C-Home Mini World Cup
The Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation held its second Mini World Cup Feb. 8 at Hailey's Rotarun Ski Area. Team France was the overall combined winner with Molly Milgard, Olivia Weisel, Tobias Verheijen, Lukas DeWolfe, Kobe Tamura, Sophia Kanellitsas and Jackson Caputo.
Top boys: 1—Hayden Cowden 28.29. 2—Wyatt Smith 28.96. 3—Will Snyder 29.92. 4—Kristian DeWolfe 30.03. 5—Trent Gerew 30.26.
Top girls: 1—Abby Norton 29.81. 2—Olivia Weisel 30.95. 3—Lauren Cord 32.02. 4—Poppy Vorse-Whittier 33.19. 5—Katelyn Rathfon 33.35.
Alexis duPont third in Telluride freeskiing
Throwing down a fast and fluid run down Telluride's cliff-riddled 13,320-foot Palmyra Peak, Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation alumni Alexis duPont scored a third-place, $1,000 finish at the fourth annual Subaru Telluride Freeskiing World Tour Qualifier staged Feb. 6-7.
DuPont, 19, a 2007 Community School graduate now skiing for the University of Colorado's freestyle ski team, was one of 15 female and 35 male competitors enduring fierce winds and iffy visibility during the first-ever Big Mountain competition on Colorado's Palmyra Peak.
The Boulder sophomore, listing her hometown as "Baldy," finished third among the women with a two-day total of 62.88 points. The winner was Claudia Bouvier of Vail, Colo. (68.50) and runner-up was Jacqui Edgerly of Aspen, Colo. (66.75).
DuPont, daughter of Chris and Holley duPont of Ketchum, will next compete on the International Free Skiers Association (IFSA) tour in the Subaru U.S. Extreme Freeskiing Championships Feb. 18-22 at Crested Butte, Colo. Last weekend's Telluride event was the first Big Mountain race for the former SVSEF alpiner, who turns 20 on Feb. 16.
Cypress mountain ski cross
Two Ketchum skiers, Langley McNeal and Biche Rudigoz, competed Friday in a FIS Freestyle World Cup ski cross on the Olympic venue at Cypress Mountain outside Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Huge fog banks moved in and out all day long.
Aspen's Casey Puckett was the top American in sixth place. McNeal (34th) and Rudigoz (45th) didn't qualify for the Top 32 finals. The winners, both Canadians, were Chris DelBosco and Aleisha Cline.
Shari Kunz takes over as WRHS cross country coach
Wood River High School activities director John Rade announced Feb. 5 that Shari Kunz will take over as the new head girls' cross country running coach at the Hailey high school, for the 2009 season. She replaces Joel Zellers, who resigned to spend more time with his family. Kunz was an assistant coach with Zellers last fall. She will join head boys' cross country coach Monte Brothwell of Belluvue to direct the Wolverine cross country program.
An avid runner, Kunz is well known locally as the founder of the Girls on the Run self-esteem running program for pre-teen girls. She and her husband Kyle are 20-year Wood River Valley residents and the parents of three children. Kunz said, "I'm excited to get to continue working with such a great age and group of kids, and helping each of them build confidence and find their own success from hard work and accomplishment."
Bergen Palmer named to IMD team
Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation alpine ski racer Bergen Palmer was named Feb. 3 to the 2009 Intermountain (IMD) Junior Team. The Community School student is one of six boys and four girls from Utah, Idaho and Wyoming named to the team based on racing results from Utah Tech Series and Big Sky speed events. IMD team members receive complimentary lifts and entries to all Intermountain Cup races through February 2010.
Chess Club goes for broke in Utah
Coach Adam Porth said the Wood River Chess Club had its best team performance since it was founded in 1998 during an open tournament Jan. 31 at Salt Lake City, Utah. All the students won trophies and earned high placements during the 12-school, 125-player meet encompassing kindergarten through high school kids. The Hailey-based team has more tournaments this month and in March capped by the state scholastic meet March 14.
Top Wood River placements from Salt Lake City: 1—Andrew Uriarte, sophomore. 2—Junior Hidalgo, Raleigh Grossbaum, Chris Ellis, Kitt Conner and Desmond Porth. 3—Nick Bruck. 4—Danny Mills and Tyler Wolfley. 5—Shane Breuss. 8—Dylan Porth.
Tollerup Cup Nordic winners at Sun Valley
JoAnn Levy and Joe Crosson were overall freestyle winners of the Feb. 4 Tollerup Cup cross-country ski event that was part of the 43rd annual Sun Valley Ski Club Reunion Week Feb. 1-6 at Sun Valley Resort.
Top placers by class were:
Classic: 1—Pat Garrett, Bonnie Brod, Marlis Carson, Jeanne Cassell, George Bailey, Joe Crosson, Tor Heyerdahl and John Carson. 2—Karen Bailey and Bill Cassell. 3—Sue Goodwin.
Skate: 1—JoAnn Levy, Joanne Davis, Patty Moulton, Lynn Bockemohle and Joe Crosson. 2—Sharon Bockemohle and Peter Wick. 3—Brack Davis.
Cyclist Benz headed to France
Ketchum bicycle racer Taylor Benz is one of four cyclists headed to France in June 2009 for a series of amateur competitions under the auspices of the Boise Development Cycling Team (BODE). The first-year program is designed to give cyclists under 23 (U-23) a chance to experience European competition.
Benz is entering his fifth year of competitive cycling for the Ketchum-based Sun Summit Cycling Team, coached by Greg Stock. Others picked by BODE include Bishop Kelly senior Dylan Jones of Boise. Benz, Jones, Chase Pinkham of Utah and Marcel DeLisser of Oregon will race as team members of VC Vernon, a regional club team in Normandy.
Bradford Cup winners are Droege and Radford
The youngest competitors prevailed in the 2009 Robert Bradford Memorial giant slalom on Baldy Feb. 3 that was a highlight of the 43rd annual Sun Valley Ski Club Reunion Week at the resort. Brilliant blue skies, warm temperatures and perfect weather greeted this year's two-run racers.
Karoline Droege, competing in the 35-39 age class, won the women's division ahead of second-place Randi Dubois and third-place Becky Reitinger. Up-and-coming FIS alpine racer Michael Radford, a speedster in the Men's Under-21 group, led the men ahead of John Campbell and John Summers.
Leif's Race celebrates its 19th running
Race organizer Jeremy Fryberger is hoping that skiers of all ages will celebrate Valentine's Day with a sweet event—the 19th running of Leif's Race that combines alpine and Nordic skiing on Saturday, Feb. 14.
Fryberger said, "It's a chance for alpine purists, free-heelers, knuckle-draggers and skinny skiers to rub shoulders with each other. It also gives them an automatic 'double'—two fun activities in one day!"
As part of its 72nd anniversary season, the Sun Valley Ski Club is presenting the giant slalom and cross-country skiing event in memory of Sweden's Leif Odmark, the longtime Sun Valley Nordic Center director who died in 2004 at age 84.
Round One is giant slalom at 10 a.m. Saturday on the Warm Springs side of Baldy. Participants can race the course on alpine, telemark or snowboard equipment. Register from 8-9 a.m. at Warm Springs Lodge.
Round Two is cross-country ski racing, classic or skate, on a 5-kilometer course at Sun Valley's new clubhouse and Nordic Center. It starts on the Trail Creek Loop promptly at 12:30 p.m. and concludes with lunch, prizes and awards.
Cost of $25 per person includes lift, trail pass and lunch. Call Gretchen Palmer at 622-3003 for more details or email sunvalskiclub@yahoo.com.
At Salmon, U-19 girls round into state shape
Tuning up for the Feb. 20-22 state tournament, the Sun Valley U-19 girls' ice hockey team went 2-1-1 and placed third in last weekend's Salmon tournament. The local girls really stepped up and played hard.
Sun Valley (15 goals weekend) defeated Missoula (Mt.) by a 4-2 score and beat the Salmon Lady Rapids 7-0. In a tough first game, the local girls tied Coeur d'Alene 3-3. The Idaho Falls Eagles handed Sun Valley its only tourney loss, 3-1.
India Emerick earned the team's tournament MVP award.
Game MVPs were defenseman Tanner Dredge (6 goals/2 assists), Daniela Stokes, Karlie Jeneson and Aimee Evans (4 goals/2 assists). Goalie Emma Wilander made 31 saves in the loss to Idaho Falls.
Other Sun Valley scorers: Maddie Miller 2/2, Ashley Hesteness 2/2, Ellie Swanson 0/2, Frannie Sensenbrenner 1/0, Morgan Pintler 0/1 and Erin Hennessy 0/1. Also skating were Nellie Brown, Elena Almquist and Kelly Hennessy.
Grumpy's stays in front in senior hockey
Senior Hockey League action picked up again with three games since Friday at Sun Valley Skating Center.
Monday night, first-place SV Auto Club/Grumpy's (7-3-0) took care of Morgan's Fine Finishes (5-4-1) by a score of 8-1.
Auto Club scorers were Rian Timmons (2 goals), Charles Friedman, John McGuone, Ryan Sutton, Rune Haavik, Mark Stone and Rod Watson. The Morgan's goal came from Dave Hennessy (Dale Johnson).
Yoga College of India (3-6-0) pulled off an upset 6-4 win over SV Auto Club/Grumpy's last Friday. Yoga rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win. Goal scorers for the winning team were Don Saver (3 goals), Zac Crist (2) and Peter Whitehead.
In another game Friday, SunValley.com (3-5-1) prevailed 5-1 over Morgan's.
Games coming up: On Thursday, Feb. 12, Yoga College vs. SunValley.com at 9:50 p.m.; and on Monday, Feb. 16, Morgan's vs. Yoga at 8:40 p.m.
Mini Cup winners at Rotarun, from left, Poppy Vorse-Whittier, Olivia Weisel, Abby Norton, Lauren Cord and Katelyn Rathfon. Photo by
