The 2008 U.S. Alpine Ski Team was named in Park City, Utah, last Monday and Gem State racers claimed three of the 54 coveted spots.
Sun Valley native Hailey Duke was named to the women's C Team. Dane Spencer of Boise is on the men's A squad and Erik Fisher of Middleton will ski on the men's B team.
Taught to ski at age two by parents Jane and Larry, the 21-year-old Duke grabbed the attention of U.S. Ski Team coaches with a superb 2006-07 racing season. Duke stepped up on the podium 17 times (12 slalom, five giant slalom) in several high-profile events, including FIS-B, NorAms and the U.S. Championships. At the NorAm level, Duke climbed to fourth in slalom points in the last two races, winning the season finale in Panorama, B.C. She was a bronze medalist in slalom at the U.S. Championships.
After moving from the Sun Valley area, Duke began her racing career with the McCall Ski Team, but shifted to the Park City Ski Education Foundation in 2004.
Both Spencer and Fisher raced with the Bogus Basin Ski Team, and the 30-year-old Spencer returns from a 2006 life-threatening crash in a NorAm downhill in which he broke his neck and pelvis.
U.S. Alpine Director Jesse Hunt said, "The team is loaded with talent from our top athletes that have had Olympic, World Championship and World Cup success to the up-and-coming athletes that have been successful at the Europa Cup and NorAm levels and are ready to take a step up. This is a team—on both the men's and women's side—that has shown the potential to reach our goal of winning at every level."
The team is in full summer training mode and will kickoff the 2007-08 World Cup season in October. The top U.S. Ski Team stars will be showcased in early December when the World Cup arrives in North America with races at Beaver Creek and Aspen, Colorado.
Headlining the men's A Team are Bryon Friedman (Park City, Utah), Ted Ligety (Park City), Scott Macartney (Crystal Mountain, Wash.), Steven Nyman (Provo, Utah), Erik Schlopy (Park City), Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, Calif.) and Spencer.
The women's A team is comprised of Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, Calif.), Lindsey Kildow (Vail, Colo.), Caroline Lalive (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), Libby Ludlow (Bellevue, Wash.), Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, Calif.), Kaylin Richardson (Edina, Minn.), Sarah Schleper (Vail, Colo.), and Resi Stiegler (Jackson Hole, Wyo.).
