In its 41st year of competition, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association's Western Region J3 Junior Olympics (ages 13-14) and J4 (11-12) Festival wrapped up at Boise's Bogus Basin Ski Area Monday.
There were 170 elite J3s competing from the five divisions making up Western Region USSA at the three-day series. They were Intermountain, Alaska, Far West (Squaw Valley), Northern (Montana) and Pacific Northwest (Seattle area). And there were 30 elite J4 racers at Bogus.
Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation and Hailey Ski Team J3 racers who qualified for the Intermountain team to the J3 Olympics were Tanner Farrow, Miles Sweek, Connor Farrow, Harlan Collins, Tim Kanellitsas, Teagen Palmer, Nicole Roos, Amanda Stelling and Sierra Fox.
Sweek made the podium with a third place of 85 finishers in Saturday's super giant slalom on Paradise Run. Tanner Farrow was fourth of 82 finishers in Sunday's Ridge/Bowl giant slalom and eighth of 78 boys in Monday's slalom on Sourdough Run.
Cracking the top 10 in Sunday's slalom for 71 girls were first-year J3s Amanda Stelling (6th) and Nicole Roos (9th).
Rowmark Ski Academy second-year J3 Andrew Kircher dominated the boys' events with big wins in giant slalom and slalom and a second place behind Independence Race Team's Scott Snow of PNSA in Saturday's super giant slalom.
Intermountain picked up girls' wins from Emma Naatz of Snowbird (GS) and Sydney Staples of Park City (SG) to go with the slalom victory of Foreste Peterson of Squaw Valley.
SVSEF J4 racers Kipling Weisel and K.J. Savaria were two of the six Intermountain Division entrants in last week's Western Region J4 Festival at Bogus Basin. Complete results weren't available, but Weisel did place third for the bronze in Sunday's boys' giant slalom.
Here are local J3 placings:
Boys: Tanner Farrow 15-SG/4-GS/8-SL; Miles Sweek 3-SG/37-GS/DSQ-SL; Connor Farrow 26-SG/DNF-GS/49-SL; Harlan Collins 41-SG/23-GS/37-SL; Tim Kanellitsas 67-SG/81-GS.
Girls: Amanda Stelling 12-SG/6-SL/16-GS; Teagen Palmer 30-SG/25-SL/14-GS; Nicole Roos 53-SG/9-SL/46-GS.
Races coming up:
Headed to Western Region Junior Championships March 26-April 1 at Mt. Bachelor, Ore. are Michael Radford, Riley Berman, Miles Fink-Debray, Colter Brehmer, Scott Smith, Bergen Palmer, Alisa Durkheimer, Bailey Ireland and Calley Brown.
Locals qualifying for the Western Region Finals at Park City March 27-30 were Nina Hirner, Delaney Willey, Jasmine Campbell, Ali Maricich, Willie Adicoff, Gregory Roos, Tyler Davis and Jake Freeman.
