WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM

The girls' weekend started off strong with three SSRA athletes in the top twenty (Charlotte Dubiel-10th, Taylor Gordon-16th and Sierra Schrankel-19th). This was the best showing for SSRA in recent memory on the girls' side!

Charlotte Dubiel

Even more impressive were the year-of-birth finishes. Schrankel was 4th for the 1993's, Dubiel was 10th for the 1992's, Gordon was 13th for the 1992's, Lee Organick was 18th for the 1993's and Carson Ramsden was 20th for the 1993's!

Sierra Schrankel

In addition, many of the later seeds had big move-ups. Lee Organick was the SSRA move-up "Queen", moving up 53 places from 119 to 66th place. Gordon moved up 41, Ramsden 39 and Sarah Lorber moved up 38 places. Way to go SSRA ladies! This was a top 5 team performance amongst 21 PNSA teams!!

MENS SLALOM

The men's slalom was a struggle and true test of determination as was evidenced by the long list of DNF's, DSQ's and number of athletes who had to hike. JM Larson led the SSRA charge finishing 34th.

John-Michael Larson

Year of birth placings were particularly impressive with Ty Cowles-Meyer finishing 2nd for the 1995's, Larson 4th for the 1994's and Stephen Thoen 7th for the 1994's. These were truly promising results for the coming years!

Ty Cowles-Meyer

Perhaps most awe-inspiring were the move-ups on the boys' side. Thoen led the boys as the move-up (bibbo) "King" with a climb of 92 PLACES! Austin Walker moved up an impressive 55 spots, Cowles-Meyer 53, Larson 34 and Grant Oakley 23. This was a great team effort, boys. Excellent job!

On a side note, first run-hikers, Walker and Kevin Robinson, posted top 15 second runs from the back of the pack. These performances prove that Austin Walker (Texas Ranger) and Kevin Robinson (K-dog) are two of the most talented and up and coming junior ski racers in PNSA.

Name

Overall

Placing

Name

Overall

Placing

Sierra Schrankel

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM

On the morning of the men's GS, we arrived to a hill that had not been groomed to insure that the snow was hard, instead of granular. What we found was a world-cup surface, not just rock hard, but glazed and ultra-slick! This made for another day of challenging racing. In fact, many of the top seeds from around the division had difficulty holding an edge on the ice.

JM Larson led the SSRA men with an 18th overall placing!! Again the move-ups were impressive with Thoen leading the charge winning the move-up king award, again, with a 83 place ascent. Larson moved up and incredible 68 spots and Oakley, an amazing 49 spots. Kevin Robinson was the team player of the day, hanging in through difficulties in both runs to finish with the fourth scored team time.

Alex Burandt and Austin Walker were two athletes that fell prey to the unforgiving conditions. Both had aggressive, fast runs going when they experienced hard, video-clip worthy, crashes. Going for it...IS ski racing, and the risks, inherent. The coaches are proud of your all-out efforts, gentlemen. Ty Cowles-Meyer, after leading the 1995 boys after the first run, missed a delay in the second run, nonetheless showing the division that he is the fastest first-year J5 in the division.

WOMEN'S SLALOM

The women's course conditions were no easier than the men's on Sunday. Perhaps more challenging than the snow conditions was the fact that the racers were moving in and out of shade and the eyes struggled to adjust.

Sierra Schrankel rose above the challenges and had her second top twenty finish of the weekend, leading the SSRA gals with a 15th place. Year of birth placings were again strong amongst the SSRA girls. Schrankel notched a 3rd against the 1993 girls. Lee Organick was 16th amongst the 1993's while Carson Ramsden was the 18th 1993 girl.

The SSRA girls were stand-outs once again in the move-up department. Sarah Lorber and Sierra Schrankel tied for the SSRA move-up "Queen" honors finishing 59 spots higher than their bib numbers. Ramsden moved up 47, while Lee Organick bibboed 40 places.

Charlotte Dubiel and Taylor Gordon were very impressive during the first run of slalom on Sunday. Both clocked top 10 times, but missed gates. Although being disqualified, both Charlotte and Taylor were able to see how fast they are compared to the best in the division, and, in fact the region (those J4's who made it to the Western Region J4 festival cleaned up!).

Mattie Orme, who hiked during the first run, showing her team spirit, came back to score a top 15 run in the afternoon run starting from the back of the pack. Outstanding. All three athletes, Charlotte, Taylor and Mattie are top J4 athletes in PNSA and the Western Region. Very talented, indeed.