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MMST update |
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Friday, 11 January 2008 |
Mammoth battles storms to hold races
It was good news and bad news for Mammoth. The good news was several feet of desperately needed new snow fell just in time for the Western Region's J2 Classification races, held Dec. 21-22 at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area.
The bad news was two days of GS racing had to be canceled, leaving the event to consist of just two slaloms. In the women's race on Dec. 21, Mammoth Mountain Ski Team's Geordie Lonza leaded the pack, picking up the first win over Audrey Calandra and Gabrielle Hall. On day two it was Lonza again owning her home hill, with Conroy moving up from fifth to second, followed by Abby Gould filling the final podium spot. Two other MMST racers, Emily James and Kaylee Cortopassi finished 4th and 5th respectively. In the men's division, Nick Cohee led the pack on day one, followed by a fast first year J2 Bryce Bennett, and Jared Goldberg in third. MMST’s Gerritt Wormhoudt took a top 15 result placing 13th. On day two Michael Radford, now skiing for Sun Valley, took advantage of a few Cohee bobbles and stole the win, with Cohee 2nd and Dancy 3rd. Wormhoudt had his second top 15, moving up to take 11th place.
FIS women J2 National Qualifier, take two
The FIS women returned to Mammoth for four more days of Western Region J2 National Qualifier racing that should have run from Jan. 3-6, though once again the schedule was altered by Mother Nature. Mammoth took advantage of a terrific race department and a calm before the storm to put on two giant slalom races on in one day. This was wise on their part as the next three days were canceled due to the blizzard-like conditions that moved in on the evening of Jan.3. Lonza again was on top of the podium in both races, with James, Rose Martin and Lauren Eller joining her on the front page in 5th, 8th and a tie for 15th. In the second race, Lonza was the only member of the Mammoth team to take a top 15. For the fourth race out of four, Lonza took gold.
Cortopassi starts the new year racing
Mammoth Mountain Ski Team member Kaylee Cortopassi competed Jan. 3-6, in a NorAm Cup series at Mont Ste. Anne, Quebec. In the giant slalom held Jan. 3, Canadian Marie-Pier Prefontaine took first place with a two-run time of 2:05.07, followed by reigning NorAm overall and super G champion Leanne Smith (Conway, N.H.). Smith finished a second ahead of third place finisher Jenny Lathrop (North Conway, N.H.) "Well, we had a nice day with Leanne Smith second. She had a great first run but had a little bit of a bobble on her second run so she got pushed back," said Coach Kraig Sourbeer.
According to Sourbeer, while the hill was in good shape, the snow was a little softer than what would have made for perfect racing conditions. "They've just had so much [snow] up here that it's been tough for them to stay on top of it, but they've done a fine job of preparing the hill and it's cold, so it's getting better each day,” said Sourbeer. "I think we're looking to get more competitive and get a few more girls up there in the top five. Today wasn't our best day, but the girls are poised and ready to fire it up. We're stepping it up tomorrow." Cortopassi finished the race in 41st.
The following day, U.S. Ski Team's Keely Kelleher (Big Sky, Mont.) had the fastest second run Friday and moved into second place in a NorAm Cup giant slalom. U.S. skiers took five of the top-10 places. Larisa Yurkiw of Canada finished first with a two-race time of 2:09.22, followed by Kelleher at 2:09.60. Marie-Pier Prefontaine, was third with 2:10.21.
"We had another decent day. The bright spot was Keely Kelleher. She won the second run and it was really good for her to step up and show us what she can do," said Coach Kraig Sourbeer. "We knew that she had it in her and we got a few things straightened out with her skiing and she was able to put the hammer down in the second run." American and Canadian racers each took up five spots in the top 10, but according to Sourbeer, the competition comes as a needed challenge for the U.S. Team. "Right now these guys have a couple of strong girls coming through and the Canadians are definitely on a roll,” Sourbeer said. “That's good to see, though, because it's going to raise our level of competition. We're seeing where we stand right now in female GS and we're just going to need to keep plugging away. We're rolling into our stronger event right now so we're really looking forward to garnering some World Cup start spots for next year." MMST’s Cortopassi took 45th place during the event.
After having the fastest time in the first run, reigning NorAm slalom champion Kiley Staples (Park City, Utah) won a NorAm Cup slalom Saturday, Jan 5. For the second day in a row, U.S. skiers took five of the top 10 places. "We're excited. We certainly had sights for Kiley being easily in the top three today," Sourbeer said. "We were looking for that top spot on the podium and we got it. It was a good thing to get off our back and get a NorAm gold in tech." Staples finished with a two-run time of 1:50.25, followed by Canadian Megan Ryley at 1:51.00. Larisa Yurkiw, also of Canada, finished third with 1:51.05.
"With Kiley winning by .75, it's a good indication that she's on track and it gives our whole group confidence," Sourbeer said. "I think that we're moving ahead with slalom pretty nicely.” Warmer weather and soft snow has been a hurdle for the skiers on the already challenging course in Mont Ste. Anne, according to Sourbeer. "The hill is a challenging one. It's got a couple of steep rolls and some long, steep pitches. The snow has warmed up a bit, so some of the turns were chunking out and so we had some rough stuff, especially on first runs. Some of the girls were able to handle it pretty well, but others weren't. There were a lot of DNFs [did not finish] there." Cortopassi, however, was able to hang on and finish 31st.
The U.S. Ski Team's Julia Ford (Plymouth, N.H.) finished 5th in the fourth race at Mont Ste. Anne, Que. In the NorAm Cup slalom held Sunday, Jan. 6, four U.S. skiers were in the top 10 on a race day that was plagued with soft snow and warming weather.
"We did have a bright spot with Julia, but it was just a tough day," Sourbeer said. "Both courses had some major problems with the snow conditions because it warmed up quite a bit during the night and so it was pretty tricky. Obviously there were a lot of DNFs [did not finish] in the first and second run. Overall, it was a tough day." Cortopassi was one of the racers who fell victim to the soft snow conditions and did not finish the race.
Log 33
Geordie Lonza races to her fourth win at Mammoth.
Mammoth lands two on
Western Region Elite Ski Team
Nine Far West athletes, including Mammoth skiers Kaylee Cortopassi and Geordie Lonza, were recently named to the 2007/2008 Western Region Elite Ski Team (W.E.S.T.). Far West's share of the 21-member team, which was tied with Inter-Mountain for the most athletes represented, shows the strength of the division. "The successful restart of the US Development Team mandated this to become more of a regional development team this season," said Lester Keller, Western Region Director.
Men: Errol Kerr, Squaw Valley; Nick Cohee, Kirkwood; Sean Higgins, Squaw Valley; Keith Moffat, Squaw Valley; Nick Daniels, Squaw Valley. Women: Kayla Fry, Team Savage; Erica Jacobson, Team Savage; Kaylee Ann Cortopassi, Mammoth; Geordie Lonza, Mammoth.
-FW Skiing and USST
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Last Updated ( Friday, 18 January 2008 )
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