Wednesday, February 16, 2011

News from the slopes, bumps and Dew Tour


SVSEF alpine racers make J2 Nationals

Three Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation alpine ski racers—Teagen Palmer, Nicole Roos and Kipling Weisel—have been chosen to compete in the USSA National J2 Olympics March 4-11 at Sugarloaf, Me.

The event showcases the nation's best 15-16 year-old alpine racers.

Intermountain Cup in Utah

SVSEF J1 (ages 17-19) and J2 (15-16) alpine racers competed Saturday and Sunday at the Snowbird FIS slaloms at Snowbird Ski Resort, then went to Park City for a Intermountain Cup giant slalom Monday.

Among J2 boys, Kipling Weisel and KJ Savaria podiumed with second-place class finishes. Savaria (3rd J2 Saturday) climbed to seventh place out of 70 starters Sunday on Wilbere Ridge Race Hill. On Monday at Park City, Amanda Stelling and Savaria just missed the podium with four-place results in the J2 giant slalom.

Best-of-weekend slalom results for the 13 SVSEF racers in Utah, followed by giant slalom placings:

J1 (ages 17-19) boys' slalom: 13—Tanner Dirstine.

J1 girls SL: 12—Reta Flynt. Giant slalom: 10—Flynt.

J2 (15-16) boys SL: 2—Kipling Weisel and KJ Savaria. 4—Connor Farrow. 16—Ben Kanellitsas. 17—Colin Waycott. 20—Logan Shipley. 21—Taylor Adler. DNF—Cole Caulkins. Giant slalom: 4—Savaria. 7—Farrow. 23—Weisel. 25—Caulkins. 26—Shipley. 27—Waycott. 29—Adler.

J2 girls SL: 5—Amanda Stelling. 21—Sofia DeWolfe. 22—Petra Zeiler. Giant slalom: 4—Stelling. 27—Zeiler. 28—DeWolfe.

Sean Nurse slaloms

Twenty-three SVSEF J3 (ages 13-14) ski racers competed among 113 Intermountain kids in the Sean Nurse Memorial slaloms Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 12-13 at Snow King Resort in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

First-year J3 Haley Cutler had two excellent finishes on Cougar, in second and third place of 48 starters. William Harder, a second-year J3, made the podium with a third place Sunday, and fifth Saturday of 65.

Coach Scott McGrew said, "Our girls' team is very competitive, which is good because the bar in the Intermountain Division is set high this season. We know we have to go fast to be competitive. I'm impressed with the level of focus, energy and commitment the girls bring to the game."

Best-of-weekend results:

J3 (ages 13-14) boys: 1—William Harder. 14—Taylor Cooper. 17—Austin Savaria. 20—Tanner Josey. 23—Emmett Say. 28—Michael Levy. 29—Peter Hastings. 34—Gavin Shipley. 35—Griffin Curtis. 37—Jay Fitzgerald. 47—Elliot Lewis. 48—Carson Jones-Wilkins.

J3 girls: 2—Haley Cutler. 5—Jordan Fitzgerald. 8—Samantha Busby. 10—Josie Allison. 11—Megan Murphy. 12—Madison Milgard. 16—Olivia Wentzell. 17—Julia Vorsteveld. 22—Alexandra Black. 33—Loni Unser. DNF—Chloe Francois.

Freestylers brave the Bridger Bowl winds

Brutal side winds made for difficult competing Saturday as the Sun Valley Freestyle Team hunkered down for three days of training and racing at Bridger Bowl, Mt. The final Junior Olympics qualifying race was a major success for Sun Valley kids.

Only the girls were able to take their single moguls runs Saturday before windy conditions closed the lifts. The Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation girls did well—Morgan Shaver first overall, Claire Siderman third overall and Alysha Herich fifth.

Sun Valley's boys got their chance to race Sunday. Five placed in the top 10—Trevor Norris third, RJ Bracken sixth, Zac Siele eighth, Parker Page ninth and Luke Robertson 10th. Wilson Dunn finished 11th, Lukas Best 14th and Alec Poster 16th overall.

In girls' dual moguls, Herich finished third and Siderman seventh. The guys showed the course who was boss as well. Norris continued his climb in the USSA ranks with his third podium. He finished second losing a close dual with Carson Bockhahn. Parker Page was seventh and RJ Bracken eighth.

Next freestyle stops are divisional championships March 3-6 at Park City Mountain Resort in Utah followed by Junior Olympics March 7-15 at Steamboat Springs, Colo.

The Freestyle Team will participate in Sun Valley Team Trials Sunday, Feb. 20 on Baldy's Roundhouse mogul course. Training is 10:30-11:30 a.m. and racing at 12:30 p.m.

Everybody's still chasing Vermont's Kelly Clark

The 2010-11 Winter Dew Tour is history, and everybody is still chasing Kelly Clark, 27, the two-time Olympic medalist from Mount Snow, Vermont.

Clark (95.75) threw down her newly patented 1080 Saturday night to win the women's snowboard superpipe title of the Toyota Championships at Snowbasin near Ogden, Utah.

In second place was Bellevue's Kaitlyn Farrington, 21, the up-and-coming Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation alum who also finished second behind Clark at the Winter X Games at Aspen in January.

Clark, piling up 274 points including wins at Snowbasin and Killington, Vt. in January, won the Dew Tour season championship. Farrington was fifth with 236 points, but her second place for 92 points was her best of the current season.

In Friday's superpipe prelims, Clark was first of 14 qualifiers with a 96.25 and Farrington was third, 93.75. Hailey's Scotty Pike was eighth of 22 in Friday's men's superpipe prelims. Luke Mitrani of Mammoth Lakes, Ca. won both the prelims and Saturday's final.

In other Dew Tour news:

Brita Sigourney, 21, from Carmel, Ca. won Saturday's women's halfpipe skiing title with a run featuring a 900, 540, an alley-oop 540 and a 720. She is traveling and training with the SVSEF Freestyle Team.

Also competing were SVSEF athletes Tai Barrymore and Hannah Haupt. Barrymore was co-recipient of the event's "Full Throttle Award" for his massive double cork 1260s.

Over at Park City's Canyons Resort in last weekend's Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix, Vermont's Lindsey Jacobellis captured the women's snowboardcross title Saturday. Hailey's Graham Watanabe ended up eighth in the men's SBX finals, after finishing second in Friday's men's time trials.

Meanwhile, four SVSEF Snowboard Team riders traveled with coach Josh Keefer to Boreal, Ca. for the U.S. Revolution Tour last weekend.

In Thursday's superpipe Ryan Roemer placed 13th, Mal Prior 14th, Cameron St. Pierre 28th and Chase Josey 36th out of 48 competitors. In Friday's slopestyle, Josey was 25th of 74 competitors, St. Pierre 35th, Roemer 40th and Prior 67th.




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