SVSEF Skiers Qualify for U16, Junior and National Championships
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Six SVSEF athletes have qualified for U16 Nationals, nine have made the cut for Junior Alpine Championships, and seven have been selected to compete at U.S. Alpine Championships.
"It's an exceptional group of individuals who have worked very hard this season to qualify for these events. Participating in national-level events takes a lot of hard work and dedication; we're excited to see what this experience has in store for all of them," remarked SVSEF Alpine Program Director Will Brandenburg.
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U16 Nationals:
Ryder Sarchett, Nathan Gowe, Nils Galloway, Dasha Romanov, Marit Kaiser, Jessica Blackburn
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Junior Nationals:
Erin Smith, Lily Fitzgerald, Falon Hanna, Elizabeth Vanderkloot, Jack Smith, Bennett Snyder, Bridger Harrison, Blake Bathum, Max Noddings
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U.S. Alpine Championships:
Erin Smith, Lily Fitzgerald, Jack Smith, Bennett Snyder, Bridger Harrison, Blake Bathum, Max Noddings
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Ryder Sarchett
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Dasha Romanov
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Nathan Gowe
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Marit Kaiser
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Nils Galloway
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Jessica Blackburn
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Elizabeth Vanderkloot
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Falon Hanna
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Lily Fitzgerald
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Jack Smith
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Erin Smith
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Max Noddings
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Bennett Snyder
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Week(s) in Review: January 8
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ALPINE
U16 NPS Tech Project
Four U16 athletes are currently at Burke, Vermont, for two slalom and two giant slalom competitions as part of the National Project Series (NPS); Ryder Sarchett, Marit Kaiser, Jessica Blackburn and Dasha Romanov are representing SVSEF. The NPS Tech Project brings the best U16s together from throughout the country for a week of training and racing; it is a part of the national pipeline intended to prepare athletes for more elite competition. Athletes have the opportunity to qualify to represent the U.S. at the OPA (Seven Nations) Cup in February based on results.
Women started competition with a slalom in the morning on January 8; Marit Kaiser finished eighth and Dasha Romanov 11th in a field of 30. Jessica Blackburn did not finish her first run of the day. Ryder Sarchett skied out his runs in the men’s slalom, and did not finish his second run in the second men’s slalom in the afternoon. Dasha had an amazing first run in the women’s afternoon slalom, landing the fastest time, but moved down to 18th following her second run. Jessica skied to 13th, and Marit was disqualified in her first run. The project continues today with training.
Although they did not complete both runs of their respective races, two SVSEF clocked the best times on the runs they did complete, which is a substantial success given the field and the stakes; Ryder won the first run of the second race, as did Dasha.
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Jack Smith invited to U.S. Development Team Europe Camp
Based on his success at Snowbird in the GS, Jack Smith has earned an invitation from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Development Team to attend a Europe camp this January. “Jack has been working extremely hard, is very motivated and is skiing well. We wish him luck in Europe,” said SVSEF FIS Head Coach Nate Schwing. With some of the best results so far this year in GS for athletes born in 2001 n the nation, Jack will take this success overseas for two weeks of racing and training. The Development Team is club-based; four men have been named, and for this camp they take an additional six for a total of 10 male athletes.
FIS
FIS athletes leave today for a Western Regional FIS elite Junior National and US National tech qualifier. The races at Big Sky are an opportunity to qualify for national-level competition later this season.
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Looking out at Targhee, photo by Addie Rafford
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BIG MOUNTAIN
The Big Mountain team has been getting mileage and experience under their belt; first with a Level One Avalanche yurt trip, and most recently with time at Grand Targhee. At Grand Targhee, the group spent their days hiking, exploring new terrain, including cliffs, and pushing themselves by trying new tricks.
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CROSS COUNTRY
U.S. Cross Country Championships
Craftsbury Outdoor Center hosted the 2019 U.S. L.L. Bean Cross Country Ski Championships, held January 3-8. SVSEF sent over 20 athletes from Comp, PG and Gold teams to Vermont for the races. Top professional, collegiate and junior athletes from across the country converged for classic sprints and classic and skate distance races; aside from national titles, athletes competing at Nationals were looking to qualify for race opportunities abroad. A record number of SVSEF athletes did so; Peter Holmes, Johnny Hagenbuch, Sydney Palmer-Leger and Sophia Mazzoni all made the cut for U.S. World Junior Championships in Lahti, Finland, which will take place later this month. SVSEF has often had one or two (and twice, three) athletes qualify for World Juniors, but four is unprecedented.
Peter Holmes started off strong with a 11th place finish in the men’s 15km classic on Thursday. Johnny was the top U18 in the nation and 27th overall. For women, Sydney Palmer-Leger was third for U18s in the 10km, and Logan Smith won the U16 category. Gold Team skier Cate Brahms had a good result, coming in 21st overall. Sophia Mazzoni was the fifth U18 finisher (41st overall).
In the classic sprint the next day, Peter Holmes continued his success by stepping onto the American podium in third. He was fourth overall and the first U23. Sophia qualified for women’s senior heats and was the second junior overall, and Logan Smith also qualified for senior heats as a U16. Sydney Palmer-Leger skied to second in junior heats, Sarah Morgan to fifth and Johnny Hagenbuch to fifth.
In Sunday’s mass start, Johnny Hagenbuch led SVSEF in the junior category, winning the men’s 10km freestyle race with a time of 26:27. PG skier Scott Schulz broke the top 10 in ninth. Peter Holmes was again SVSEF’s top finisher for senior men, skiing to 19th overall in the 30km freestyle mass start. Katie Feldman led the women in 17th in the 20km race. Sydney Palmer-Leger made the junior women’s podium in third for the 7.5km, and Logan Smith was 15th and the top U16 finisher.
In the final race on Tuesday, a freestyle sprint, Peter Holmes made heats and moved onto semifinals, and Maddie Morgan and Katie Feldman both made heats for women.
Peter will compete at U23 Worlds, and U18 skiers Johnny, Sydney and Sophia will race at World Juniors in Lahti, January 20-26. Post Grad Head Coach Paul Smith with join them as a coach on the trip. They leave today for Finland to begin training. More information about the upcoming events can be found here.
In addition to the four who qualified for Junior Worlds, Comp Team athlete Logan Smith had a standout series. At just 14 years old, Logan pre-qualified for Junior Nationals, and also qualified for the U18 Nordic Nations Cup in Scandinavia. She is also the second alternate for Junior Worlds, based on her results at Nationals.
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Blake DeHart and Alex Shafer coming into the finish
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Snowmaker Classic
SVSEF hosted a local race at Lake Creek on January 5. Distances included 1, 3, 5 and 10km, and 56 athletes came out to compete. Competitors ranged from age 5 to 92. Thanks to our volunteers for making the execution of the race a breeze!
World Cup
Kevin Bolger was selected by the U.S. Ski Team to race the Tour de Ski, which is arguably the most exciting stint of World Cup action. He was invited based on his results in the Davos sprint, in which he just missed heats in 31st.
In the opening freestyle sprint of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy, on December 29, Kevin charged to an impressive 13th overall in qualifiers. He moved onto heats and finished 21st overall. Kevin was 71st in the 15km freestyle race on December 30, also in Toblach, and narrowly missed heats in the next freestyle sprint in Val Muestair, Switzerland, on January 1st, landing in 34th.
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Tilly Babcock, far right, in second. Photo by ID One Foundation
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Sammy Smith, photo by ID One Foundation
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FREESTYLE
Snowbird
Freestyle athletes headed to Snowbird in Utah for a qualifier for Junior Nationals. Sammy Smith led the charge; she placed fourth overall the first day in the two-run single moguls comp, won her age group (F15), and was second overall on the second day in the one-run single mogul comp in the morning. She again won her age group, and had the fastest time and highest air score of the day. Significantly, she bested two girls who have recently competed in World Cup events, and one who represented Norway at the Olympics in Pyeongchang. Tilly Babcock had a great weekend, coming in third for her F12 age group on Saturday, as did Rainey Wilson, who was also third for her age group on Saturday (F19). Drake Lovelin, for whom this was his first regional competition, won his age group (M11) on both Saturday and Sunday. Sunday’s dual event was cancelled due to poor visibility; it snowed 17 inches over five hours. The team heads to Park City for competition this Saturday and Sunday for divisional championships, which are another opportunity to qualify for junior nationals.
The team will compete locally on January 26-27 as part of the Sun Valley Freestyle Spectacular on Roundhouse slope – mark your calendars and come support SVSEF athletes on their home turf!
VIDEOS OF RUNS
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U.S. Selections
U.S. Selections for freestyle athletes took place December 16-22 in Winter Park, CO. High caliber athletes bulked up the start lists; there were internationally-ranked World Cup athletes from Japan, Australia, Norway, Sweden and Austria in attendance. SVSEF athletes did well; Luke Rizzo ended up top-40 both days. Rainey’s best result was 47th.
FULL RESULTS
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Snowboard athletes with their hardware at Snowbasin.
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SNOWBOARD
By Snowboard Head Coach Andy Gilbert
A small crew went to Snowbasin with parents over the weekend to dip their toes in the slalom and GS waters.
While traditionally not a discipline that we train very often outside of freeriding, it is a huge tool as far as fundamentals and skill-building goes. We had a gate training day prior to the trip which was well received and beneficial.
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Alum and 2018 Olympian Chase Josey took some time to shred with the Snowboard Team before heading to Laax in Switzerland.
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For Christmas weekend, the SVSEF Snowboard Team tried to really mix things up. Rather than run “human slalom” with the crowds, the coaches decided that setting a few stubbies on Cozy with the Alpine team would be time well spent.
Big shout out to Nate Schwing and his coaches for helping make this happen! It was great to see the different disciplines all working together and using the same space.
Sunday saw the team in the classroom with Lindsay Mann, SVSEF Mountain Awareness Coordinator, for an avalanche course. The session covered the basics of what to look for, warning signs, general safety and more. This will be followed up with a 2-hour field study later in January. The importance of this information cannot be overstated. The team seemed to really soak it in, and hopefully this will be the beginning of their continued backcountry safety information. Lindsay really made the information accessible and easy to understand for the kids and is a huge asset to our programs. Thanks, Linds!
We followed up the class with a team lunch at the Hot Water Inn! Mark Oliver and the crew at 3 Jerks Jamaican BBQ are putting out some amazing food; if you haven’t had a chance to try it get in there now! Mark is a SVSEF alumni and has created something pretty special in Warm Springs! He has always supported snowboarding so we wanted to support him. The purpose of the team lunch was to bond a bit, talk about the upcoming season, goals and being a better team as a whole. The most successful teams we have had both on and off the hill were the ones that spent quality time together as a group. We are getting ready to get into the travel portion of our season and things like this help set the tone.
Then it was off to Dollar to close out the weekend!
All in all, a very diverse weekend, just like the sport of snowboarding – that’s how we like it!
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AIR BARN
We are making progress with the installation of the new Supertramp in the Air Barn! Keep an eye out for an edit showing the whole process, coming soon.
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SVSEF Alpine Skiers Qualify for U.S. Nationals and Junior Nationals
Based on season results, six SVSEF athletes have qualified for U.S. National Championships, and nine have qualified for U.S. Alpine Junior National Championships. Additionally, three SVSEF alumni have qualified for Nationals. Both events will be held in Sun Valley this year, so the skiers will have a couple advantages; they are by far most familiar with the courses, and they will have friends and family here to cheer them on. U.S. National Championships will be held March 21-26, and you can learn more about the event HERE. U.S. Alpine Junior National Championships will be held March 28-30, and you can learn more about the event HERE.
SVSEF athletes qualified for U.S. Alpine National Championships:
Erin Smith
Lily Fitzgerald
Spencer Wright
Jack Smith
Hayden Terjeson
John Blackburn
SVSEF alumni qualified for U.S. Alpine National Championships:
Haley Cutler
Kipling Weisel
Tanner Farrow
SVSEF athletes qualified for U.S. Junior Alpine Championships:
Erin Smith
Lily Fitzgerald
Skylar Cooley
Allison Rathfon
Madison Ferris
Spencer Wright
Jack Smith
Hayden Terjeson
John Blackburn
The Week in Review: 1/10/17
I AM SVSEF
SVSEF values of sportsmanship, citizenship, character, teamwork, creativity, passion and perseverance are not ones that are newly championed; they are qualities that have held weight and importance for hundreds of years, across many societies, eras, continents. Perhaps we may think of character as the overarching quality that encompasses all of the other SVSEF values; sportsmanship, citizenship, teamwork, creativity, passion and perseverance all fit under the distinction of mental or moral qualities, which, by definition, make up a distinctive individual’s character.
Athletic success is invigorating, affirming and surely within reach of our athletes, in whatever ways they choose to define it. It is certainly something we strive for with these kids, to help them achieve what they have come to define for themselves as success in sport. Perhaps more than this, and in a way not necessarily discernible from an observer’s perspective, our hope is that lessons learned while in the organization become ingrained, so that they may be useful later in life. Yes, an affinity for athletic greatness is all well and good; but in future endeavors, I’d bet that character traits learned here and now will prove much more useful in the different communities, relationships and challenges in which our athletes find themselves.
In 1900, a year before his first term as president, Theodore Roosevelt addressed the importance of character in relation to intellectual and athletic success in an article for The Outlook.
But, in the long run, in the great battle of life, no brilliancy of intellect, no perfection of bodily development, will count when weighed in the balance against that assemblage of virtues, active and passive, of moral qualities, which we group together under the name of character; and if between any two contestants, even in [college] sport or in [college] work, the difference in character on the right side is as great as the difference of intellect or strength the other way, it is the character side that will win. (The Outlook, Vol. 64, 725)
Roosevelt’s assessment of how crucial strong, positive character is for an individual lends itself to SVSEF’s focus on developing “strong minds,” of helping prepare our athletes for whatever is thrown their way, and to set them up for success.
With this in mind, we’re introducing I am SVSEF: an opportunity each week to highlight our athletes for demonstrating the core values of SVSEF.
Sportsmanship • Citizenship • Character • Teamwork • Creativity • Passion • Perseverance
Here are the I Am SVSEF athletes featured for the week of January 9, 2017:
Alpine: Ethan Marx, an eighth grader at Community School and a member of the Alpine USSA Team, has worked really hard throughout summer training and into the on-snow season. A goal this season for Ethan has been to make the flip 30 – to place 30th on his first run in order to be the first competitor out of the gate on the second. This past weekend, he narrowly missed his goal with a 31st place finish – his enthusiasm and positivity around the prospect is infectious, regardless of your interest in alpine racer lineups. According to USSA head coach Will Brandenburg, “Ethan is always helping his teammates out, and his actions and words are good for morale; he is the epitome of what we’re talking about when we think of qualities we’re hoping are instilled in SVSEF athletes.”
Cross Country: Taylor Dorland, an eighth grader at the Sage School, is a new member of the Cross Country Prep Team after switching from alpine. Kelley Sinnott, Cross Country Prep Team Head Coach, observed, “learning a new sport can be very difficult and frustrating but Taylor has shown strong character, passion and perseverance through her learning process. Taylor is the kind of skier that manages to grit her teeth and grin at the same time; she is eager to learn and improve but also finds fun in ever part of cross country.”
Freestyle: Eliza Marks, a 10th grader at Community School, brings a really positive attitude that lends to the dynamic of the Freestyle Team. She shows up training every day with passion and interest. In competition, even on a bad day that doesn’t necessarily go her way, she doesn’t let it get her down and approaches the next challenge with confidence and anticipation. Coach Kurtis Fieguth commended Eliza for “taking to hear the advice we try to give her, and taking it to the snow – she’s made huge improvements over the past month and a half in doing so.”
Park & Pipe: Arlo Curry is a seventh grader at the Sage School and is a member of the Snowboard Progression Team. He comes to training with a great attitude, a smile on his face every day and a level of engagement that indicates a profound interest and enthusiasm for the sport. Said snowboard team manager Pat Lee, “Arlo performs to his highest standard at all times. He embraces challenges that arise and is committed and diligent to working through them. On top of that, Arlo is a great communicator, which is really helpful for the coaching staff.”
THE WEEK IN REVIEW – 1/10/17
CROSS COUNTRY
Comp, PG, Gold Teams
The SVSEF Cross Country Comp, PG and Gold teams are currently midway through the 2017 L.L. Bean U.S. Cross Country Championships at Soldier Hollow in Park City, Utah. For many athletes across the U.S., Nationals are a pivotal week of racing; solid results can help an athlete qualify for World Cups, U23 World Championships and Junior Nationals. Top athletes from programs and universities across the nation are in Utah for the events, with numbers in attendance close to 600. Overall, courses were quite hard, which is befitting for a national championship event. “As hard as our trails are at Lake Creek,” said Rick Kapala, SVSEF Cross Country Program Director, “these trails are a little bit harder, in anticipation of U23 Worlds, which will take place at the same venue at the end of this month.”
Competition opened up on Saturday, January 7 with a 15/10km interval start skate race. The first day of racing was not really affected by inclement weather, which hit Sunday. But for the first athletes, which were the junior girls, it was tough all around, with cold temperatures, slow snow and a very challenging course. A standout performance for the day came from Gold Team skier Kelsey Phinney, who has typically been stronger in sprint events; with a 26th place finish in a field of 263 women in the 10km, Phinney is setting herself up as a viable contender for a spot on the team for U23 World Junior Championships; she is currently sitting in second with two more races to go this week.
Sunday’s classic sprint race came a drastic shift in temperature, and with it a downpour of rain. Despite the unfavorable conditions, morale on the SVSEF team was really good; kids handled it in stride and managed the challenges the weather presented quite well, which Kapala feels may be a natural extension of the relatively new normalcy of weather extremes in the West. Athletes competed on a newly designed sprint course, and were on some natural snow. It was unfortunate that the rainy weather fell on a classic sprint day; every team at one point or another struggled in regards to skis and getting the wax right for their athletes across the board.
The highlight of the day for SVSEF was an American podium sweep, in a way, as Kevin Bolger, who won the men’s sprint overall, is a former SVSEF PG athlete, and Gold Team skiers Jack Hegman and Cole Morgan went two and three.
Other than Peter Wolter, the junior squad is relatively inexperienced at this level, so these races are a great first step at exposure to higher level racing, in anticipation of them aging and getting into the mix. SVSEF junior boys skied quite well, with Peter Wolter, Eli Jensen and Keene Morowitz all qualifying for junior heats (the top 30 moved on from the initial qualifier). Morowitz had a very noteworthy qualifier, which was a really good indication that he has found his form.
Junior girls were led by Anja Jensen, who as a 14 year old very narrowly missed qualifying. Said Kapala, “for us as coaches, we look beyond the wins with developing athletes – cause that’s not going to tell the story of a 14 year old racing against 20 year olds. This was a tough course with tough conditions, and these girls are just getting started, as most are sophomores or young juniors.” A number of Jensen’s teammates just missed the cutoff as well.
Going into the next two days of races, Hegman is looking really strong for qualifying for U23s – he needs one more decent race to nail it down. Hegman is sitting in first for qualifying, as Patrick Caldwell pre-qualified with early season results. Morgan is also looking good, currently in second; if selections were made based off of the first two races, he would make the team. As he is a sprinter, he’ll have a chance to cement that seed in the race on Thursday. Phinney is also sitting well, in second on the list with two races to go. Five to six athletes, male and female, can qualify for U23s.
Matt Gelso, who has posted exceptional results this season, is down for now with a head cold; it remains to be seen if he’ll have another start at Nationals. Noted Kapala, “Gelso is going to World Cup races later this month regardless, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to push him to the point where it impacts him down the road – we’re going day-by-day with him.” The end goal is World Championships, and even though the process for qualification weighs Nationals a bit heavier than Super Tour races, good results in Europe could get him there. “We want him to go to Europe rested, recharged and ready to race to his abilities; a lot of the competitions there fit his ability set really well,” said Kapala.
Today’s race is a 30/20/10/5 km classic. Athletes will be skiing on a condensed 3.75km loop, made entirely of manmade snow as a result of the rain on Sunday. Thursday’s race is a skate sprint.
Full results here
Devo, Prep, Comp Teams
SVSEF athletes who did not make the trip to Nationals opted for the Snowmaker Classic on Saturday, which is a local classic race. This year, it took place on Sun Valley trails, and athletes selected either ten, five or 3 km for distance. Temperatures were in the double digit negatives when race organizers arrived, and start time was postponed to allow those to rise. This was a good training opportunity for SVSEF athletes, as it gave them experience pushing their bodies on a relatively flat course in extreme temperatures.
Full results here
ALPINE
USSA Team
It was a good weekend for the Alpine USSA team, which competed in Jackson, Wyoming, at Snow King. The event was a qualifier, and SVSEF saw some athletes who made the top 30 for the first time. As a group, the team is in quite a good position to have a number of skiers qualify for Regionals. Overall, 30 girls and 26 boys will qualify, and there are two more opportunities left to make the cut. It was a cold weekend of racing, which made it hard to get a good warm up; the weekend saw less skiing and more time in the lodge. Said USSA head coach Will Brandenburg, “that makes it tough to be able to get into the groove of the weekend; it makes a major difference. The athletes handled the adjustment well.”
Lily Fitzgerald had an amazing weekend; she swept the races, not just for U16s, but overall, and won by over 1.5 seconds each time. At the Eric Hayes Memorial races, she had success but not as much as she wanted to. According to Brandenburg, “she had a good mindset in training the two weeks over Christmas break; she’s been building on her skiing and getting better, and we’re starting to see that hard work pay off. Another highlight of the weekend was having SVSEF boys on the podium for every U16 race; Buey Grossman took second in the first giant slalom, and teammate Jack Smith was second in both the second giant slalom and the slalom.
Full results here
IMD Team
Alpine IMD was in Park City over the weekend for the Park City Jr. IMD Cup. Reflecting on the weekend, head coach James Tautkus said, “this past weekend was a good test of our team’s strength from top to bottom. It affirmed our efforts thus far and indicated where we need to put in the work. As a staff we are very proud of what these athletes have been capable of and hope it encourages them to take their effort to the next level."
SVSEF did well across the events, claiming three out of six first place finishes between men and women. Ryder Sarchett took the men's overall title for the weekend by winning the slalom and the second giant slalom. Anhwei Kirk won the slalom and was third in the first giant slalom. Marit Kaiser was second in both GS races and Nathan Gowe was fifth in the slalom, sixth in the first giant slalom and second in the second giant slalom. Josh Blackburn was fifth in the first giant slalom and his sister Jessica was third in the slalom.
Full results will be posted soon
FIS Team
FIS athletes were also met by extreme cold in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for the IMD Cup events. Temperatures sat around -25 the first day of racing and -26 the second. Athletes faced the elements head on; top finishes were posted by Jake Blackburn, who had two top-ten results in the giant slalom events, Carter Jendrezek, who finished out the weekend in eighth in the slalom, Libby Kaiser, who maintained consistency across all races, going 16-14-11, and Grace Pepin, who jumped up from results in the 40s and 50s on January 6 and 7 to 15th in the slalom on January 8.
Full results will be posted soon
FREESKIING
The SVSEF Freeski A-team made a trip to Colorado last week. Will Griffith competed for the chance to make the Rev Tour in slopestyle, and Hanna Blackwell spent her time logging significant training hours in the halfpipe.
Griffith skied two stand-up runs, scoring highest on the second. Skiing into the first rail, he spun a front 270 out landing switch, went backwards into the first jump spinning a right side 360 with tail grab landing switch, continued backwards into the second jump spinning a left cork 540 with a Japan grab, skied forward off the third jump spinning a left rodeo 720 with a safety grab, landing forward and sliding the last rail spinning a back 450 out. Griffith, who just turned 16 years old, ended up in sixth place. He competed against Yuki Sato (20 years old) and Gen Sasaki (20 years old), who are both from Japan and who are trying to make a bid for the Olympics in 2018. Said freestyle head coach Tyler Conway, “being at an event like this and seeing what it takes to get first place at this level of competition helps an athlete develop mentally and prepares them for future events.”
Hanna Blackwell also traveled to Colorado to train in Copper Mountain’s halfpipe. This halfpipe is one of two open in North America; the other is in Calgary. Hanna was not the only athlete taking advantage of the feature; David Wise, halfpipe Olympic Gold medalist and three-time X-Games Gold medalist, was training on the same halfpipe. Commented Conway, “it takes a lot of repetition and exposure in the halfpipe to get better. We’re looking forward to having the halfpipe at Dollar complete soon, as it will allow SVSEF athletes to have the advantage of getting in laps and pushing their halfpipe skiing skills.”
Full results here
FREESTYLE
The Bumpin’ at the Bird course at Snowbird proved more than adequate for SVSEF Freestyle athletes, who took to it this past weekend. The event counts towards overall rankings and for qualifying for Junior Nationals and U.S. Freestyle Championships. SVSEF had four boys in top 10 the first day, with Holden Largay winning overall, and teammates Brody Buchwalter, Luke Rizzo and Alex LaFleur going five-six-seven. On the second day, SVSEF had four in top ten again, but this included different athletes, which speaks to the spread and range of the team. Alex LaFleur made a ton of improvements, and coach Kurtis Fieguth commented that his run on the second day was the best he’s seen from LaFleur thus far. Luke Rizzo was on a similar trajectory, making significant improvements over the weekend – both seemed to learn a lot about their form throughout the events. In the girls’ competitions, Eliza Marks finished strong in duals, with a second place finish overall. Addie Rafford was third in moguls. Said Fieguth, “all of our kids skied really well, especially going up against strong skiers in the division; they really held their own.”
Results can be found here (Sunday’s results aren’t yet posted)