Sun Valley’s Taylor Cooper, a second-year U-16 racer, won Saturday’s Cheeso Memorial slalom on Baldy’s Cozy ski run by a hefty 1.71-second margin. Courtesy photo by Heather Black, Heather Black Photography |
Two Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation alpine racers and two Canadians earned the overall titles of the Laura Flood/Allan Patterson Memorial U-21 and U-18 giant slalom and slalom series Saturday through Monday on Baldy.
Sun Valley’s Jordan Fitzgerald, third after the first run, won Saturday’s Patterson GS by .55 seconds with a blistering second run. Fitzgerald, 16, won the women’s Patterson overall title and cracked the top 10 in the Flood GS/SL combo event.
Canadian Megan Henkelman, 17, the racer who placed second to Fitzgerald Saturday, won Laura Flood combined honors by winning both the Sunday GS and Monday SL.
Sun Valley’s U-18 Kipling Weisel, 17, came on like gangbusters with a second place in Monday’s slalom to win the Laura Flood men’s title. He won the U-18 slalom. Weisel was 17th overall in Saturday’s GS and rose to sixth Sunday.
The Patterson Memorial men’s overall winner was Bryan Cookson, 18 of Rowmark (Utah) Ski Academy and the Vernon Ski Club. He led both runs Saturday to win going away by 1.61 seconds over Park City’s Daniel Demschar.
Other SVSEF/SVSA podiums included Sofi Leroux third overall and first U-21 in Monday’s slalom; Kyla Miller second overall and second U-18 Sunday, third U-18 in slalom; Ali Gunesch second U-18 Saturday GS; and Mackenzie Bachmeier third U-18 GS.
KJ Savaria had the second-best slalom time in Monday’s second run to place fourth overall and second in U-18.
The 23rd annual Flood Memorial presented by the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation honored the memory of the Sun Valley racer who died in 1990 at age 19. Her brother Randy Flood presented the silver platters to the winners.
Saturday’s GS opener was run as the Allan Patterson Memorial remembering the promising Hailey downhiller who died in 1977 at age 20.
There were 46 women in the Flood/Patterson, 10 coming from the SVSEF and Sun Valley Ski Academy. There were 77 men including 12 from the SVSEF in the three-race series.
Competing in the Senior Class, Jasmine Campbell placed 20th and 17th overall in the Patterson/Flood GS events.
Here are local SVSEF class placings starting with Saturday’s Patterson GS and continuing with Flood GS/SL Sunday/Monday:
· U-21 men: Christopher Nalen 12-GS, 14-GS, DNF-SL.
· U-21 women: Sofi Leroux DNF-GS, 1-GS (6th overall), 1-SL (3rd overall); Ali Gunesch 2-GS, 2-GS (7th overall), 4-SL; Taylor Gilliam 6-GS, DNF-GS, DNS 2nd run SL.
· U-18 men: Kipling Weisel 10-GS, 4-GS (6th overall), 1-SL (2nd overall); Ben Kanellitsas 6-GS, DNF-GS, 7-SL; Parker Scott 8-GS, DNF-GS, 14-SL; KJ Savaria 9-GS, DNF-GS, 2-SL (4th overall); Marc Leroux 11-GS, DNF-GS, 13-SL; William Harder 14-GS, 13-GS, DNF-SL; Logan Shipley 16-GS, 12-GS, DNF-SL; Cole Caulkins 19-GS, 15-GS, DNF-SL; Garrett Lodge DNF-GS, 11-GS, 6-SL; Payton Anderson DNF-GS, 16-GS, 17-SL; and Tanner Josey DNF-GS, DQ-GS, 10-SL.
· U-18 women: Jordan Fitzgerald 1-GS (1st overall), 6-GS, 6-SL; Mackenzie Bachmeier 3-GS (3rd overall), 4-GS, 7-SL; Kyla Miller 4-GS (4th overall), 2-GS (2nd overall), 3-SL; Jenna Lou Jansky 7-GS, 7-GS, 23-SL; Linnea Baysinger 9-GS; and Veronica Gaspar 15-GS, 16-GS, 16-SL.
Cheeso Memorial results
SVSEF racer Samantha Busby and Alexander Birkner of the Beaver Mountain (Utah) Ski Team won overall honors of the Cheeso Memorial U-16 (ages 14-15) qualifying races Saturday through Monday on Cozy, Hemingway and Greyhawk.
Busby won Monday’s GS finale by .78 seconds over teammate Haley Cutler, and Busby was second in Sunday’s slalom. Cutler had a fine series as well, with seconds in Saturday’s SL and Monday’s GS.
Among the boys, SVSEF’s Taylor Cooper captured Saturday’s slalom by nearly two seconds, Austin Savaria was third in Sunday’s slalom and Stockton Troyer second in GS.
There were 61 boys and 49 girls in the Cheeso, including 27 from the SVSEF/SVSA.
In its second year, the Cheeso Memorial saluted Craig "Cheeso" Kjesbo. He fought a brave three-year battle with cancer before passing away in Jan. 2009 at 57. For 26 years, he was one of the best and most influential SVSEF coaches.
Local SVSEF class placings and finishes by race and day:
· U-16 boys: Taylor Cooper 1-SL (1st overall), DNF-SL, DNF-GS; Austin Savaria 5-SL, 3-SL (3rd overall), 6-GS; Emmett Say 10-SL, 12-SL, 15-GS; Jay Fitzgerald 11-SL, 10-SL, DSQ-GS; Yuri McClure 14-SL, 15-SL, 12-GS; Wyatt Smith 21-SL, 23-SL, 19-GS; Tanner Riedel 23-SL, 13-SL, DNF-GS; John Blackburn 27-SL, 26-SL, 28-GS; Travis Flynt 30-SL, 38-GS; Duncan Fuller DNF-SL, 19-SL, 14-GS; Trenor Gould DSQ-SL, 6-SL, 17-GS; Gavin Shipley DNF-SL, DSQ-SL, DNF-GS; Griffin Curtis DNF-SL, DNF-SL, DNF-GS; Stockton Troyer DNF-SL, DNF-SL, 2-GS; Will Snyder DNF-SL, 32-SL, 8-GS; Patrick Riedinger DNF-SL, DNF-SL, 31-GS.
· U-16 girls: Haley Cutler 2-SL (2nd overall), DNF-SL, 2-GS (2nd overall); Samantha Busby DSQ-SL, 2-SL (2nd overall), 1-GS (1st overall); Madison Milgard 10-SL, 10-SL, 5-GS; Olivia Wentzell 12-SL, DNF-SL; Josie Allison 16-SL, 24-SL, DNF-GS; Margot Griffith 17-SL, 12-SL, 20-GS; Alexandra Black 19-SL, 15-SL, 22-GS; Poppy Ellie Vorse 21-SL, 21-SL, DNF-GS; Royce Rheinschild DNF-SL, 10-GS; Carolina Mahedy DSQ-SL, DNF-SL, 36-GS; Grace Palmer DSQ-SL, 29-SL, 31-GS.
Podium skiers from the Sun Valley Ski Education Founda-tion included Haley Cutler (left) and Samantha Busby. Express photo by Willy Cook |