3/14/08 - J2 Nationals, and other success stories
Congratulations to Gabby Anthony for her victory at the J2 National Super G!! A fabulous result for herself and the team. Also congratulations to Will Kanellos and Russell Lorang for earning spots in the event. It is an honor to be named to the team and be able to compete in that prestigious event. One of the things the victory earned Anthony is a slot in the US Nationals later this month at Sugarloaf, Maine. SBST's Jake Baker was also able to gain a spot to race in the Nationals. Great Job!!
Coming up, SBST has several athletes named to the Western Region Junior Championships team for the event in Mt. Bachelor, Oregon and others named to the Western Region FIS Finals team. That event takes place in Park City, Utah.
2/19/08 - The Championship Push
At this time of year SBST athletes are striving for their season goals. Whether their goal is J2 Nationals or Western Region Junior Championships (the "JO's") or to lower their points below a certain level, this is the time of year where they need to be hitting their stride.
Many Sugar Bowl team members were able to strive for their goals at the Western Region FIS speed series in Whitefish, Montana. Unfortunately weather played a role in cutting the series short so only two womens and one men's DH's were able to be completed. Jake Baker continued his monster speed year with a 7th place finish for the men. Gabrielle Anthony proved she has what it takes in speed with her 10th place finish for the women.
Over President's Day weekend some team members advanced their goal toward making JO's with their results at Bear Mountain, California in the qualifying slalom races. Included there were two top 10's by Timothy Neal with Zoe Fiorio and Sonia Giacommazi also on the front page.
Next up is Jackson, Wyoming for the last J2 National qualifier.
1/31/08 - Where are they now?
As usual, January found Sugar Bowl athletes spread all around North America at various races. A partial list of venues hosting races with SBST members included Steamboat, Park City, Snowbird, Alpine Club and Georgian Peaks (Ontario, Canada) and Beaver Creek. Closer to home (in fact, AT home!) were FIS races hosted at Sugar Bowl in early January and at Northstar in late January.
There were some outstanding results by SBST including a 68 point SG finish by Jake Baker in Beaver Creek and a very impressive 63 point GS finish by Andrew Willoughby coming from bib 39 to take 11th place at Georgian Peaks. Meanwhile at Northstar a host of SBST ladies made the front page during the series. They included Jacqueline Lebel with an impressive 2nd place in the first Super G. Also in the top 15 were Gabrielle Anthony, Kristina Ress, Abby Gould, Sonia Giacomazzi and Katie Fitzpatrick. For the men, Mark Engel led the way with two top 10 finsihes and Brent Talbott made the front page twice with MacLane Brady breaking through on the final day.
During the home series for the men at Sugar Bowl, Rob Bradford and Matt Richardson were the top finishers in the first race. The second slalom included front page finishes from Mark Engel and Will Kanellos. The women were at Mammoth for their FIS series where Gabriell Anthony, Kristina Ress, Abby Gould and Christine Pulford all pulled off top 15's. The final day's result had Anthony and Ress coming in 4th and 5th.
12/19/07 - Early Season Success at Mammoth
The race season got off to a great start for Sugar Bowl in USSA racing at Mammoth Mountain. In the first slalom race the men took 3rd, 4th and 5th (Kanellos, Scannell and Richardson). The team repeated the feat in the 2nd slalom (Willoughby, Lorang and Smaine). The GS races were even better for the men with Mark Engel winning both races. In the first race Jake Baker took 3rd and in the second race the SBST men swept the podium (Engel, Scannell and K. Smaine)! The top of the women's races saw Jacqueline Lebel taking a 1st and 2nd in slalom. Haley Meyer was the top SBST finisher in the two GS races with a 6th and 10th.
12/03/07 - Thank goodness for snowmaking!
Thanks to the wonderful staff at Sugar Bowl resort, Academy athletes are training every day on Trailblazer. On Saturday and Sunday the "weekend warriors" got time on snow as well. This follows on three very successful pre-season camps. The first was in August in Chile (see below), the second was a 4 day slalom camp at Copper Mountain in late October and the most recent was a fantastic 10 day camp at Loveland in November.
Obviously we need some natural snow but we are off and running for the season. Best of luck to all our athletes in the competitions to come!
9/21/07 - Chile Pre-Season Camp is a Great Success!
Athletes have been working on their preparation for the upcoming season since the last of the snow melted last spring. Conditioning exercises and on snow training at Mt. Hood have taken place. In August, much of the J1/J2 team spent 12 days in Chile at El Colorado resort. The camp was highly successful as we had great training weather and a super group of athletes all ready to "take it to the next level". If you'd like to get a feel for what that training session was all about, check out the video link to a 5 minute video highlight reel below!
