Sundali hired as SVSEF Devo director
The Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation announced Monday that Alexandra (Alex) Sundali has accepted the organization's position of Development Director. She replaces Karoline Droege, who will stay on the SVSEF marketing team.
In a press release, the SVSEF said, "Alex brings an extensive background in management and fundraising from her previous professional career. That was Administrator and Manager for Hull Family Foundation and Matlock Capital, both based in Chicago with offices in Ketchum.
"She has volunteered on numerous non-profit boards and foundations in the Wood River Valley during her 30 years as a resident." Sundali also served on the Blaine County School District Board of Trustees and was its chair.
Her sons, Taylor and Daniel Sundali, participated on the SVSEF Cross Country Team. Sundali said, "I'm looking forward to the opportunity to work with the SVSEF Board of Directors and the SVSEF community as the Foundation begins preparing to celebrate 50 years of service to Blaine County's children."
Christmas Classic Nordic race is coming Monday
It's an unusual day for a cross-country ski race, but the Christmas holiday dictates just about everything in the Wood River Valley—and Nordic races fall into that broad category.
The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association sanctioned Christmas Classic races have been scheduled for Monday, Dec. 27 at the Lake Creek trail system north of Ketchum.
Presented by the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation's Junior Nordic ski team, the annual race event will have terrific snow this year. Courses will measure 10 kilometers, 5k, 3k, 2k and 1k. Registration is from 9-10:30 a.m. Monday with racing at 11 a.m. Check the Web site svsef.org for details.
Hailey's Aimee Evans earns post-season soccer honor
Chapman University sophomore soccer forward Aimee Evans of Hailey has been named Co-Offensive Player of the Year by the Association of Division 3 Independent Schools.
Evans (12 goals, 4 game winners, .592 shots on goal percentage) led the Panthers to their first post-season appearance since 2004. The former Wood River High School star tied for her team's point scoring leadership with 26. It's the first time a Chapman women's player has earned the national Offensive Player of the Year honor. Evans shared the Offensive Player of the Year honor with Ally Brown (10 goals, 14 assists) of Lancaster Bible College in Pennsylvania. Brown led the Chargers to third place in the NCAA Division 2 tournament.
Arritola 19th in career best World Cup finish
Amidst fresh snow the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team's Liz Stephen of East Montpelier, Vt. and Morgan Arritola of Sun Valley skied to career best finishes with 18th and 19th in the women's 15-kilometer mass start event of Saturday's FIS Cross Country World Cup at La Clusaz, France.
Stephen, 23, and Arritola, 24, worked together to gain ground, especially in the last half of the freestyle race. According to U.S. Coach Matt Whitcomb, the duo met up at about six kilometers and helped each other throughout the mass start race. Stephen finished in 45:30 and Arritola just behind in 45:30.5. They were three minutes behind the winner.
"Liz had a poor start out of the stadium—she was second to last out of the gates. But when they met up they skied together, pushing each other, as they have done a million times," said Whitcomb. "I am so proud of these gals, most of all they were patient out there, and they worked together."
Norway's Marit Bjoergen (42:29) continued her string of victories by taking the women's 15k, with Justyna Kowalcyzk of Poland a close second in a sprint finish. It was Bjoergen's 42nd World Cup victory, tying her legendary Norwegian Bente Skari. Bjoergen remains the overall World Cup leader for the 2010-11 season.
Midgets post two shutouts in Boise league
The Sun Valley Midgets high school hockey team added two more wins in the Boise league with an 8-0 win over Centennial Dec. 10 and another shutout, this one by a 7-0 score over Bishop Kelly Dec. 18.
Sun Valley dominated throughout, out-shooting Centennial 44-5 and Bishop Kelly 38-5. Goalie Cassidy Carson earned the shutout against Centennial while goalie Cody Levitan and Carson shared the netminding chores in the Bishop Kelly game.
Forward Tony Martin tallied the three-goal hat trick against Bishop Kelly. Scoring two goals apiece for Sun Valley against Centennial were Charlie Evans and Ian Murphy, while Parker Weekes added four assists.
Here are Sun Valley statistics for the two games: Tony Martin 4 goals/2 assists; Doug King 2/3; Parker Weekes 1/4; Cooper Hanley 2/2; Thomas Heinrich 1/3; Charlie Evans 2/1; Ian Murphy 2/1; Mason Noyes 0/3; Drew Barsch 0/1; and Rickie Jeneson 1/0. Davis Hague and Riley Sibbach also played.
Next game is Jan. 7.
Women's hockey with Park City
Five Star Ketchum Design women's ice hockey players went 2-1-1, ripped off 92 shots in four games and placed third of six teams during a Dec. 11-12 tournament at Park City, Utah. Goalie Danae Commons (57 saves) posted a pair of shutouts by 5-0 and 4-0 scores over the Jackson Hole (Wyo.) B Team. Five Star also tied the Durango (Colo.) Hellcats 1-1. Top point-getters for Ketchum coached by Nicole Perkins were Dotty Hand-Sarchett (3 goals/1 assist) and Annie O'Sullivan (2/1).
Farrington third in Breckenridge superpipe finals
On her 21st birthday Saturday, Bellevue's Kaitlyn Farrington placed third in the women's snowboard superpipe finals of the Winter Dew Tour's Nike 6.0 Open at Breckenridge, Colo. With a score of 74.25, the reigning Winter Dew Tour queen from Sun Valley finished behind winner Queralt Castellet of Spain (85.25) and runner-up Elena Hight of South Lake Tahoe, Ca. (80.50). The competition was the first of three 2010-11 Winter Dew Tour stops along with the Jan. 20-23 races at Killington, Vt. and the Toyota Championships Feb. 10-13 at Snowbasin in Ogden, Utah.
B, B+ Hockey results
Results reported from Sunday's senior hockey games at Sun Valley Skating Center:
Hawks 4, Flyers 2: Reed Stokes and Ned Wheeler each tallied two goals for the winning Hawks, and Eric Kafka and Mike Hanson were the Flyers goal scorers;
Blues 3, Coyotes 2: The Blues got goals from Jody Zarkos, Hannah Carr and Jimmy Rollerson in their win, with assists going to Carr and Edith Iler. Will Hemmings lit the light twice for the Coyotes, assists to Dale Johnsoin and Trent Stumph;
Rangers 3, Vipers 3 (tie): Scott Seaward, Kainoa Lopez and Brad Musbach scored for the Rangers, with assists to Rod Watson, John Heinrich and Christl Holzl. Jim Laski accounted for two Vipers goals and Shaun Kelly had one, with Tim Jeneson getting an assist;
Isles 4, Hutch's Bad Dogs 0: Rob Prew, Eric Wingard, Jeff Ballou and Tony Mallane got the Isles on the board, helped by assists off the sticks of Todd Avison, Jim Slanetz and Jay Hedrick;
Sharks 5, Senators 4: Todd Avison (2 goals), Alex Baron, Brian Dirksmeier and Annie O'Sullivan scored for Sharks, assists to Gary Norbom and O'Sullivan. Scoring goals for the Nats were Bryan Speth (2), Jim Slanetz and Baba Street.
The league takes a holiday break, resuming Sunday, Jan. 2 with five games starting at 5 p.m. on resort ice.
