Pictured: Mammoth Mountain Ski Cross coach James Tautkus and Tyler Wallasch stop for a photo during Wallasch’s last training session before leaving for Canada to compete in a NorAm Ski Cross event./

Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation presents A Team Awards

According to the Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation web site, “Athletes are nominated for this award by their coaches for demonstrating performance above and beyond normal efforts. ‘A Team’ athletes exceed the goals we set in an environment of high expectations. They may achieve a significant result in competition, or they may make a major personal breakthrough in their training on the mountain.” On Feb. 23, 2013 the following athletes were recognized for their Achievement, Athletics and Attitude: MES Ski Team-Will Posey; MHS Ski Team-Ryan Foulke; MHS SB Team-Fleur Connolly; MMS Ski Team-Sydney Genchi; MMST Free Ski-Aaron Durlester; SB Jr Elite-Jed Sky; SB Jr-Peter Danner; SB Devo-Cody Beavers, Kinsley White; U16-Emily Steiner, Erin Maidman, Alex Colby, Zac Kelly; U14-Russell Hicks, Luke Davenport, Carrie Brody, Cary Walker; U12-Bruno Amon-Franceschi, Hallie Clute; U10-Chaney Szeto, Aiden LeFrancois, Jade Steiner, Andrew Nachman, Katie McClure, Madison Jaffrey, Thea Amon-Franceschi; All Mtn, Chargers-Echo Seireeni, Emily Ellis, Ella Green, Caitlyn Callin, Sara James, Justin Martin, Devon Cole; Mighty Mites-Kate Anderson, Skye Peterson, Jake Westfall, Sean Dempsey, Ollie Moiz, Dylan Jeffries; Nordic-Trace Calvin, Connor Kusomoto, Harrison Manzano, Alexia Craven and Sophia McKee

USASA Slopestyle event held during snowstorm

The second USASA Slopestyle event was held at Mammoth Mountain March 3, 2013 under a heavy snowstorm with very limited visibility. The first place winners in their respective divisions are as follows: Open Class Women_Alexandra Morris, Danville, Calif.; Open Skier Women_Carly Margulies, Mammoth Lakes, Calif.; Open Class Men_Brock Crouch, Carlsbad, Calif.; Open Skier

Trent Wallentine (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) takes bronze for the Menehue Boys (10-11) in a snowy USASA Slopestyle contest.

Men_Graham Knot; Ruggie Boys 7 and under_John Connolly, Mammoth Lakes, Calif.; Grommet Girls_Tessa Maud, Carlsbad, Calif.; Grommet Boys_Dusty Henricksen, Big Bear City, Calif.; Menehune Girls_Skye Inn, Pacific Palisades, Calif.; Menehune Boys_ Justus “Judd” Henkes V, San Diego, Calif.; Skier Boys_Cody LaPlante, Reno, NV; Breaker Girls_Kai Shafer, Trabuco Canyon, Calif.; Breaker Boys_Carson Dohan, Malibu, Calif.; Skier Men_Peter Hensley, Mammoth Lakes, Calif.; Youth Women_Jordyn Nowakowski, San Diego, Calif.; Youth Men_Jordan Rayward; Junior Men_Ashton Hammer, Murray, UT; Men Jam_Hugh Marsden, Sydney, NSW. The final Mammoth USASA event of the season, a rail jam, will be held Sunday, Mar. 10, with the USASA National Championships scheduled to be held Mar. 30-April 4, 2013 at Copper Mountain, Colo.

Four Mammoth racers compete in U18 National Junior Championships at Mammoth Mountain

Charlee Kelly, Tyler Wormhoudt, Lucas Underkoffler and Campbell Baster are representing Mammoth Mountain Ski Team at the prestigious U18 National Junior Championships, being held at Mammoth Mountain, March 5-12, 2013. The Men’s and Women’s Slalom events were held on March 5, 2013, while the Men’s and Women’s Parallel Slaloms scheduled for March 6, 2013 were cancelled due to heavy snow and high winds. The series is scheduled to resume Thursday, March 6, weather permitting.

Tubbs podiums at High School State Championships

Six Mammoth High School snowboarders (Fleur Connolly, Sam Hein, Tyler Searles, Kenny Schreiber, Devin Tubbs and Emmett Hugelman) traveled to Mt. Shasta, Calif. for the CNISSF Championships 2013. On Mar. 4 Devin Tubbs was third after his first run of giant slalom, then Tubbs came back strong to take second in his second run to take the win by .89 seconds. Tubbs’ teammates finished as follows: Hugelman 25^th, Searles 27^th, Hein 33^rd and Schreiber 49^th. Connolly, the sole Mammoth women to compete, took fifth place in the Women’s GS.  On Mar. 5 Connolly came back in the slalom to take fourth place. Tubbs added another podium result by finishing third in the men’s slalom, while Seales was 23^rd, Hein 31^st, and Schreiber 61^st. Chance Thompson, who suffered and injury mid-way through the season qualified for the giant slalom, but he was unable to attend the championships due to his injury. Emma Romo, MHS High School Snowboard coach reported from Mt. Shasta via Facebook, “This man (Tubbs) taking gold in GS and bronze in Slalom. Up against kids who compete at the national level. Such a proud coach. Everyone did awesome!”  The skiers will compete in slalom and giant slalom on Mar. 5 and 6.

MMS and MHS Nordic Racers Take Podium Spots at State Champs

Mammoth Middle School Nordic racers stormed the podium at the California/Nevada Interscholastic Ski & Snowboard Federation (CNISSF) State Championship Races held at Auburn Ski Center, Saturday March 2, 2013.  This was the final race of the 2013 CNISSF season. MMS girls, led by Meghan Thompson (10th), took the podium as a team, finishing third in the team competition, with only five girls.  Also contributing to this effort were: 15th Place medalist Sofia McKee, Alexia Craven (26th), Katrionna Furness (38th) and Denise Apodaca (51st). Not to be outdone, three MMS boys placed among the top 15 out of 76 racers and took Second Place in team competition.  Connor Kusumoto passed a racer from North Tahoe in the home stretch to claim the title of State Champion. Trace Calvin (4th) and Harrison Manzano (10th) also earned medals for MMS.  Jared Mahler (16th) just missed out on receiving a medal for this race, but was honored with a 12th place medal overall for the 2013 season.  Finishes by Eddie Mathiessen (20th), Jacob Mahler (29th), Liam Bassler (39th), Dominic Manzano (56th), Tanner Bissonette (74th) and Jack Peckenpaugh (75th) contributed to the Team Silver Medal. In the 2013 final season standings, Calvin placed third and Kusumoto finished fourth overall.  Mammoth local Cameron Small finished second overall in the final standings and Fifth in this race.  The team press release stated, “Parents wish to express their gratitude to coaches Lauren Oxford and Mike Nelson, for without their time, effort, enthusiasm, dedication and guidance, our kids would not have had such a successful season.  While this was the final school race of the year, many MMS racers will continue training for the upcoming Mammoth Biathlon and Mammoth Marathon races.”

On the Mammoth High School side, Amanda Kirkeby was seventh and Kylie LaFranboise 28^th overall for the women. MHS men’s results were as follows: Jack Roten 23^rd, Carson Bold, 25^th, Calvin Forsythe 29^thand Philip Oxford 31^st. In addition to being 29^th overall, Forsythe won the classic portion of the race (JV boys) and 4th overall after the skate (JV boys.) He placed 6th for the season (JV boys).

Local snowboarders score wins

The Recon Tour was started by Hookit and Monster Energy and is described as “an intelligence gathering mission to find the best up and coming athletes in the nation. Hookit and Monster Energy work closely with key partners to support the future of action sports and provide an improved platform for athletes.” At the 2013 Winter Recon Tour event held at Mammoth Mountain on March 2, 2013 participants competed against fellow peers in respective age and open categories. After the event Ben Wisner, Mammoth Head Snowboard Coach, announced the successful results achieved by his team members saying he was very proud of,  “JJ Rayward taking first place and Matt Williams second place in the 15-17 year old Boys. Joss McAlpine placed first in the 18 and over division; Kelly Berger was $300 richer with her first place in the Women’s Open division and Jed Sky took second place in the Men’s Open. Mammoth had a podium sweep in the Boys 11 and under with Judd Henkes first, Trent Wallentine second, and Cody Beavers third. To round out the Mammoth wins, Kaili Shafer was first in the 12-14 year old girls.”

Wisner also reported that two of his junior team athletes, “Danica Duffy and Chloe Kim had great success at the Burton U.S. Open held Feb. 28-Mar. 2 at Vail, Colo. Duffy placed 14^th in the Women’s Slopestyle event, while Kim took 12^th place in the Women’s Halfpipe.” Mammoth Mountain’s Kelly Clark went on to take the Women Halfpipe title. This was Clark’s sixth title title at the US Open. In its 31 years, she has the most titles. Clark’s first run won and on her third and final run had the win locked up and threw a huge 1080, but didn’t stick it. After her win, Clark commented, “Being the winningest US Open champ is such an honor, it’s a big win for me today, especially since I grew up going to this event and it inspired me to be a snowboarder.”

Friends and family take part in JLA Banked Slalom

In 2002 Transworld Snowboarding wrote, “Jeff Anderson is snowboarding: True Mammoth local. First-generation grom. Child of the 80s. Skateboarder. Student of life. … Courteous. Hometown sensation. Frequent flier. Doodler. Enthusiastic. Impatient. Easily distracted. Season-pass holder. Internationally recognized. Down for life. Ready to go.” Sadly, Anderson died February 23, 2003. To mark the 10^th anniversary of Anderson’s death his family felt the best way to celebrate his life would be “a fun day of shredding with Jeff’s friends and family on the mountain he grew up on.” As Michael Gregory, Director of Terrain Parks, Sponsorships, and Athletes put it, “I grew up idolizing Jeffy as did most of the kids my age. To bring the event to Mammoth for the 10-year celebration of Jeff is next level. We look forward to putting on a great event for everyone.” The “fun day” that started out with wind gust up to 130 mph and snowing heavily, but this hardy group of athletes had gathered to honor the memory of someone very special and no amount of weather was going to stop them. The show must go on and it did. Mammoth Head Snowboard Coach Ben Wisner reported that, “The JLA banked slalom was so much fun…and the team represented well. Grey McCalla first, Joss McAlpin second and Andre Escobar third in 17 and over. Brock Crouch first, JJ Jj Rayward second and Judd Henkes third. We were well represented in the top 10 of 16 and under. Nice work team thanks Mammoth Unbound for putting on the event what a great way to honor a legend of Mammoth.”

U14 race Super G at Alpine Meadows

The U14 Team headed up to Alpine Meadows on March 1,2013 for a pair of Super G races. Unfortunately Mother Nature reduced that to a one-race event, with the race on Sunday, March 3 cancelled due to weather. On Saturday, March 2 only two Mammoth athletes made the top 15 with James Gooch taking 15^th for the men and Mack Carkeet placing 12^th for the women. The U14 Team will now turn to training for the U14 Championships to be held at Sugar Bowl, April 4-7, 2013.

MMST racers compete in Western Region Junior Championships

Some of the top young ski racers in the country and world including, Mammoth Mountain Ski Team U18 racers Alec Kochis, Casey Haveruk, Alexa Wehsener and Stephanie Thompson and U21 athletes Kirk Carlson and Marco Lorico-Rappa, will converge upon the Mission Ridge Ski & Board Resort when it hosts the Les Schwab Western Region Junior Championships March 5-10, 2013. According to Kari Johnson, Mission Ridge Ski Team development director, the 280 athletes will be competing in two classifications, U18 (ages 16 and 17) and U21 (ages 18, 19 and 20) with the top racers earning spots at the U.S. National Championships.  “They are coming from all regions of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, the East, Rocky Mountains, Central Northern, Far West, Pacific Northwest, Intermountain, and Alaska. We also have racers from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy and Eritrea,” reported Johnson.  On March 5, Mammoth’s Carlson had the top Far West result in the Super G placing 17th. Before the series ends on the racers will compete another Super G, two giant slaloms and two slalom events.

Speaking of Kochis, MMST Head FIS coach, Kevin Francis, proudly reports that he recently found out that Kochis, one of his out of town athletes, who is “a great kid to work with” and “really applies himself when he is in Mammoth” is also a standout high school track star. The fact became apparent when the athlete’s father John Kochis, sent an email to Francis apologizing for his son’s absence from training because he had been involved in several track meets. The father added that his son “won the varsity 1600 and 3200 races at both meets and was 2nd in the 800.”

Mammoth Athletes bring home national titles

Four Mammoth athletes John Teller, Tyler Wallasch, Madeline Riffel and Trevor Jacob brought home gold and silver hardware alonf with three national titles after competing at the 2013 Sprint U.S. Grand Prix held Mar. 1-2 at Canyons Resort, Utah. On Saturday, Mar. 2, Jacob took the top spot in the Snowboard Cross and the U.S. Championship title after beating out the competition on a tight course with wet, rutted snow for his first career win. Jacob stated, “This is my fifth race and I just wanted to go! I am just happy! I grew up racing motocross and I just like to go out and have a good time. To me this is motocross on snow and that’s the best because snowboarding is my favorite.”  The day before Teller defended his lead down the tight, technical course to win the USANA Skicross and the U.S. Championship title. To take the title Teller had to beat out the one other Mammoth athlete in the men’s competition Wallasch, his friend and travel teammate.  Wallasch, ended up finishing second in the men’s race after a fierce battle to advance through the semi-finals. Teller described the experience by saying “I am so proud of Tyler, I am proud of myself too it was hard work. I had three crashes in a row, but I am so happy I was able to ski well today and get on the podium. It’s so great to have Tyler and Maddy up there with me, both of these guys go to my skicross camps in the summer and I coached Tyler in football when he was in high school. I am looking forward to World Champs next week and I hope that I can continue to ski well there. It feels good to be at the top heading into World Champs. Riffel took the hard line to capture her title by recovering after a first turn crash to snag second in the women’s race, which then gave her the U.S. title. Riffel said, “My wax was perfect, but the turns were pretty slushy. Ophelie is amazing and I am so glad she came, I really look up to her and it’s a great experience to get to race against her.” Wallasch summed up his very respectable second place day by saying, “Growing up it’s what you dream about being on the podium with John and this is a dream come true for me. I hope I can keep this going and keep up with him. “ Just before heading out of town for their final races, Mammoth Ski Cross coach, James Tautkus reported that, “For the remainder of the season we head up to Canada for four NorAm starts. Two at Fernie BC, two at Panorama. Then we head to Hood Meadows, OR from there we go to World Junior Championships in Val Malenco, Italy followed by Swiss National Championships in Switzerland. Wallasch who has been skiing World Cup most of the season will be with us in Fernie then head to Europe early to ski Europa cup and will meet us at WJC.” Then we all are back in Mammoth done for the season.

(Photos: Susan Morning/MMCF)

Text courtesy Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation