellitsas. 27—Jack Allenbaugh. 28—Michael Weaver.
J5 girls: 2—Amanda Stelling. 3—Nicole Roos. 4—Sloan Storey. 8—Marlow Mizer. 11—Grace Eagan. 12—Morgan Jones. 14—Natalie Bunting. 16—Emily Gillespie.
J6 boys (8-and-under): 4—Tanner Josey. 8—Will Harder.
LONNIE BASOLO GS
J4 boys (11-12): 1—Tanner Farrow. 8—Bergen Palmer. 15—Miles Sweek. 20—Harlan Collins. 22—William Eagan. 30—Tyler Davis. 34—Rory Lynch. 39—Jordan Levin. 40—Jake Freeman. 48—Conner Bennett. 49—Hunter Weaver. 56—Zachary Israel. 58—Brandon Barry. 60—Jacob Korobkin. 62—Tim Kanellitsas. 70—Dylan Carroll. 71—Christopher Preucil. 73—Alec Demetre. 75—Gardner Cord. 76—Kyle Hoopes.
J4 girls: 3—Delaney Willey. 5—Hannah Rudolph. 7—Nina Hirner and Halsey Pierce. 11—Gracie Brown. 12—Erica Eshman. 13—Alexi Fitch. 18—Kyra Wiethorn. 20—Ali Levy. 25—Marly Morgus. 27—Erin Murphy. 32—Emma Wilander. 37—Josie Dawson. 40—Hannah Lynch.
J5 boys (9-10): 2—Connor Farrow. 4—Kipling Weisel. 5—Adam Brown. 8—K.J. Savaria. 9—Zack Freeman. 11—Cole Caulkins. 13—Blake Jarvis. 19—Christopher Nalen. 20—Ben Kanellitsas. 21—Reed Matthews. 24—Colin Waycott. 26—Karl Wilander. 28—K.C. McGee. 29—Jack Allenbaugh. 31—Michael Weaver.
J5 girls: 1—Nicole Roos. 3—Amanda Stelling. 4—Sloan Storey. 5—Teagen Palmer. 11—Marlow Mizer. 12—Emily Gillespie. 15—Morgan Jones. 18—Natalie Bunting. 19—Grace Eagan. 22—Spencer Thomas.
J6 boys (8-and-under): 3—Tanner Josey. 9—Will Harder.
