Full Swing Across the country, young skiers are charging down hills, aiming to work their way up the ranks. BY HANK McKEE
Samantha Busby
It’s already been a busy month for FIS and junior racing. Starting on
the east coast with TD Bank Eastern Cup races at Okemo, Vermont’s Chris
Frank, Bobby Farrell and Sasha Zaitloff finished 1-2-3 in the Jan. 11 GS. The
next day, Michael Cremeno creamed the field with a big GS margin over
Kitt Flowers in second and Vincent LeBrun-Fortin in third. Okemo hosted
a super G Jan. 13 with a very close result; the top eight skiers were within
the same second. LJ Lubow got the win Taylor Vest-Burton was second and
Phil Brown was third. Marshall Tucker in fourth and Max Marno in fifth
were in single digit race points.
HEATHER BLACK
In the Rockies, the Surefoot Colorado Ski Cup series had a set of super G’s
at Keystone. Shane McLean led the Strong sisters, Elizabeth and Anne, in
the opening race Jan. 4, but Anne Strong got the win in the nightcap ahead
of Katherine Ryan with McLean picking up third. The men rolled in for
their turn with Nathan Asoian dusting Fletcher McDonald for the win with
Cody Unicume in third. McDonald evidently learned something in the first
run because he turned on the afterburners for a huge win in heat two over
Ryan McConnell in second and Charlie Kidd in third.
The Northwest Cup at Schweitzer Bowl had a pair of FIS giant slaloms and
four super G’s kicking off Jan. 3. Paige Minana and David Owsley did some
serious scoring, each winning their respective giant slaloms and the first super G. Minanan got the GS win over Clare Wise in second and Ali Gunesch
in third while Owsley got by Carl Noges in second and Michael Radford in
third. In the first SG it was Minana over Keree Smith with Jacqueline Wiles
getting third. Owsley, Noges and Radford again went 1-2-3, respectively.
Wiles got the final SG win over Jetta Rackleff with Courtney Altringer in
third; Noges stepped up to take the men’s second SG over Hank Schuler.
Radford, again, got third.
