Sun Valley Storm wins again
The Sun Valley Storm eighth-grade girls' basketball season (18-7) came to a victorious end last weekend in Boise—the second tournament victory this season for the girls. They clinched the eighth grade championship beating the Idaho Flash 38-33 and Idaho Speed 56-33. On the squad coached by Bruce Bowers and Russ Dion were Tristin Bowers, Cookie Benson, Emilee Dion, Haylee Thompson, Cheyenne Swanson, Haillie Taylor, KT Martinez, and Megan Morrell.
Mini World Cup winds up for SVSEF "C" Home Team
The Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation's "C" Home Team Mini Cup season wrapped up Saturday with giant slalom racing on Baldy.
Top girls' and boys' GS: 1—Haley Cutler 44.23 and Jay Fitzgerald 43.17. 2—Madison Milgard 46.46 and Eli Conrad 44.31. 3—Josie Allison 46.53 and Austin Savaria 44.44. 4—Lexie Black 46.57 and Emmet Say 44.88. 5—Samantha Busby 46.65 and Griffin Curtis 45.29.
Overall winners for the season were Haley Cutler and Austin Savaria. The top five:
Girls: 1—Haley Cutler 69 points. 2—Josie Allison 64. 3—Madison Milgard 62. 4—Samantha Busby 50. 5—Julia Vorsteveld 42.
Boys: 1—Austin Savaria 124 points. 2—Will Long 116. 3—Jay Fitzgerald 114. 4—Emmet Say 107. 5—Taylor Cooper 102.
Lacrosse debuts in Pocatello
The Wood River Warriors opened the lacrosse season with a doubleheader against Pocatello Saturday.
Pocatello breezed to an 18-7 win in the opener. Luke McNees scored three goals and David Dredge tallied two. In the nightcap, the Warriors shutout Pocatello in the first frame, but were narrowly beaten, 7-6. Doogie King scored twice. Goalie Daniel Cortez finished with 26 saves.
Gymnasts third at state
Six Wood River Gymnastics Academy girls ranging in age from 10-14 saved some of their best performances of the season for Saturday's Idaho State Gymnastics Championships in Boise. Coach Andrea Minnick was proud of the Hailey girls.
Wood River placed third as a team among 12 teams in the Small Team Level 4 Division at Boise. In all, there were 184 gymnasts on 17 Idaho teams at the one-day Stars of Idaho contest staged at Expo Idaho.
Alma Stosius, 13, and Jennie Williams, 13, earned USA Gymnastics Idaho All-State awards for their all-around scores that exceeded 36.
Vault champion with a score of 9.7, Stosius finished second in all-around at 37.775 (2nd floor 9.475, 2nd bars 9.4 and 2nd beam 9.2). Williams was third in all-around at 36.9 (3rd beam 9.05, 3rd floor 9.3, 3rd bars 9.35 and 6th vault 9.2).
Other results: Sara Runkel, 11, fourth all-around 35.5 (3rd floor 9.0, 5th bars 8.95, 4th beam 8.5 and 8th vault 9.05); Kalli Smith, 14, fifth all-around 35.35 (4th vault 9.3, 4th bars 9.3, 5th beam 8.25 and 6th floor 8.5);
Callie Weber, 12, eighth all-around 33.8 (8th vault 8.6, 7th bars 8.45, 8th beam 8.05 and 5th floor 8.7; and Riley Boice, 10, 10th all-around 31.75 (9th vault 8.85, 11th bars 7.65, 11th beam 7.1 and 9th floor 8.15).
Minnick said, "I am proud of how hard our gymnasts competed and it really showed the progress we have made since we began this competitive team in September. I am most proud of what the girls have shown in their character and individual goals they've accomplished."
Check the April 23 Local Life section for a team photo.
"Hutch Cup" playoffs
The "Hutch Cup" Senior Hockey League B+ Playoffs are down to the "Final Four" after Sunday night's game won by the Blues 4-1 over the Sharks at Sun Valley Skating Center. Doug Wilson (2 goals), Sean Murphy and Nic Thomas scored for the Blues. Rob Prew got the Sharks on the board.
Here are the match-ups for the "Hutch Cup" semi-finals:
Sunday, April 6: 6 p.m., Blues vs. top-seeded Canadiens; and at 7:15 p.m., Hutch's Bad Dogs vs. Bruins.
The losers will play in the consolation game April 13 at 6 p.m. and the winners aim for the "Hutch Cup" April 13 at 7:15 p.m. The "B+ League" party will be held afterwards.
Hawaiian Nationals April 5
The Sun Valley Telemark Series Hawaiian Nationals and Tandem Telemark Challenge is ready to roll Saturday, April 5 on the Warm Springs side of Baldy. Series director Danny Walton said, "This is truly the greatest show on snow!"
The final day of the 28th annual Sun Valley Telemark Series will feature four events on Baldy. They are the Smoky Mountain Outfitters Hawaiian Nationals Dual Giant Slalom; the Swany Tandem Telemark Challenge featuring teams of two completing a course on one pair of telemark skis; the Columbia Telemark Parade; and the freeheellife.com Rail Jam.
Participants are encouraged to dress in Hawaiian-inspired costumes. The post-race party will feature a barbecue, giveaways, charity raffle and music by DJ Wake. Race day registration is from 9-10 a.m. at Warm Springs Lodge with racing getting started at 10:30 a.m.
Sign-ups for baseball and softball April 9
The Wood River Baseball and Softball Association is having sign ups for all divisions on Wednesday, April 9 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at The Community Campus in Hailey.
Registration will occur along with Blaine County Recreation District baseball and softball sign ups that evening.
For Wood River baseball the divisions are All-Stars (ages 9-12), Babe Ruth (13-15) and American Legion (16-18). Softball divisions are U16 (16-and-under) U14 (14-and-under) and U12 (12-and-under).
The spring and summer leagues are for youth ages 9-18 interested in playing baseball and softball at a competitive level. Come to registration or visit woodriverbaseball.com.
For other questions call Buffy Brunker at 720-1998 or Val Seamons at 721-7413.
Hirner just misses J2 podium
Hailey Ski Team J2 (ages 15-16) alpine ski racer Nina Hirner had a promising week of technical results during the Western Region FIS (International Ski Federation) Finals at Park City March 27-30.
The 15-year-old cracked the top 20 overall in her class in each race of the four-event series for 56 of the best Western Region 15-to-17 year-olds. And Hirner did the best in giant slalom Thursday and Friday on CB's run at Park City.
Thursday, she placed 11th overall and seventh in among J2s. Friday, Hirner climbed to seventh overall and fourth among the J2 girls in GS. In the weekend slaloms, Hirner was 19th and 28th overall, 13th and 19th among J2 girls.
Three Sun Valley racers, Gregory Roos, 17, Tyler Davis, 16, and Jake Freeman, 15, were among 87 boys competing in the four-race series.
In J2 Roos was 15th and 21st in GS, 18th and DNF in SL; Davis was 20th and 28th GS, 26th and 42nd in SL; and Freeman placed 38th and 39th GS, 32nd and 32nd in SL.
Juniors at Mt. Bachelor
Local J1 (17-19) and J2 racers competed in Western Region Junior Championships March 29-31 at Mt. Bachelor, Ore.
Michael Radford, 16, did the best. He claimed a third-place podium and 11th overall of 82 finishers in Sunday's super giant slalom and came back Monday to win the J2 giant slalom, in seventh overall.
Other results: J2 Bergen Palmer, 15, was 35-SG/4-GS (20th overall); J2 Scott Smith, 16, was 31-SG; J2 Willie Adicoff, 16, was 24-GS; J1 Alisa Durkheimer, 18, was 7-SG/10-SG/6-SL (17th overall); and J2 Bailey Ireland, 17, was 44-SG/32-SG/18-SL (26th overall).
Men's slalom and women's GS wrapped it up Tuesday.
Cordeau fourth at U.S. Nationals
The best freestyle skiers in the nation let the phat out of the bag at the Sprint U.S. Freestyle Championships at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, March 27-30.
To earn a berth at nationals, racers had to be ranked in the top 50 in the nation in their respective discipline, or a member of the U.S. Ski Team.
Shane Cordeau of Ketchum, son of noted skiers Joey and Barb, just missed the podium. He finished fourth in dual moguls Sunday. Cordeau was fifth after the first run in moguls and finished 11th overall.
Austin Bourret of the Sun Valley Ski Team soared to 10th in Thursday's aerials. U.S. member Ryan St. Onge (Winter Park, Colo.) came from behind to with a stunning second jump to edge teammate Scotty Bahrke of Tahoe City, Calif.
Sun Valley's Zana Davey was the second place Intermountain skier in the mogul event, finishing 27th. "That's really great for a J3," coach John Zuck said.
Anita Vorsteveld competed in aerials and halfpipe. Hannah Haupt qualified for the event, but opted to go on vacation with her family.
Students can take physicals April 30 in Hailey
Middle school and high school students in Blaine County can take advantage of an annual event in April that fulfills the requirement of having to take a physical examination before taking part in athletics.
After school on Wednesday, April 30, local physicians and health care professionals will volunteer their time to give physicals for Blaine County middle school and high school athletic programs.
The physicals will be given at the high school gym in Hailey, at 5:30 p.m. for students with last names beginning A through I, at 6 p.m. for students J-R and 6:30 p.m. for S-Z.
Wood River High activities director John Rade said, "Physicals are required to play athletic events.
"At the high school level, the Idaho High School Activities Association requires incoming freshmen to take a physical examination prior to competing in athletic activities. Physicals are good for two years. It requires student athletes to get another physical their junior year.
"The cost of these physicals is very expensive not to mention all the other costs associating with playing sports. But once again our medical community is stepping up and volunteering their time to offer physical examinations at Wood River High School for $15. All money raised will be returned to the student's school.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for parents or legal guardians to have their child examined by quality physicians who live in the valley—at a very low cost."
You must bring the following to the April 30 physicals: The $15 fee (fee waiver forms will be made available if needed); immunization records; and an Idaho health examination and consent form with the signature of the parents or guardians. The forms are available at schools.
Contact Nancy Porterfield, R.N. South Central Public Health at 788-4335 for further questions.
The Sun Valley Storm. Top from left, coach Bruce Bowers, Tristin Bowers, Cookie Benson, Emilee Dion, Haylee Thompson and coach Russ Dion. Front, from left, Cheyenne Swanson Haillie Taylor, KT Martinez, and Megan Morrell.
