Over 70 downhill racers from Utah, Wyoming and Idaho descended on Soldier Mountain Ski Area north of Fairfield this week to bomb the brand new Snow King downhill course and make a run for the Junior Olympics.
Lauren Eder, of the Sun Valley Ski and Education Foundation, got off to another fast start by edging out Park City's Taylor Guetschow for the quickest girls' time of the day on Wednesday, the opening day of the Apples Bar and Grill Soldier Mountain Downhill, which is a USSA sanctioned event. An additional two downhill races were held Thursday (results unavailable).
The J2 alpine Junior Olympics will be held in Sun Valley, March 6-12, this year.
Local racers from the Sun Valley Ski and Education Foundation, Ketchum Alpine Racing and the Hailey Ski Team were joined by teams from Bogus Basin, Snowbird, Snowbasin, Park City, Jackson Hole, Kelly Canyon and Rowmark Ski Academy.
Eder, a J1 (17-19 year-old class) racer, recorded a time of 1 minute, 20.24 seconds. Guetschow, a J2 racer (15-16) followed with a time of 1:20.79.
On the boys' side, Sun Valley's Soren Ireland (J2) finished fourth overall with a time of 1:18.74. Ketchum Alpine Racing's Dewey Moss finished fifth overall, but first in the J1 category, with a time of 1:18.82. Blaise Swing (J2), of Snowbird, Utah, recorded the fastest boys' time of the day in 1:17.08.
Riley Berman, of Sun Valley, finished fourth in the J3 (13-14) class in 1:22.54.
Ruben Macaya, head coach of the Sun Valley Ski and Education Foundation team and chief of race for Wednesday and Thursday's donwhills, said racers and coaches responded well to the new Snow King course, which has been in the works for a year.
"Everybody liked it, especially for the first time—it had never been used," Macaya said.
The course, which drops 406 vertical meters, starts off flat before dropping into a steep bowl with big, banked turns. From there racers navigate a long sidehill traverse with rollers and drop into a final steep pitch to build speed before the final series of flats ahead of the finish.
Macaya was pleased with Eder's performance, and said Ireland, Isaacs and Michael Greer, a J2 racer who finished eighth overall in 1:19.30, boosted their chances of securing a spot in the Junior Olympics.
"It helped them a bunch," he said.
Sun Valley's Riley Berman, a J3 racer, finished 22nd overall and fourth in his class.
On the girls side, Alisa Durkheimer, of Ketchum Alpine Racing, finished 13th overall in 1:24.40. She was immediately followed by a pair of Sun Valley racers—Shanny Cohen (1:24.46) and Alexis Dupont (1:24.52). All three race in J2.
Snowbird racers dominated the first day of racing, with three girls finishing in the top five and two boys finishing in the top three.
Results
Top-five Overall
Boys
1—Blaise Swing, Snowbird, 1:17.08. 2—Gordon Chapdelaine, Jackson Hole, 1:17.52. 3—Zach Collins, Snowbird, 1:18.15. 4—Soren Ireland, Sun Valley, 1:18.74. 5—Dewey Moss, Ketchum Alpine Racing, 1:18.82.
Girls
1—Lauren Eder, Sun Valley, 1:20.24. 2—Taylor Guetschow, Park City, 1:20.79. 3—Shalaya Kipp,
Snowbird, 1:20.86. 4—Nora Nieminski, Snowbird, 1:21.14. 5—Siri Anna Wieringa, Snowbird, 1:21.43.
J1
Boys
1—Dewey Moss, Ketchum, 1:18.82. 2—Benjamin Pillmore, Park City, 1:19.02. 3—Benjamin Soderquist, Kelly Canyon, 1:19.91. 4—Derek Blash, Ketchum, 1:21.61.
Girls
1—Lauren Eder, Sun Valley, 1:20.24. 2—Nora Nieminski, Snowbird, 1:21.14. 3—Timber-Ky Jones,
Snowbasin, 1:22.55. 4—Laura Speck, Sun Valley, 1:25.10. 5—McKenna Peterson, Ketchum, 1:26.70.
6—Amanda Alexander, Sun Valley, 1:27.97.
J2
Boys
1—Blaise Swing, Snowbird, 1:17.08. 2—Gordon Chapdelaine, Jackson Hole, 1:17.52. 3—Zach Collins,
Snowbird, 1:18.15. 4—Soren Ireland, Sun Valley, 1:18.74. 5—Scott Isaacs, Sun Valley, 1:19.05. 6—Michael Greer, Sun Valley, 1:19.30. Other: 9—Toby Eagan, Ketchum, 1:21.06. 12—Tom Johanson, Sun Valley, 1:22.34. 20—Bo Brown, Sun Valley, 1:28.78.
Girls
1—Taylor Guetschow, Park City, 1:20.79. 2—Shalaya Kipp, Snowbird, 1:20.86. 3—Siri Anna Wieringa, Snowbird, 1:21.43. Other: 8—Alisa Durkheimer, Ketchum, 1:24.40. 9—Shanny Cohen, Sun Valley, 1:24.46. 10—Alexis Dupont, Sun Valley, 1:24.52. 12—Grayson Palmer, Sun Valley, 1:27.14. 14—Annie Shafran, Sun Valley, 1:38.31.
J3
Boys
1—Cole Wright, Snowbird, 1:20.85. 2—Benjamin Dann, Jackson Hole, 1:22.26. 3—Loudon Fruth, Snowbasin, 1:22.36. 4—Riley Berman, Sun Valley, 1:22.54. 5—Gregory Roos, Sun Valley, 1:24.86. Other: 8—Tanner Flanigan, Sun Valley, 1:28.43. 9—Chase Caulkins, SunValley, 1:30.68.
Girls
1—Felicia Byers, Snowbird, 1:22.01. 2—Morgan Young, Bogus Basin, 1:23.11. 3—Lauren Swanson, Bogus Basin, 1:25.12.
