Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Medals galore to Masters at Big Sky

At USSA Skier?s Edge Alpine Nationals


Ketchum?s Bob Dreyer winning the national giant slalom at Big Sky, Mt.

It was a productive week for local Polebangers and Masters alpine ski racers on hard, fast snow conditions at Big Sky, Mt. March 12-16.

At Big Sky the 2007 USSA Skier's Edge Alpine Masters National Championships were staged for 250 competitors from all U.S. regions.

The 2007 nationals ended up to be a four-event championship with the downhill finals for 224 racers starting the week March 12. The combined titles were determined on the basis of finishes in the national super giant slalom, GS and SL races.

Rocky Mountain, with a relatively small number of 14 racers, won the Division's Cup title and the Intermountain Division was third.

One of the top Rocky Mountain racers was Carol Levine, regarded as the best female ski racer on Baldy in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She won the giant slalom and slalom events in Class 7 (ages 55-59).

Intermountain including Sun Valley did very well.

Bob Dreyer was the combined gold medalist in Men's Class 7 with a clean sweep—first places in SG, GS and SL along with a class victory in Big Sky downhill.

He was one of only nine racers at nationals with triple class wins for the week. Dreyer captured the gold in the season-long Molecule F Speed Series.

Dreyer dedicated his racing week to the memory of longtime friend and fellow Masters racer Gary Loritz, who died the morning of the national downhill of Lou Gehrig's disease.

Local Sun Valley Masters boasted five combined gold medals, one silver and three bronze medal finishes in combined. They picked up 16 gold medals in individual events in their classes, plus 12 silvers.

Virginia Reed, Carl Fullman, Glenn McConkey and Chris Katzenberger joined Dreyer with combined golds.

Silver combined finishers included Nancy Auseklis and Keith Thompson. Bob Sarchett, Joanne Davis and Kim Cathleen Verde took the bronze medals for combined.

Fourth place in combined went to Anna Droege, while Cliff Cunha as fifth in combined and Nancy Dreyer sixth.

There were 115 competitors, 91 men and 24 women, in the Big Sky downhill that kicked off the national championships Monday, March 12.

Leading Sun Valley overall skiers in DH were Bob Dreyer 13th and Nancy Auseklis 12th.

Dreyer won the downhill gold in his class. So did Auseklis, Glenn McConkey and Rosemary Moschel while Carl Fullman captured the DH silver in his men's 70-74 age class.

Ketchum's John Campbell also enjoyed a good nationals, taking two silvers in a very tough Men's Class 4 behind class leader Tim Hill (PNSA).

Unfortunately both Ed Fenwick and Jackson Allred were injured in downhill training.

Here is a breakdown by race for local skiers at the national championships:

Men's Class 12 (ages 80-84): John Droege 4-SG and 6-SL.

Women's Class 11 (75-79): 1—Virginia Reed 1-SG, 2-GS and 1-SL.

Men's Class 11: 7—Drury Cooper 9-SG, 7-GS and 7-SL; Harry Baxter 4-DH and 4-SG.; Jim Tallackson 6-GS.

Women's Class 10 (70-74): 3—Joanne Davis 3-SG, 3-GS and 3-SL.

Men's Class 10: 1—Carl Fullman 2-DH, 2-SG, 3-GS and 1-SL; Rolf Funk 4-DH.

Women's Class 9 (65-69): 2—Nancy Auseklis 1-DH, 2-SG, 2-GS and 1-SL. 4—Anna Droege 4-SG, 5-GS and 4-SL; and Carol Whelan 5-SG, 4-GS and DNF-SL.

Men's Class 9: Ned Dolan 6-SG; Stephen Slivinski 7-DH, DNF-SG, 7-GS and 10-SL; Keith Thompson 2-DH, 1-SG, 5-GS, 2-SL.

Women's Class 8 (60-64): 1—Glenn McConkey 1-DH, 1-SG, 1-GS and 1-SL; Meri Stratton 2-DH and 3-GS.

Men's Class 8: 3—Bob Sarchett 7-SG, 2-GS and 8-SL; Keith McCauley 4-GS and 3-SL; Royal McClure DSQ-SG, DNF-GS and 6-SL.

Women's Class 7 (55-59): 3—Kim Cathleen Verde 3-DH, 3-SG, 6-GS and 6-SL; Carol Levine 1-GS and 1-SL; Rosemary Moschel 1-DH, DNF-SG, 3-GS and 2-SL; Linda Wagner DNF-SG, 4-GS and 4-SL.

Men's Class 7: 1—Bob Dreyer 1-DH, 1-GS, 1-SG and 1-SL.

Women's Class 6 (50-54): 6—Nancy Dreyer 7-SG, 6-GS and 5-SL.

Men's Class 6: 5—Cliff Cunha 6-GS, 9-SG and 4-SL; Ken Dreyer 4-DH, 3-GS, 1-SG and DNF-SL.

Men's Class 5 (45-49): Richard Slabinski 4-DH and 10-GS.

Women's Class 4 (40-44): 1—Chris Katzenberger 2-SG, 2-GS and 1-SL.

Men's Class 4: John Campbell 2-SL and 2-GS.




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