SVSEF Highlights Feb. 21-28

Winter has returned to our valley and our teams are out making the most of it! This week we had Simi and Morgan competing in the XC World Championships in Oslo, NOR, Freestylers absolutely owning the top of the podium at the Intermountain Div. Championships, young alpine racers taking advantage of their “home turf”, young XC racers traveling to the northern reaches of MT for a ski festival, speed demons racing Super-G in Brundage and Bogus and the rest of the XC ODT racing in America’s biggest ski marathon, the Birkie. Only the snowboard team had a week “off” – they travel to Park City on Tuesday. Here’s the wrap:
 
Olympic Development Team
Oslo, Norway – Morgan Arritola and Simi Hamilton have both competed in their first 2011 XC World Championship events. On 2/24 Simi qualified 29th in the Freestyle Sprint, securing a spot in the quarterfinals. He did not advance beyond the quarters, but hopes his strong qualifying position earns him a spot in the team sprint. Morgan raced in the women’s 15K pursuit on 2/26 finishing 43rd. Races continue through March 6th.  Full Results: www.fis-ski.com. More info: www.oslo2011.no/en/.
 
4 XC ODT racers travelled to Hayward, WI for the American Birkebeiner. This is the largest ski marathon held in the US each year. More than 8850 racers lined up this year, in 10 below temperatures to compete in the 50KM race. Nicole DeYong finished just 9 sec. off the podium, in 4th. Matt Gelso led the SV men in 10th, Colin Rodgers was 13th and Mike Sinnott finished 34th. There is also an elite sprint a few days before the marathon; Colin Rodgers was 3rd in the sprint!
 
Tai Barrymore won the 1/2 Pipe event at the Intermountain Div. Championships in Park City, UT (2/27). He is now packing his bags for a trip to Europe to compete in the European X Games as well as the World Cup HP Finals. He will be traveling with coach Ben Verge and skier Brita Sigourney. Here is a link to a great article about Brita in which she has some great things to say about Ben: http://www.allisports.com/winter-dew-tour/event/toyota-championship-2011/feature/brita-sigourney-raised-on-freestyle.
 
Kaitlyn Farrington is gearing up for the 2nd and final stop of the Grand Prix, in Mammoth, CA. Winning the first stop, she is poised to finish well in the overall! The Mammoth Grand Prix is March 3-5.
 
Cross Country
 
The SVSEF Devo and Prep team travelled to Whitefish, MT for the Western States Youth Ski Festival. Competition included both traditional XC racing as well as obstacle courses, bamboo forests and “dress like a super-hero day”. I’m sure we’ll hear more about this when coach Kelley Sinnott defrosts…the high on Sat. was 7.
 
The comp team is getting ready for Junior Nationals which are being held in Minneapolis, MN from Mar. 6-12. 17 SVSEF racers qualified for the Championships.
 
ALPINE
KJ Savaria has been selected, via coaches’ discretion, to compete in the J2 Nationals. He will join Teagen Palmer, Nicole Roos and Kipling Weisel. Races will be held in Sugarloaf, ME, March 4-11.
 
Tanner Farrow has been invited to participate in a US Ski Team training camp in Park City, UT from Mar. 1 – 6. He could gain a spot at the US National Championships if he is skiing well.
 
The J1/J2 Team travelled to Boise to compete in their Super-G Intermountain Div. Qualifier, the Trudi Bolinder Memorial. They raced in 3 races on Fri and Sat this last week. At the same time, the J3 Team was in McCall at the Brendan Armstrong Memorial, also a Super-G Qualifier for Junior Olympics. Top 15 results are listed. Full results: http://www.ussa-imd.org/alpine/races10/imc.htm and http://www.ussa-imd.org/alpine/races10/j3series.htm. 
 
Trudi Bolinder Memorial – top 15 results
Sierra Fox: DNF/DNF/1st Overall on 2/26
Amanda Stelling: 6th/7th/16th  – (4th/4th/9th in J2 age class)
 
Miles Sweek: 9th/DNF/DNF
Ben Kanellitsas: 10th/10th/46th  – (2nd/4th in J2 age class)
Connor Farrow: 11th/8th/8th – (3rd/2nd/2nd in J2 age class)
Harlan Collins: DNF/14th/12th 
 
Brendan Armstrong Memorial – top 15 results
Tanner Josey: 9th/8th/11th
Taylor Cooper: 11th/14th/18th
Jay Fitzgerald: 12th/16th/16th
Griffin Curtis: 25th /15th/25th
Will Harder: DNF/DNF/2nd
 
Samantha Busby: 4th/2nd/5th
Haley Cutler: 6th/4th/6th
Jordan Fitzgerald: 6th/13th/4th
Madison Milgard: 15th/14th/19th
Josie Allison: 14th/18th/14th
 
Here at home, we hosted the Monroe Cup/Lonnie Basolo Memorial for J4-J6 racers. Boys and girls from the Northern Division of Intermountain descended onto Hemingway and Cozy for 2 days of SL and GS racing. The SVSEF boys swept the J4 SL podium on Saturday while the girls swept the J5 GS podium! Top 5 results are listed below. Full results: http://www.ussa-imd.org/alpine/races10/north.htm
 
J-4 Boys (born ’98-99)
Will Snyder 1st SL/ 1st GS
Kyle Maxwell 2nd SL
Wyatt Smith 3rd SL/2nd GS
River Vorse-Whittier 5th SL
Duncan Fuller 4th GS
John Blackburn 5th GS
 
J-5 Boys (born 2000-2001)
Jake Blackburn 4th GS/1st SL
Wyatt Minor 5th GS/4th SL
Will Griffith 2nd SL
 
J-6 Boys (born 2002-03)
Buey Grossman 2nd GS/2nd SL
Fletcher Stumph 3rd GS
 
J-4 Girls (born ’98-99)
Sage Rheinschild 3rd SL/3rd GS
Kaitlyn Rathfon 4th SL/ 2nd GS 
 
J-5 Girls (born 2000-2001)
Molly Milgard 1st GS/2nd SL
Lily Fitzgerald 2nd GS/1st SL
Libby Kaiser 3rd GS
Madison Ferris 5th GS/4th SL
 
J-6 Girls (born 2002-03)
Sage Curtis 2nd GS/ 2nd SL
Marit Kaiser 3rd GS/ 4th SL
 
 
FREESTYLE
The Park and Pipe Team travelled to Park City, UT for the Intermountain Division Championships. SVSEF athletes were on top of the podium in nearly every event!!!
 
Saturday – SlopeStyle
Trevor Hattabaugh – 1st Overall (1st J2)
River Kelly – 5th J3
 
Alysha Herich – 2nd J3
Parker Nance – 3rd J4
 
Sunday – Halfpipe
Tai Barrymore – 1st Overall
Ben Parker – 4th (1st J2)
Trevor Hattabaugh – 5th (2nd J2)
River Kelly – 7th (2nd J3)
 
Hannah Haupt – 1st Overall
Alysha Herich – 3rd J3
Parker Nance – 2nd J4
 
Hannah, Ben, Trevor and Tai will be competing in Stratton, VT (end of March) at the US National Championships. Ben and Trevor will be duking it out with the nation’s best J2 skiers for a chance to represent the USA at the 2012 World Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, AUS. Only the winner of the J2’s will earn the spot!
 
SNOWBOARDING
The Snowboarding team is packing for the final Intermountain Series event of the season in Park City. Competition is March 2-6. Resutls will determine who is invited to the USASA National Championships. While in Park City, Andy Gilbert has arranged for SVSEF athletes to use the multi-million $, US Ski/Snowboard Team Center of Excellence (facility) to hone their skills. Our athletes will have a chance to work with the US Snowboarding staff on air awareness in the foam pit, on the tramps and in the skate ramps – what an awesome opportunity!
 
There’s lots going on. Please stay tuned in! I’ll hopefully have great updates from Junior Nationals next week!

SVSEF Highlights Jan. 24-30

What a week we’ve had! The SVSEF was BUSY! ‎I’m still waiting for more results, but so far we’ve got…

• 2 X-Games Silver Medals
• 2 Super Tour Wins
• 4 XC Wins at SoHo (and more podiums)
• at least 3 Wins at the Sun Valley Freestyle Spectacular with lots of other podiums
• 3 alpine podiums in Snowking (Wild West)
• 1 alpine podium in Park City (David Wright Memorial)

Olympic Development Team/Alum

The SVSEF ODT and Alumni had a great weekend of competition at the Winter-X Games in Aspen, CO. More than 40,000 fans were on hand to watch our athletes compete in their sports. The highlights were two Silver medals for SVSEF athletes. On Friday, Brita Sigourney, who is traveling and training on the road with Ben Verge (Park and Pipe, Head Coach) won Silver in the Women’s Ski Super-Pipe. On Saturday night, shown on ESPN Primetime, Sun Valley local Kaitlyn Farrington (ODT) rode the super-pipe to Silver in the Women’s snowboard competition. She was part of a historic night where the winner, Kelly Clark, landed the first ever 1080, in competition, for women snowboarders. Not to be outdone by the girls, SVSEF alum Graham Watanabe qualified for the Boarder-X heats and finished 8th, making it to the semi-finals. And alum Biche Rudigoz qualified for the Skier-X rounds to finish 24th.

Mike Sinnott (XC ODT) is in the hunt for the Overall title of the Super-Tour (finals in Sun Valley, Mar. 29 – Apr. 2). Currently in 2nd, he helped his cause this past weekend. Competing in Houghton, MI, Mike won Friday’s Classic Sprint Qualifier as well as Saturday’s 10KM Classic and was 7th in Sunday’s 15K Free (Skate). For a great story about his win on Friday: http://fasterskier.com/2011/01/sinnott-pulls-perfect-race-at-the-supertour-in-michigan/ . For complete results: www.superiortiming.com

Alpine

A few of the J1-J2 team racers are currently on the road for 2 weeks. Their competition started with the Western Region Wild West Elite FIS Series (1/27-1/30). These GS and SL races are qualifiers for the US Nationals as well as the J2 Nationals. From these races in Snowking (Jackson, WY) they will travel to Big Sky, MT for a Western Region Open Speed Series (2/1-2/6). These Downhill and Super-G races are qualifiers for J2 Nationals only.
Top results from the Wild West:

Teagen Palmer – 11th (3rd J2) GS#1; 5th (2nd J2) GS#2; 7th (2nd J2) SL#2
Tanner Farrow – 14th (9th J1) GS#1; 8th (6th J1) SL#1
Also racing: Nicole Roos, Harlan Collins, Miles Sweek, Tanner Dirstine, KJ Savaria, Ben Kanellitsas, Connor Farrow and Kipling Weisel

For complete results: www.fis-ski.com

The J3 Alpine Team traveled to Park City, UT for their Junior Olympic Qualifier, the David Wright Memorial. Top 15 results for the 2 GS races:

Jordan Fitzgerald: 4th and 2nd
Haley Cutler: 6th and 7th
Sam Busby: 7th and 5th
Josie Allison: 11th (day 2)
Maddie Milgard: 12th

Tanner Josey: 7th and 6th
Taylor Cooper: 14th (day 1)

For complete results: www.ussa-imd.org

Here are coach Scotty McGrew’s thoughts on the weekend in Park City:

“All in all I thought the weekend went pretty well. The Park City GS hill is one of the best GS hills you can find. It has steeps, flats, roll-overs, dog-legs, narrow throats, and fall-aways (just to name a few features). It is a hill that really tests you as athletes and rewards solid, courageous skiing. What I have historically witnessed on that hill is a strong showing by the SV group and this weekend was no exception. We started off the weekend by overskiing the flats and giving up precious time in the ‘easy’ sections, and executing well in the tough sections. For the most part everyone responded to the video review on Saturday evening and made some positive adjustments. It’s nice to see athletes taking information, integrating it, and then manifesting a positive response. I feel like the group skied even better on Sunday, and the results certainly showed.”

Cross-Country

As noted above, the only ODT racer competing this weekend was Mike Sinnott. The rest of the ODT Team and Mike will be racing in the Boulder Mnt. Tour this next Saturday, Feb. 5th.

The Junior Teams spent this last weekend in Soldier Hollow, UT – site of the 2002 Olympics. The races were junior national qualifiers. There was a Freestyle (Skate) Sprint on Friday followed by a Classic Race on Saturday. Top results:

Annie Pokorny: won both races for the OJ (18-19) Girls
Maggie Williams: 2nd in the sprint, 1st in Classic (5K)
Sloan Storey: 4th J1 Classic (10K)
Carrie Heagney: 2nd OJ Classic (10K)

Zach Williams: 2nd Sprint, won Classic (2K) J4 Boys
Max Christman: 3rd OJ Classic (15K)
Will Spiller: 4th OJ Classic (15K)

For complete results: www.summittiming.com

Freestyle
The SVSEF and Sun Valley Resort hosted the Intermountain Division for 4 days this past week. We couldn’t have asked for better competition conditions! 68 athletes competed in the biggest Slopestyle event ever hosted by Sun Valley on 1/27. If you were on Dollar you could have seen Trevor Hattabaugh throw a 75 foot Kangaroo (double flip) to win the boy’s J2 competition on Day 1. There were three lines on the course, one to suit every ability on the hill. The entire weekend was filled with tremendous skiing under bluebird skies. There are FABULOUS photos on Flickr.  I haven’t seen all of the results, but highlights from the two slopestyle competitions include:

Alysha Herich: 2nd J3 both events
Nance Parker: 1st and 2nd, J4

Trevor Hattabaugh: 1st and 2nd J2
Ben Parker: 2nd and 1st J2
River Kelly: 4th J3 (day 1)
Alex LaFleur: 2nd and 1st J5
Alvaro Jiraldo: 1st and 1st J4
Eli Roberts: 2nd J4 (day 1)
Blake Harmon: 3rd J5 (day 1)
Like Rizzo: 3rd J5 (day 2)

For complete results: http://intermountainfreestyle.org/blog/

Snowboard

The big news from the Snowboard Team was Kaitlyn’s Silver Medal. The rest of the team was “idle”, waiting for the home competition this next week. Due to the cancellation of a day from the Jackson event, we have added an extra day to ours.

Thurs. Feb 3 – BoarderCross #1 & BoarderCross #2 (two races on the same day)
Fri. Feb 4 – Slopestyle (makeup event)
Sat. Feb 5 – Slopestyle
Sun. Feb 6 – Halfpipe

For details on times please contact: andy@svsef.org. The BoarderCross and Slopestyle Events will be held on Dollar. The half-pipe event will be…in the half-pipe! on Baldy…

I hope to have more results about the local Freestyle Spectacular to you soon.

Also, I’ve uploaded more than 300 photos to our Flickr page this past week!

Remember to check us out:

http://www.svsef.org
http://www.facebook.com/svsef
http://www.flickr.com/sunvalleyskiteam

SVSEF Highlights Jan. 17-24

This past week we had athletes traveling the country again and we were also happy to host the first of our local “Intermountain Division” events on Baldy. Some highlights include Nicole Roos winning the combined Laura Flood Memorial Trophy, a bunch of young athletes dominating the Utah Winter Games Mogul competition at The Canyons and our XCODT athletes competing in the highly competitive world of NCAA Div. I racing at the University of Utah Invitational. Here are the details:

CROSS COUNTRY
Mike Sinnott (ODT) is currently 2nd in the overall SuperTour standings (http://www.ussa.org/magnoliaPublic/ussa/en/news/crosscountry/SuperTourCurrent.html). If he manages to win the SuperTour Overall for the season (the finals are here in Sun Valley in March / April), he will earn a funded trip to the first period of the World Cup in fall of 2011. This past weekend he raced the SuperTour in Minneapolis placing 6th in the 10K Free and 5th in the 15K Classic. His classic finish must have been insane. Only 1 second separated him from the podium and only 10 seconds from 1st! Complete Results: http://www.pttiming.com/page/show/65867-race-results
Four ODT athletes travelled to Soldier Hollow for the University of Utah Invitational and did a great job racing on the college circuit which is littered with fast American and European skiers. Nicole DeYong placed 4th twice, Matt Gelso led the men with a 3rd and 4th place. Colin Rodgers had a sizable lead in the 10K Free and then “blew up a bit” (according to coach Travis Jones) and finished 14th with a 13th in the classic race. There were quite a few former ODT athletes racing – Miles Havlick won the Men’s 10K Free. Other Sun Valley racers who are now in college were: Alexa Turzian (5th/3rd), Reid Pletcher (5th/8th), Mali Noyes (26th/DNF), Makayla Cappel (24th/18th). Complete results: www.summittiming.com
Next: JNQ Soldier Hollow 1/26 – 1/29 for Comp and Prep Team athletes. ODT getting ready for Boulder Mountain Tour!

ALPINE

Jordan Fitzgerald and Will Harder have been invited to race in the Topolino Shoot-Out. Winners of this regional event will travel to Italy to compete in the Topolino race which is universally regarded as the “world championships” for this age group (13-14).

The Alpine program hosted the Allan Patterson (Friday) and Laura Flood Memorial (Sat/Sun) Races over the past weekend. These are FIS races for our athlete who are 15 and older. The Laura Flood Memorial Trophy went to the overall J2 winners for Sat/Sun. who were Nicole Roos (SVSEF) and Peter Pappineau (Ogden Valley).
Other highlights:
Tanner Farrow 2nd, 2nd, 1st (GS, GS, SL)
Kipling Weisel 4th (1st J2) in Allan Patterson GS
Miles Fink DeBray 1st Laura Flood GS
Ben Kanellitsas 5th (2nd J2) in Allan Patterson GS
KJ Savaria 14th (5th J2) and 10th (2nd J2) in the two GS races
Harlan Collins 5th in LF GS

Teagen Palmer 1st in both GS races
Nicole Roos 3rd (2nd J2), 2nd (2nd J2), 4th (1st J2) – (GS, GS, SL) and Overall LF Winner
Sierra Fox 4th and 7th in GS races

Complete results: www.ussa-imd.org or www.fis-ski.com
On Sunday (Jan. 23rd) the 2nd Mini-World Cup was held on Dollar. All results are attached. Photos are posted to Flickr.

The C-Travel Team raced in Boise at the Annual Cranston Cup Slalom. Complete results: http://www.ussa-imd.org Top five results:

Women
Molly Milgard – 1st J5 Sat. and Sun.
Sage Rheinschild – 2nd and 5th J4
Katelyn Rathfon – 2nd J4 on Sun.

Men
Will Griffith – 3rd J5 Sat
Kyle Maxwell – 1st J4 both days
Will Snyder – 2nd J4 both days
Duncan Fuller – 4th J4 Sat
Yuri McClure – 3rd J4 Sun
Wyatt Smith – 5th J5 Sun

FREESTYLE
Brita Sigourney who is traveling and training with the SVSEF has been named to the 2011 Freestyle World Championship Team. The events will be held in Park City and Deer Valley in the coming week.

More than 20 Freestyle athlete were in Utah this past weekend and had some great success. Full results are posted in the blog of http://www.intermoutainfreestyle.com. Highlights follow:

1/21 – Slopestyle at The Canyons
Alysha Herich 3rd/1st (overall/J3)
Parker Nance 14th/3rd (overall/J4)

Trevor Hattabaugh 4th/2nd (overall/J2)

Jamie Rollerson 1st (J5 – 9 and 10 years old)
Alex LaFleur 2nd (J5)
Blake Harmon 3rd (J5)

1/22 – Slopestyle at The Canyons
Alysha Herich 4th/2nd(overall/J3)
Parker Nance 14th/3rd (overall/J4)

Trevor Hattabaugh 5th/2nd (overall/J2)

Alex LaFleur 2nd (J5)
Jamie Rollerson 3rd (J5)

1/22 – Moguls in Park City
Clair Siderman – 1st J3
Austin Bourett (former) – 2nd overall

1/23 – Utah Winter Games Devo Moguls/The Canyons
Fallon Flaherty – 2nd J5 (women)

Luke Rizzo – 1st J5
Jamie Rollerson – 2nd J5
Alex LaFleur – 3rd J5
Hunter Diehl – 4th J5

This week: The “Sun Valley Freestyle Spectacular” Intermounain Divisional Event Jan. 27-30
1/27 Slopestyle on Dollar mtn
1/28 Halfpipe on WarmSprings
1/29 Moguls on Roundhouse Slope
1/30 Moguls/Dual Moguls on Roundhouse Slope

SNOWBOARDING

Kaitlyn Farrington (ODT) qualified 9th but did not make the finals of the Dew Tour this past weekend.

Andy Gilbert, Josh Keefer and Jacob Tyler took kids over to Jackson for the first USASA Competition of the Season. For those who wonder what is happening to with Snowboard event participation…wonder no more. The 7-12 y/o age groups had a field size that was double from one year ago. This event helped dictate points and according to Andy would indicate in which events our athletes would be competing in for the rest of the season. Andy was extremely pleased with how the weekend went for SVSEF riders. “The kids brought a good game and had a great attitude for the whole weekend”. SVSEF athletes were on the podium in nearly all fields.

A damper was put on the event when new snow forced the cancellation of Saturday’s Sloepstyle Event. Sunday’s weather was colder and brought better conditions for the halfpipe.

Boys 8-9: 1st Elk Spencer
Girls 10-11: 2nd Cora Schneider
Boys 10-11: 4th Clyde Montgomery
Boys 12-13: 3rd Dehner Figge and 9th Jake Whitlock

The above riders are all Prep Team riders and this was the first away competition for many of them.

Open Class: 1st Chase Josey

Youth Men (14-15): 1st Ryan Roemer, 2nd Cameron St. Pierre, 10th Michael Niedrich, 11th Brandon Dolenar, 13th Zach Lewis. This was the first trip for SVSEF newcomers Niedrich, Dolenar and Lewis. Coach Gilbert was extremely pleased with their results. He noted the men’s youth field was the biggest of all fields in the competition.

Junior Girls (16-17): 1st Hayley Rheinschild, 2nd Ali Appleton

Junior Boys (16-17): 1st Rex Kelly, 4th Florian Bourdot (French exchange student who was missing his Alps until he arrived in Jackson), 5th Dash Stethem

SVSEF Highlights Jan. 10-17

We had another busy week with some great success. Two athletes named to the US XC World Championship Team. Young riders having success at their first Revolution Tour. Athletes on the top step of the podium in Jackson (XC), athletes still competing in a Super-G speed series in Jackson (alpine) and some great racing against an international field in Utah at the Western Region Tech Series. Here is the breakdown:

CROSS COUNTRY
ODT Athletes Morgan Arritola and Simi Hamilton will represent the US (and SVSEF) at the 2011 World Championships in “the heart of nordic skiing”, Holmenkollen, Norway. Competition runs from Feb. 24th – March 6th. Norway is known as “the birthplace of nordic skiing and the home of the sport’s most passionate fans”. This will be Morgan’s second World Championship experience.
 
Results from JNQ (Junior National Qualifier) in Jackson Hole: (listing top results only. go to www.summittiming.com for complete results)
 
Saturday (Jan. 15th) was a sprint day. Topping the podium in their age classes were Maddy Watts (J3) and Kelsey Dickinson (J1). Placing second was Maggie Williams (J2). Numerous SVSEF athletes qualified for the finals including: Will Spiller, Andrew Pfeiffer, Stephen Pfeiffer (just off the podium in 4th), Ty Reinemann, Kaitlyn Landis, Maranda Stopol (also 4th), Morgan Atkinson, Katie Feldman, Sarah Williams, Hayley Montgomery and Elana King-Nakaoka.
 
Sunday (Jan. 16th) was the 5KM/10KM Free (Skate) Race: We had four athletes on the podium including: Maggie Williams (J2) and Kelsey Dickinson (J1) 1st, Sloan Storey 2nd (J1) and Will Spiller 3rd (OJ). The SVSEF had 5 of the top 10 spots in the women’s J1 race: Kelsey (1st), Sloan (2nd), Morgan Atkinson 5th, Maranda Stopol 6th, and Kaitlyn Landis 9th. 
 
ALPINE
Jan. 10-13: Our elite alpine racers were in Utah (Park City and Snowbird) for the Western Region Tech Series. Teagen Palmer won her age class and was 2nd twice Miles Fink-Debray was 3rd. Athletes competed in 2 GS and 2 SL races. For complete results please go to: www.fis-ski.com or www.live-timing.com. Highlights follow:
 
Men
Miles Fink-Debray – 3rd GS#1
Tanner Farrow (Slalom) – 34th (12th J1); (Giant Slalom) – 33rd (11th J1)
Harlan Collins (Slalom) – 40th; (Giant Slalom) – 38th (14th J1) and 22nd (13th J1)
Also racing: Bergen Palmer (SVSEF Alum), Kipiing Weisel, Tanner Dirstine, Miles Sweek

Women
Teagen Palmer (Slalom) – 9th (1st J2); (Giant Slalom) 18th and 5th (2nd J2 in both races)
Amanda Stelling (Slalom) – 27th (4th J2); (Giant Slalom) 42nd (6th J2) and 13th (5th J2)
Sierra Fox (Slalom) – 31st and 15th; (Giant Slalom) 23rd
 
Jan. 15-17th: Wes Barron Speed Series in Jackson Hole (3 Super-G Races). For full results go to: www.ussa-imd.org. Top age class results follow (not all results are posted at this time):
 
Super-G #1: Jordan Fitzgerald (3rd J3), Sam Busby (5th J3), Sage Rheinschild (2nd J4), Margot Griffith (3rd J4), Poppy Vorse-Whittier (5th J4)
Super-G #1: Yuri McClure (2nd J4), Cade Street (7th J4), River Vorse-Whittier (8th J4)
 
FREESTYLE
The Freestyle Comp skiers traveled to Mt Hood Meadows, OR for the Revolution Tour. Top results from the skiers:
 
Ben Parker – 5th Slopestyle
Trevor Hattabaugh – 7th super-pipe
Renee Shapiro – 3rd super-pipe
Also competing: Nathan Moses, River Kelly

SNOWBOARDING
The following is a recap from head coach Andy Gilbert:
 
Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Snowboard Team riders, led by Mal Prior, competed this week in U.S. Revolution Tour halfpipe snowboarding and slopestyle races at Mt. Hood Meadows in Oregon.
Prior made the 10-rider final of Monday’s men’s halfpipe contest and finished fifth overall in a field of 45 racers. The winner was Max Gold of Steamboat Springs, Colo. Top SVSEF woman was Hailey Rheinschild in 15th of 29 (8th J2).
Chase Josey made the J2 halfpipe podium in third place, in 12th overall. Others in the 74-rider competition were: 21—Ali Appleton. 30-Ryan Roemer. 35-Cameron St Pierre 42—Dash Stethem.
In Tuesday’s slopestyle, Josey was 16th of 67 riders and Appleton 17th among the gals. Roemer placed 25th, Prior 27th, St. Pierre 41st and Stethem 67th.
This was a great step for these young riders. Everyone is improving at these higher level events really put the work needed into perspective. Chase, Ryan and Hailey are knocking on the door of the finals which is a big step in any young rider’s career

SVSEF Highlights Jan. 2-9

This past week SVSEF athletes were competing from coast to coast. We had the XC team racing in the US Nationals in Rumford, ME and three Freestyle athletes looking for experience and an X-Games spot in Northstar, CA. This coming week we’ll have athletes at the 2nd stop of the Revolution Tour in Mount Hood Meadows, OR and both alpine and XC teams going to Jackson for Junior Olympic qualifiers. The season is upon us!

CROSS COUNTRY

• This past week we had an SVSEF athlete on the podium of the US National Championships each day of competition! To recap – The week started with Mike Sinnott placing second in the Classic Sprint on Jan. 2. Morgan Arritola followed with a third place finish in both the 10K Classic and the 20K Free on Jan. 5 and 6. On the final day of competition, Colin Rodgers started things out with a bang by winning the Freestyle Sprint Qualifiers – actually, all 5 of the SV men qualified in good form. By the end of the racing heats, Simi Hamilton stepped onto the podium in 2nd and Colin won the “B” Finals.
• Based on his results at US Nationals, Reid Pletcher (SVSEF ODT/University of Colorado) was selected to the 2011 World U-23 XC Ski Championship Team. He will be competing in Otepea, Estonia from Jan. 27-31.

ALPINE
This weekend, the University of Utah hosted it’s NCAA Div. I meet in Park City. These races are extremely competitive and filled with European racers who often times are fresh off the World Cup and Europa Cup cicuit. A few of our athletes were selected to compete in this event:

Miles Fink-Debray – 7th GS and 16th SL
Tanner Farrow – DNF in both races

Teagen Palmer – 25th GS and 31st SL
Amanda Stelling – DNF GS and 50th SL
Sierra Fox – DNF GS and 53rd SL

Jan. 10 -13: The athletes who raced in the FIS-U races will be joined by teammates to compete in the Western Region Elite Tech Series hosted by Park City and Snowboard. These races contain the top racers from the Western Region. Results will be reported as they come in this week.

FREESTYLE

Three of our athletes competed in the 1st stop of the “The North Face Park and Pipe Open Series” in Northstar at Tahoe this weekend. This tour is a two stop event (Waterville Valley, NH will host the 2nd stop) with $40,000 in prize money. The event was the last chance for ski and snowboarders to qualify for the Winter X-Games to be held later this month in Aspen, CO. The series is also a qualifier for the 2011 Half-Pipe FIS World Championships.

Brita Sigourney is a SVSEF athlete who travels and trains with the team at competitions. She chose the SVSEF because of her impression and interactions with coach Ben Verge, who met Sigourney at competitions in New Zealand last summer. Brita placed 5th in the half-pipe event and has secured a spot in the Winter X-Games. Hannah Haupt qualified for the finals and finished 8th. Tai Barrymore qualified in 14th spot and moved to 9th in the finals.

The “Sun Valley Freestyle Spectacular” Intermounain Divisional Event:

Jan. 27-30
1/27 Slopestyle on Dollar mtn
1/28 Halfpipe on WarmSprings
1/29 Moguls on Race Arena
1/30 Moguls/Dual Moguls on Roundhouse Slope

SNOWBOARD
Athletes have been busy training. Next up: Revolution Tour, Mount Hood Meadows, OR; Jan. 10th – 13th

XC Lake Placid Camp and Baldy HC

The Sun Valley ODT and Post-Grad crew is currently training at the Olympic training center in Lake Placid, NY, in the midst of an eleven day camp. The team has been gradually ramping up the intensity and will continue to do so here, taking advantage of the low altitude training environment. Today, the team raced in the Climb to the Castle Rollerski Race, a 5 mile, 8% climb up the backside of Whiteface Mountain. The race drew an elite crowd consisting of the National Cross-Country and Nordic Combined teams, as well as some National Team biathletes and elite teams from the East and the Midwest. On the women’s side SV skiers Morgan Arritola and Carrie Heagney skied to 2nd and 12th. For the men it went Hamilton-10th, Rodgers-14th, Sinnott-16th, Phelan-38th, and Spiller-43rd, all improving their times form last year.

Start of the mens field

Mo giving it

Simi – World Cup bound this November

Spiller nearing the finish

Post-Grads: Phelan and Spiller, taking a year off and living the dream

On Sept 25th, Sun Valley athletes took on the Baldy Hill Climb, a 1.86 mile, 3,300 foot ascent straight up Baldy. Morgan Arritola proved her fitness is the best it’s ever been, smashing her old women’s record in the event, and being the first woman to ever break 40 minutes. Mikey Sinnot and Colin Rodgers also had personal bests taking second and third in the mens race.

Morgan Arritola racing to record time in the Baldy HC

Colin Rodgers – back from Compartment surgery and throwing down a PR

USST and XC ODT… getting pummeled by the next generation.

The US XC Ski Team, now headed up by former SVSEF coach and Hailey local, Chris Grover is here in the WRV, training with the SVSEF XC Olympic Development Team through Sept. 19th.

Head SVSEF Prep Team Coach Kelly Sinnott organized a great session in Hulen Meadows Park for the Prep and Devo kids to meet, play games with, and beat the snot out of the USST, XC ODT and other visiting elite athletes.

Here are a few images from the day…

Morgan Arritola (SVSEF / USST), Jessie Diggins (CXC Elite), Matt Gelso (SVSEF) and a whole passel of SV Juniors.

USST Coach Chris Grover, Andy Newell (USST), Mikey Sinnott (SVSEF), Noah Hoffman (USST) doing some heavy lifting.

SVSEF Program Director Rick Kapala about to get owned by 8 year old Eva Grover

USST Sprint Ace Andy Newell in the dogpile.

A big thanks to Kelly for putting the day together and to the USST for joining us!

Bozeman Supertour

This past weekend the Sun Valley ODT crew raced in the SuperTour events in Bozeman Montana. Saturday we had 4 top tens, with Mikey getting on the podium. It was a cold wintery day with some exciting head to head racing out at Lindley Park in Bozeman. Mikey finished 2nd putting on a strong move with 200meters to go in each of his heats. Simi also had a great morning, qualifying first for the heats 1.8 seconds ahead of Kuzzy (CXC) and another 5 seconds ahead of third place. He easily managed all of his heats until the finals where he ran out of gas half way through. He still managed to finish 4th, and has a lot of confidence heading north of the border for next weekends skate sprint and 10/15km skate in SilverStar. Our top women on the day was Nicole DeYong finishing 10th after qualifying 7th.
Sundays race featured a grueling 10/15k classic race up at Bohart Ranch in 2 F weather and blowing snow. Sun Valley girls had a solid day with Kate Whitcomb taking 5th, Nicole DeYong 6th, and Adele Espy (12th). Adele is continuing to make progress coming back from compartment syndrom surgery in October. On the mens side Mikey was 14th, Colin 20th, Reid 21st, Erik 31st, and Max 32nd. Eirk and Max were the top juniors on the day.

West Yellowsone!

Good day for Sun Valley Olympic Development Team yesterday in the sprint. Best finish for the day was Simi Hamilton with an impressive 2nd place. More to come in the distance races!!!

Here are some pics from the camp so far.

Colin Rodgers getting his contrast bath on!

Early morning frost.

Meeting up with some good friends from CU, MSU, and Jackson Hole. Sun Valley ODTer Max Durtschi on far right.

Sun Valley ODT coaches Chris Mallory and Travis Jones taking in some cosmic rays.

-max durtschi

Olympicfest! on Plum TV

Click here to watch a great video from PlumTV about our Olympicfest!