MASTERS
friend and rival Nancy Auseklis in Class 10. Barb Settel and
Nadine Price racked up wins for the East in Classes 8 and 7,
respectively. Easterner turned Montanan Densmore put down
the third-fastest time of the day to take control of Class 6, and
Alexandrescu looked like a 20-year-old World Cup athlete in
taking the women’s race by four seconds.
Once again, Neubauer was the only male to come out in
front of Alexandrescu with a win in the 9s, while Bob Andree
continued his romp through the 7s with a seven-second mar-
gin of victory.
Things weren’t going as swimmingly over on the A/B sla-
lom venue. The eastward-facing hill had turned to mush with
temperatures climbing into the 50s. Tons of salt and continu-
ous sideslipping efforts kept the courses skiable, but it was a
rough ride with bathtub ruts forming on the steep top portion
of the course, and holes appearing at the bottom. Wilhelmsen
showed some agility in winning both runs in Class 6. “In that
first run, I felt like a rag doll,” laughed Wilhelmsen. “But they
did a great job. Now I have to do some serious healing for
tomorrow’s GS.”
Mike Falk, a Park City local originally from New York,
squeezed by another New Yorker, Greg Sarkis, to round out
the podium.
Rick Slabinski
LISA DENSMORE
Al and Paul’s Big Adventure
In a ritual that has spanned the past seven years, four
days before the start of the national championships, 81-
year-olds Al Sevigny and Paul Rich packed up Rich’s aging
Chrysler Pacific in New Hampshire and headed west. Just
like Thelma and Louise, they were bound for Utah — only
their story had a happy ending. Sevigny swept the Class
12 gold medals, while Rich collected two silvers and two
bronze medals. When asked how he managed to stay so
spry after all these years, Sevigny said: “You know, I didn’t
start skiing until I was 50 years old. So I’m like a good car
that’s been parked in the garage for a long time.” Sevigny
was last seen with a group of snowboarders dancing to
a grunge band in the base area village. He couldn’t have
stayed too long, however, because he still had to join Rich
to pack up the car for the trip to Mammoth Mountain for the
International Criterion races.
Cooper Drury, Alphonse Sevigny and Paul Rich occupy
the podium for the combined at Nationals in Park City.
