Tanner Farrow is not likely to forget his 18th birthday on Saturday, May 21. The day before he blew out the candles on his celebratory cake his wish had already come true—becoming a bona fide member of the U.S. Alpine Ski Team.
Farrow is the first alpine designate from the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) since Clic Bloomfield made the U.S. squad in 1996.
He joins a long and illustrious U.S. Ski Team list including Olympians Christian Cooper, Picabo Street, Reggie Crist, Susie Patterson, Pete Patterson, Abbi Fisher-Gould and Megan Gerety.
Nominations for a few of the teams were publicized this month, with 2011-12 squads to be officially announced Nov. 5, according to Tom Kelly, vice-president of media relations for the U.S. Ski Team.
With Farrow's nomination to the U.S. Development Team, the SVSEF has at least one alumni or current member representing the U.S. in every discipline. Morgan Arritola and Simi Hamilton are on the cross-country team, Kaitlyn Farrington and Graham Watanabe on the snowboard team, and Shane Cordeau on freestyle.
Farrow, a senior at Hailey's Wood River High School and member of last fall's varsity football team there, is the son of Jill Farrow of Hailey and Jeff Farrow of Bellevue.
He has been a member of the SVSEF since 2001, when Tanner started in the Devo Program with head coach Doran Key. Farrow is currently a member of the SVSEF Olympic Development Team, which is designed to promote talented young skiers to national and international success.
Among his racing successes this past winter were a slalom victory in January's Laura Flood Memorial at Sun Valley; three podiums including a slalom win at the Western Region FIS Junior Championships at Bogus Basin in March; and a third-place slalom result at the Western Region Devo Tech Series March 17 in Park City.