Chasing Winter
With summer in Sun Valley, dreams of fresh snowfall, smooth turns and uniform corduroy are undoubtedly replaced by those of brown powder, refreshing alpine lakes and late nights on the patio. But for the SVSEF Alpine USSA Team, snow is never far from the mind. To tide them over until our own mountains are again blanketed in powder, a group of 30 athletes headed to Mammoth Mountain in California to take advantage of the snow that still graces the slopes. The athletes were treated to great hill space and amazing weather for the majority of the trip. The focus of the eight-day camp was slowing things down and getting back to building a fundamental skiing base, an important component to revisit. Coach Will Brandenburg concluded, “it was a super fun and productive camp and I’m stoked about the skiing I was seeing at the end of it!”
To take a break from training, the athletes managed to stay active by biking, hiking, playing field games, playing mini golf and adding in some dry land sessions. They wrapped it all up with a movie and some hot springs soaks.
Nordic skiers spend hundreds of days training, and comparatively only a handful of days actually racing – so what is it all about? This is a question that surely crosses the mind of each athlete at least once in awhile, when they’re struggling to feel good during a workout or when there seems to be no end in sight to the intervals and lifting sessions and long training blocks.
The Bend Camp, which the SVSEF Nordic program has worked into their summer program for around 30 years, is a time to reset and to remember the benefits and joys inherent in training. It’s an exciting jump start to the summer; a chance for the younger, newer skiers to integrate into the life and times of Comp Team, for Prep Pro skiers to get in some workouts together and for the athletes to remember that it’s possible for the process to be simultaneously fun and memorable and challenging. It’s an opportunity to recalibrate and reinvigorate training goals, and move forward into the rest of the dry land season with new energy and awareness.
“The door you’re trying to unlock with training is to get fit enough that you can move through the landscape and be strong enough to do it; not necessarily because you’re trying to compete in every workout, but this level of fitness provides access to all these other experiences.” Nordic Program Director Rick Kapala, who says this with such facility and conviction, worked with coaches Ashley Knox, Kristen Monahan and Kelley Sinnott to orchestrate a memorable summer camp.
The group spent the first six days in Bend, getting some on-snow time at Mount Bachelor. SVSEF was joined by athletes from West Yellowstone and Jackson Hole. Despite less than ideal snow conditions on the nordic trails, the team was able to take the chairlift to ski mid-mountain, where the groomers provided decent terrain. Afternoons were spent dry land training in the Bend area. This stint was followed by a trek to the Oregon coast, specifically Pacific City, for surf sessions in the morning and dry land sessions in the afternoon for an additional three days. The surfing ultimately amounted to tumbling around in the waves; both this and running in the forest with gigantic moss-covered trees were a welcome change to the geography and climate of the Intermountain West, and were a fitting end to kick off summer training.
The Alpine Team sets off for a two-week training camp in New Zealand this Thursday, July 21. A group of Nordic Comp Team athletes is currently training on the Haig glacier in Canada, which just received a whopping foot of snow. The team will stay for a week before returning to Sun Valley.
Podiums, Passion, Power and Perseverance Mark Weekend for SVSEF Athletes
U.S. Cross Country Championships
Peter Wolter, a 10-year member of the SVSEF Cross Country program is SVSEF’s Athlete of the Week. Last week at the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Houghton, Michigan, Peter, racing in the U18 class, compiled three-top 10 finishes, earning the right to represent the United States next month at the U18 Scandinavian Cup in Otepää, Estonia. The top six men and six women qualified for the trip based on their best two out of three finishes at Nationals. Wolter, a junior at Community School, was third in the 15k classic sprint, sixth in skate sprint and seventh in 10k mass start skate.
“We had kids who posted some really solid results, including Eli Jensen across the board and Leo Lukens was fifth in the 15k classic. To be fifth in the country is really solid. Luke Platil was top 20 all weekend long,” SVSEF Cross Country Nordic Director Rick Kapala said.
Gold Team highlights included Mary Rose skiing to 15th place in the women’s 20k freestyle and Miles Havlick’s fifth-place finish (third American) in the men’s freestyle sprint.
Results: http://www.superiortiming.com/
Sean Nurse Memorial, U14 Qualifier
Enthusiasm was running high for the Intermountain U14 Alpine Team at the Sean Nurse Memorial U14 Qualifier at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Head coach James Tautkus remarked, “Piggybacking on the USSA Team’s success this past weekend, the IMD team posted strong results for their first outing this year. A number of athletes posted their best results, especially first-year U14 Ryder Sarchett who was on the podium two of the three days.
“It was the success of the team as a whole I am impressed with. Every one of these athletes performed on race day at a high level. It was a strong way to start the competition season as this will for sure stoke an even bigger fire in these kids.”
The series, staged at Snow King, consisted of two giant slalom races and one slalom race. Buey Grossman swept the boys’ giant slalom races and finished fourth in slalom. Ryder Sarchett and Falon Hanna were two-time bronze medalists. Sage Curtis and Ridley Lindstrom both mined bronze once.
Results by Idaho Mountain Express
Snow King U-14
- Boys: Buey Grossman 1-GS twice, 4-SL; Ryder Sarchett 3-GS, 3-SL; Ridley Lindstrom 3-GS, DSQ-SL; Charlie Snyder 7-GS, 39-SL; Nathan Gowe 12-GS, 15-SL; Max Moss 13-GS, 21-SL; Josh Blackburn 14-GS, DNF-SL; Shaw Dean 15-GS, 22-SL; Ethan Marx 19-GS, 27-SL; Benjamin Goitiandia 24-GS, 68-SL; William Everitt 29-GS, 25-SL; Jett Carruth 35-GS, 47-SL; Connor Campbell 38-GS, 26-SL; Joseph Goitiandia 43-GS, 66-SL; William DeWolfe 43-GS, 40-SL; Jackson Swenke 47-GS, DNF-SL; Axel Hattrup 53-GS, 58-SL; Will Penrose 53-GS, DSQ-SL; Skye Leininger 61-GS, 34-SL; Rory Szer 59-GS, 64-SL; Shaw McCoubrey 64-GS, 67-SL; Nicholas Maumus 66-GS, 79-SL; Chase Jones 81-GS, 77-SL.
- Girls: Falon Hanna 3-GS twice, DNF-SL; Sage Curtis 5-GS, 7-SL; Marit Kaiser 7-GS, 6-SL; Sage Holter 11-GS, 33-SL; Emma MacGuffie 14-GS, 36-SL; Anhwei Kirk 17-GS, 40-SL; Lola Street 48-GS, 49-SL; Julia Ott 53-GS, 54-SL; Lily Ann Dean 61-GS, 57-SL; Laci Jermunson 60-GS, 71-SL.
For complete results, visit http://www.ussa-imd.org/alpine/races15/U14.php.
USSA Alpine Team
Leading the charge for the USSA men were Carter Jendrezak, Matt O’Connor, Bennett Snyder, Charlie Stumph and Max Noddings.
In their second technical series of the season, the SVSEF USSA Team served notice that they are a force to be reckoned with and anyone at any time is capable of stepping up on the podium in Intermountain Cup Qualifiers at Snowbasin, Utah.
“It was a ridiculous weekend,” head coach Will Brandenburg said. “I don’t know how many times it’s been done that you sweep the podium two days in a row. That doesn’t happen very often in ski racing.”
The U16 boys with Matt O’Connor, Charlie Stumph, Bennett Snyder, Carter Jendrezak and Max Noddings finished 2-6 in the opening giant slalom on Snowbasin’s Wildflower/City Hill course. Snyder, Stumph, Noddings and Wyatt Minor went 1-4 in the second GS and Snyder was the fastest U16 and fifth overall in Sunday’s slalom.
First-year U16 Lily Fitzgerald set the pace for the SVSEF women with a win, place and show in the three-day series. Alli Rathfon finished second in GS. Libby Kaiser was fourth twice in GS.
Other overall top 10 finishes on the weekend were turned in by Ella Viesturs, Jake Blackburn, Jendrezak and Noddings.
“The whole group feeds off each other, they don’t battle each other and it pays off in results. I haven’t coached that long but I have been around the sport a long time and it is pretty special,” Brandenburg said. “They are a unique group of athletes.”
The USSA men’s team was named “Athletes of the Week” for their accomplishment.
“I have been here for 15 years and never seen results like that,” SVSEF Alpine Director Scott McGrew remarked.
Results: http://www.ussa-imd.org/alpine/races15/U16.htm
SVSEF FIS Team
SVSEF FIS racers traveled to Colorado and Utah last week. Haley Cutler skied to fourth place in giant slalom at Park City, and 14th and 37th in slalom at Snowbird. Teammate’s high finishes were Katelyn Rathfon 32nd in GS, Skylar Cooley 36th in GS, Ruby Marden 36th in slalom, Abby Norton’s 40th in GS, and Sage Rheinschild 45th in slalom.
In men’s racing at Aspen, Yuri McClure had a high of 11th place in an FIS GS. IN the same race, Will Snyder was 19th, Jay Fitzgerald 31st, Duncan Fuller 39th, John Blackburn 40th, Kristian DeWolfe 45th and Griffin Curtis 50th. Highlights in National Junior giant slaloms were Will Snyder 27th, Spencer Wright 37th, Noah Leininger 46th, Hayden Terjeson 47th and Charlie Lamb 49th.
SVSEF Alumni
U.S. Ski Team and SVSEF Gold Team racers Kipling Weisel and Tanner Farrow have been on a roll recently. In University Racing at Big Sky, Montana, Weisel (U.S. C Team) skied to second and third in giant slalom and 17th in slalom. Those results on the heels of a seventh place finish in GS in FIS racing at Park City.
Farrow finished seventh and eighth in GS at Big Sky and 24th in slalom. He recorded an eighth-place finish in GS at Park City. Harlan Collins skied to 11th place in GS at Park City. Austin Savaria was 26th.
SVSEF alumna Teagen Palmer, now attending and racing for University of Utah, also competed with distinction at Big Sky with a ninth and 14th in GS and 20th in slalom. Amanda Stelling (Montana State) recorded three top 35 finishes at Big Sky.
Good times with Austin Savaria, Harlan Collins, Connor Farrow, Tanner Farrow, Kipling Weisel and coach Pat Savaria (kneeling).
Cross Country
From the University of Utah website
MIDWAY, Utah – With a strong Nordic classical day that saw three podium finishes and seven top-10 results, the Utah ski team completed a come-from-behind victory in the Utah Invitational on Monday afternoon at Soldier Hollow, Utah.
In the women’s 10-km classic, SVSEF alumna Sloan Storey and Veronika Mayerhofer together pulled out to a 16-second lead on the field, with Storey picking up her first career victory as the women entered the final stretch together.
“Today was a great day!” Storey said. “Earlier this week Veronika and I were dreaming about what would happen if we decided to take off together in the mass start and go for the one-two finish. Today we made it happen! Right away I knew that we had good skis and that if we took advantage of them and skied our race with efficient technique and use each other we could gap the field. We also received extra motivation from the coaches’ splits of our teammates not far behind. It was so much fun being able to ski the entire race with my amazing teammate, and to get to show off all the hard work we had done this fall as a team. Extra shout out to my coaches for such awesome skis and to all the supporters out there cheering your Utes on!”
Another SVSEF alum finished well at Soldier Hollow. Kevin Bolger was eighth in the men’s 15k classic.
Freestyle
SVSEF Freestyle Team traveled to Snowbird, Utah, last weekend to compete in the Intermountain Freestyle “Bumpin’ the Bird” moguls event.
In Saturday’s male singles mogul event, results were: M17 Alex LaFleur, 1st; Wilson Dunn 3rd; M15 Henry Cherp 3rd; M13 Toby Rafford 2nd. Overall: Axel LaFleur 2nd, Wilson Dunn 4th, Henry Cherp 6th, Hunter Diehl 10th, Luke Rizzo 11th, Toby Rafford 15th, Ben Anderson 17th, Michael Sanchez-DuPont 20th, Axel Diehl 24th, Henry Buell 31st, Alex Austin 34th, Chris Pederson 37th.
In the female category, results were F17 Devon Brown 2nd; F15 Katie Markthaler 3rd; F11 Samantha Smith 1st. Overall: Samantha Smith 6th, Katie Markthaler 8th, Addie Rafford 9th, Eliza Marks 11th.
10-year-old Sammy Smith “Wowed the crowd, finishing sixth overall despite being the youngest competitor in the contest,” according to coach Jennifer Diehl.
Male single moguls, Sunday: Wilson Dunn 4th, Alex LaFleur 5th, Hunter Diehl 6th, Luke Rizzo 7th, Henry Cherp 12th, Toby Rafford 14th, Axel Diehl 22nd, Mikel Sanchez-DuPont 27th, Alex Austin 30th, Henry Buell 31st, Ben Anderson 32nd. Females: Devon Brown 7th, Eliza Marks 9th, Addie Rafford 16th, Katie Markthaler 17th.
Coach Joey Cordeau said, “Sunday’s dual moguls event turned exciting when the Diehl brothers both won their first round and Axel and Hunter were matched against each other in round two. Hunter reached the finish line first and advanced, but Axel had his personal best run. Axel said, next year, bro.”
Sun Valley’s Wilson Dunn and Hunter Diehl made it to the third round. For the women, Katie Markthaler and Addie Rafford were matched in the first round, with Katie advancing to round two.
Cordeau added, “Saturday Alex LaFleur has the biggest air off bottom jump, Wilson Dunn found a new gear, Hunter Diehl has some of the most consistent runs. Secret weapon Samantha Smith went big had some great turns and wowed the crowd. Everyone was cheering.”
U.S. Cross Country Championships
Peter Wolter, a 10-year member of the SVSEF Cross Country program is SVSEF’s Athlete of the Week. Last week at the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Houghton, Michigan, Peter, racing in the U18 class, compiled three-top 10 finishes, earning the right to represent the United States next month at the U18 Scandinavian Cup in Otepää, Estonia. The top six men and six women qualified for the trip based on their best two out of three finishes at Nationals. Wolter, a junior at Community School, was third in the 15k classic sprint, sixth in skate sprint and seventh in 10k mass start skate.
“We had kids who posted some really solid results, including Eli Jensen across the board and Leo Lukens was fifth in the 15k classic. To be fifth in the country is really solid. Luke Platil was top 20 all weekend long,” SVSEF Cross Country Nordic Director Rick Kapala said.
Gold Team highlights included Mary Rose skiing to 15th place in the women’s 20k freestyle and Miles Havlick’s fifth-place finish (third American) in the men’s freestyle sprint.
Results: http://www.superiortiming.com/
Sean Nurse Memorial, U14 Qualifier
Enthusiasm was running high for the Intermountain U14 Alpine Team at the Sean Nurse Memorial U14 Qualifier at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Head coach James Tautkus remarked, “Piggybacking on the USSA Team’s success this past weekend, the IMD team posted strong results for their first outing this year. A number of athletes posted their best results, especially first-year U14 Ryder Sarchett who was on the podium two of the three days.
“It was the success of the team as a whole I am impressed with. Every one of these athletes performed on race day at a high level. It was a strong way to start the competition season as this will for sure stoke an even bigger fire in these kids.”
The series, staged at Snow King, consisted of two giant slalom races and one slalom race. Buey Grossman swept the boys’ giant slalom races and finished fourth in slalom. Ryder Sarchett and Falon Hanna were two-time bronze medalists. Sage Curtis and Ridley Lindstrom both mined bronze once.
Results by Idaho Mountain Express
USSA Alpine Team
In their second technical series of the season, the SVSEF USSA Team served notice that they are a force to be reckoned with and anyone at any time is capable of stepping up on the podium in Intermountain Cup Qualifiers at Snowbasin, Utah.
“It was a ridiculous weekend,” head coach Will Brandenburg said. “I don’t know how many times it’s been done that you sweep the podium two days in a row. That doesn’t happen very often in ski racing.”
The U16 boys with Matt O’Connor, Charlie Stumph, Bennett Snyder, Carter Jendrezak and Max Noddings finished 2-6 in the opening giant slalom on Snowbasin’s Wildflower/City Hill course. Snyder, Stumph, Noddings and Wyatt Minor went 1-4 in the second GS and Snyder was the fastest U16 and fifth overall in Sunday’s slalom.
First-year U16 Lily Fitzgerald set the pace for the SVSEF women with a win, place and show in the three-day series. Alli Rathfon finished second in GS. Libby Kaiser was fourth twice in GS.
Other overall top 10 finishes on the weekend were turned in by Ella Viesturs, Jake Blackburn, Jendrezak and Noddings.
“The whole group feeds off each other, they don’t battle each other and it pays off in results. I haven’t coached that long but I have been around the sport a long time and it is pretty special,” Brandenburg said. “They are a unique group of athletes.”
The USSA men’s team was named “Athletes of the Week” for their accomplishment.
“I have been here for 15 years and never seen results like that,” SVSEF Alpine Director Scott McGrew remarked.
Results: http://www.ussa-imd.org/alpine/races15/U16.htm
SVSEF FIS Team
SVSEF FIS racers traveled to Colorado and Utah last week. Haley Cutler skied to fourth place in giant slalom at Park City, and 14th and 37th in slalom at Snowbird. Teammate’s high finishes were Katelyn Rathfon 32nd in GS, Skylar Cooley 36th in GS, Ruby Marden 36th in slalom, Abby Norton’s 40th in GS, and Sage Rheinschild 45th in slalom.
In men’s racing at Aspen, Yuri McClure had a high of 11th place in an FIS GS. IN the same race, Will Snyder was 19th, Jay Fitzgerald 31st, Duncan Fuller 39th, John Blackburn 40th, Kristian DeWolfe 45th and Griffin Curtis 50th. Highlights in National Junior giant slaloms were Will Snyder 27th, Spencer Wright 37th, Noah Leininger 46th, Hayden Terjeson 47th and Charlie Lamb 49th.
