Alpine Update - North American Report

February 2, 2011 ~We’ll start with news of the youngest of the GMVS crew: the ‘G7s’, or 7^th-graders. They trekked all the way to Jay Peak on Sunday for a tough race, and here is Coach Charlie Powell’s report:

That hill was VERY difficult to ski (partly the reason we held training there on Saturday). The course setters had the gates stacked AND offset to try and keep terminal velocity to a minimum. Consequently, there were many big crashes and DNF's. That being said, our group had some incredible results. Josh Turner hip checked in the first run, only to come back with a 2^nd place in the finale. Isobel Morton took 7^th in the opener and 14^th in the second run.

The J3s were on main Street at Stowe on Sunday for a GS, and freshman Charlie Raposo turned in a solid effort, taking second place overall. Scott Schibli ’15 was 4^th, with classmate Inigo Larriu just edging out Chris Post ’15 (by 0.07) for 11^th. Jay Boland ’14 also skied well, finishing 14^th. For the girls, the top result was freshman Ellie Boynton in 7^th, with Amelia Kaplan ’16 taking 9^th.

 For the FIS crowd, there was action all over. In Waterville valley, NH, senior AJ Ginnis swept a pair of Development FIS slaloms. He had a lot of company on the first page, with Kane Boynton ’12 (8^th and 9^th), Kendall Pasteris ’12 (10^th and 14^th), Mitch Grimmer ’12 (14^th and 15^th) and Tomek Dobrzanski ’11 (15^th first day) joining in the fun.

Just across the White Mountains a ways, the ladies had a pair of Eastern Cup slaloms at Cranmore. Devin Delaney ’10 bested the field (and a particularly nasty rut on one gate in particular…) on a brutally cold first day, followed by Anna Kikut ’11 in second (her best slalom to date) and Katie Fitzpatrick  ’11 in 6^th.  Day Two saw Delaney take 3^rd, with Sara Kikut ’11 5^th and Jackie Maier ’10 8^th.

 At the same time, just a bit farther north and east, the TD Bank Eastern Cup slaloms were held, and UNH skier Chad Lawrence ’09 zipped into 5^th place in the opener, with Middlebury College’s Andrew McNealus ’08 finishing 13^th. In the second race, Dartmouth’s Peter Ankeny PG ’08 took 6^th, and the story was Danny Duffy ‘12, who jumped from 63^rd to 29^th to finish second for the J2s.

Up in Quebec, Mont Sainte-Anne played host to several races. In GS, Simon-Claude Toutant ’10 was 4^th on the second day, with Fred Durand ‘08 skiing well in 6^th and 9^th. Senior Katherine Lessard was 13^th in the second GS.

 The domestic FIS calendar also included 2 downhills as part of the Speed Week at Sugarloaf. True to form, the race series brought with it a blizzard, but before the snow fell they got both races in on Tuesday. In the opening race, senior Sandy Vietze was impressive in skiing to second place, with junior Brian McLaughlin hot on his heels in 3^rd. Jack Kirby ’11 was 8^th, while Danny Duffy was again big news, taking 9^th from 29^th start position. Miles Derrick ’11 skied to 15^th place. In the second race, Duffy again made an impressive move, this time taking 4^th place, just behind McLaughlin. Derrick moved up a bit to 13^th. In the ladies’ races, Anna Kikut had the best finishes, taking 5^th and 6^th place. Susan Campbell ‘12 and Simona Croccolo ‘12 went 13^th /15^th in the opener, with Simona moving up one spot in the second race.