It’s been an eventful week for SVSEF athletes, with early season races in the books and productive training sessions on fresh snow. Efforts both in competition and practice have been focused, grounding and energizing – now’s the time to put all that training to use, work on areas of improvement, seek challenge and have a grand old time in the upcoming winter season.

 

Cross Country Gold Team finds Super Tour podiums at Silver Star

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Following a strong Super Tour opener at West Yellowstone, the SVSEF Cross Country Gold Team headed north to the Sovereign Lakes Nordic Center in Silver Star, BC, where they spent the week training in preparation for the second round of Super Tour races. Saturday featured a 1.2-km classic sprint, followed by a 15/10km freestyle race on Sunday. The race weekend came with temperatures in the single digits, compared to the sub-zero numbers the team saw all week prior. Julia Kern of the SMS Elite Team won the women’s sprint, followed by Liz Guiney of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project in second, and Kaitlynn Miller, of the same affiliation, in third. Mary Rose qualified for the B-final, finishing 10^th overall. Reese Hanneman of Alaska Pacific University took first in the men’s race, followed closely by SVSEF Gold Team skier Cole Morgan, who was 0.87 seconds out of first and who had won the men’s qualifier earlier that day. SMS Elite Team skier Ben Saxton rounded out the podium in third. SVSEF’s Matt Gelso continued his solid Super Tour efforts with a fifth place finish.
Chris Mallory, Cross Country Gold Team Head Coach, gave some insight about the day. “Cole Morgan started things off right for the team Saturday with a blazing fast classic qualifier, winning by four seconds. He opted to double pole the course, which played to his strengths well. After three rounds of racing, Cole placed second on the day to Hanneman in a tough double pole battle down the finishing stretch.  It was a great spectating course with a series of four climbs that wound in and out of the stadium. Gelso also skied strong all day, making it to the A Final.  He was one of the few to go with kick wax all day and stride the final decisive climb. It was fun to watch the two guys take two different approaches to the course, both having some success.”
Sunday’s freestyle race featured fresh snow and tough climbs. Scott Patterson of APU took the men’s 15km win in a time of 40:00.2. Gelso maintained the consistency he’s shown from early on this season, skiing into second place, 13.2 seconds behind Patterson. Tad Elliot of Vail finished third. SVSEF’s Jack Hegman was 10^th, Rogan Brown 11^th, and Cole Morgan 28^th. APU took home another win on Sunday, with Chelsea Holmes leading the women’s field. Katharine Ogden of SMS Elite was second, and her teammate Erika Flowers was third. Mary Rose led the SVSEF women in fifth; Deedra Irwin skied to ninth, and Annie Pokorny to 23^rd. Rose and Irwin’s results marked their best races of the season thus far.
Gelso’s result on Sunday secured his top spot on the U.S. Super Tour points list, and earned him World Cup starts beginning in late January in Sweden and South Korea.
The Gold Team returns home to Sun Valley for a breather before their next stint at Soldier Hollow for the Senior Nationals the second week of January.
Complete sprint results
Complete distance results
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Cross Country Devo, Prep and Comp Team athletes warm up with local Winterstart races

The snowstorm we saw last weekend left Galena Lodge with over a foot of fresh powder, just in time for the annual Winterstart event. This year, there were two, four and eight-kilometer options for participants. All courses began in the ever-scenic Senate Meadows and headed up Jenny’s Way into the woods before breaking out at the northeastern side of the field. The snow was soft and temperatures cold, which meant slightly slower going. In the men’s two-kilometer race, Blake DeHart finished first in a time of 7:40. Right behind him was Fisher Gardner, who finished second in 7:43. Alex Shafer was third, and Mats Radl-Jones fourth; all are SVSEF skiers. In the women’s two-kilometer race, SVSEF’s Sammy Smith took first in a time of 7:26. Anja Grover was just one second off the winning time, landing her in second place. SVSEF’s Berkeley Canfield finished fourth, Taylor Dorland fifth, Anneka Thompson sixth, and Riley Siegel, the only Devo participant, crossed the line in eighth.

The four-kilometer option headed up Nello’s and brought racers to the southern end of the meadows. SVSEF skiers made up the entire men’s and women’s fields for this length. Sebi Radl-Jones took first in the men’s race with a time of 15:50; Jake Gorham was second. Luci Ludwig topped the women’s field in 16:40, and was followed by teammates Christine Estep in second, Tia Vontver third, Kate Stone fourth, Kate Horowitz fifth and Quinn Closser sixth.
Racers who opted for the eight-kilometer course skied the four kilometer course twice. There were no SVSEF athletes in the men’s race, which was won by Bill Nurge in a time of 27:11. SVSEF alum Alexa Turzian won the women’s event in 30:11, followed by Kristin Monahan, SVSEF Comp Team Coach. Monahan’s athlete Eve Jensen rounded out the podium in third, Gold Team skier Kelsey Phinney was fourth, and SVSEF’s Anja Jensen, Sascha Leidecker and Ellie Gorham were fifth, sixth and seventh.

Complete results
 
 
 
 
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SVSEF Gold Team skier Kipling Wiesel and PG athlete Haley Cutler stake out top finishes in Canada

Lake Louise in BC hosted two Nor-Am downhills and one Canadian National Championship downhill. According to SVSEF FIS coach Brett Jacobson, “cold temperatures and clean skiing rule up in Lake Louise. Highs of -9 with lows creeping to -30 degrees Fahrenheit all week helped to make an amazing racing surface. Lake Louise staff and volunteers worked their tails off to make one of the best courses available.” SVSEF Gold Team skier Kipling Wiesel and PG skier Haley Cutler made the most of the favorable course – Weisel finished in sixth and eighth in the Nor-Am downhills, and Cutler was fifth for her first race, but did not finish her second. In the Canadian National Championship downhill, Weisel narrowly missed the podium, skiing into fourth. Cutler rebounded from a hard tumble in the previous Nor-Am downhill on a very difficult section of the course, and ended up in sixth for the third event.
At Panorama Resort, the terrain was “unrelenting and challenging, yet consistent.” Cutler came in seventh place in her first super G, and Weisel finished 18^th and 13^th in the two races. Races at Panorama continue through the 18^th of December  – look for more results soon.
Complete Lake Louise results
Panorama Results
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Hanna Blackwell competes at Rev Tour at Copper

(words by Tyler Conway, SVSEF Head Freeski Coach)
Hanna Blackwell set out to compete in the U.S. Revolution Tour on December 10, 2016 at Copper Mountain Resort in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. This being an Olympic qualifying season, athletes from all over the world competed in this halfpipe event. The Rev Tour is a stepping-stone to the U.S. Freeskiing Team and serves as a platform for young athletes to make a name for themselves. With limited halfpipe training due to unseasonably warm temperatures, Hanna took advantage of the only halfpipe open in the USA. She skied well for the first competition of the season, finishing in 30^th. This shows the importance of the halfpipe and slopestyle ski training that Dollar Mountain provides for the SVSEF Freeski Team; helping us compete with the world’s best.
 
Complete results