Mighty Mite World Championships and more
The Mighty Mite World Championships began with a parade down Broadway
Text courtesy Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation
Mammoth Mountain hosted the Mite World Championships on March 23, 2013. The event held under beautiful sunny skies drew a crowd of friends, family and on-hill bystanders as the youngest members of the Mammoth Mountain Ski Team came down Broadway with the pageantry to rival any international competition. Loud music filled the air as Woolly, mountain ski patrol, and flag bearing coaches led the 58 participants down the mountain. Then it was off to the races, where after two runs Team Germany emerged victorious and individual winners were crowned. Climbing on the podium for the ladies were: Piper Wilkison in first, Regan Clute second and Sienna Beeghly in third place. On the men’s side it was 1 Grant Schneider taking the gold, Cooper Hindshaw the silver and Jake Westfall the bronze.
Cook and Lonza compete at Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships at Squaw Valley
Thousands were reportedly on hand Friday, March 22 at the at Squaw Valley as the California sun continued to produce perfect spring race conditions at the home of the 1960 Olympic Winter Games. Those lucky enough to be present for the mid-week race witnessed Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.) capture the first U.S. title of her career with a mere .01 second super G victory over local racer Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, Calif.). The victory was by the narrowest margin possible, a mere .01 over Cook and .08 in front of race favorite and defending champion, Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley, Calif.). The challenging super G course starts in the shadow of the fabled KT22 and going down Julia’s Gold, named after Mancuso. It was a bumpy course with a tricky jump toward the finish. Mancuso, who raced on borrowed skis, explained the circumstances surrounding her equipment by saying, “You have to always have a good run. Super G can be a little intimidating when you’re not ready and my skis didn’t make it. They went on a little trip around California so I borrowed someone else’s. So that’s always tough too. I brought my GS skis and my coach brought my super G skis and they didn’t make it. Thanks to Chelsea Marshall for letting me borrow a pair of hers.” As far as the course on her home mountain, Mancuso said, ”There’s some difficult turns on top and it’s still bumpy from the new snow we got, but it was still a lot of fun. I wanted to make it to the finish and win, but our World Cup team is super tough, so it isn’t a surprise that Laurenne and Stacey were faster.” According to Ski Racing Magazine, Cook, who is know for being a leader and a team player, radioed up to some of the younger girls to reassure them that the course was fine. Cook, was quoted as saying, “Sometimes there’s a discrepancy what you feel as an athlete and what the coaches are seeing, so I wanted to tell the younger girls what I was seeing and reassure them that it’s bumpy, but it’s fine.” When asked about her run Cook replied very openly, ”It wasn’t a feel good run at all, but it’s the time that matters in the finish. I think you could have made one-hundredth up in a lot of places. That’s about as tight as it gets, maybe a few inches. But Laurenne has been so good all year, and also Julia. Anyone that beats Julia in super G right now is capable of a podium because she was there all year. So that’s pretty special. I’m very happy to be with my teammates. I don’t necessarily need to be on top.” Leading into the Nationals Cook and Lonza took part in the NOR-AM races at Squaw March 16- 18 Lonza placed 27th and 32nd in the two GS races, while Cook placed 16th in the GS and 6th in the SG. On March 20 the Nationals were postponed due to weather and then the following day Cook and Lonza raced in the giant slalom where Lonza was 12th and Cook just missed a podium finish when she came in fourth.
2013 U16 Junior Championships held in Alaska
Ten ski racers from the Mammoth Mountain Ski Team were part of a group of 49 athletes, nine coaches and an entourage of parents from the Far West division to travel to Alyeska Resort, Alaska for the 2013 U16 Junior Championships, March 19-21, 2013. A trip to Alaska may seem like a long way to go for racers who are 14 and 15 years old, but according to the athletes interviewed they would do it all again in a heartbeat. Mammoth results: March 19_Women-GS: Katherine Brown 42; Hannah Everson 46; Elisabeth Heit DNF-1; Erin Maidman 37. Men-SL: Alex Colby DSQ; Logan Deangelis 35; Zac Kelly DNF; Cody Underkoffler 61; Justin Wallasch 48; Kevin Wolfe 51. March 20_Women-SL: Brown 41; Everson 42; Heit 52; Maidman 38. Men-GS: Colby DNF-2; Deangelis 36; Kelly DNF-1; Underkoffler DNF-1; Wallasch DNF-2; Wolfe 42. March 21_Women-SG: Brown 44; Everson 42; Heit 62; Maidman 23. Men-SG: Colby 42; Deangelis DNF; Kelly 7; Underkoffler 38; Wallasch 70; Wolfe 67.
“I enjoyed making new friends and making memories in Alaska,” said Katherine Brown. “The weather was very cold and dark up until noon the sun came up and the temperature rose 10 degrees. This wasn’t a challenge considering it is normally cold in Mammoth,” but on the other hand, “my starting position was a large obstacle, because I normally start top 30 and I started in the 60’s and 80’s. My goal for this race was to have fun and do my best. To meet my goal I tried very hard which made it fun.”
“The hill didn’t even open until 10:30,” added Zac Kelly. “The sun didn’t even spread across the mountain until 12:30. The last runners of the SG were racing at 6:30pm. We were very lucky weather wise. All three race days were blue birds until the day after the event was over it started to snow. The toughest obstacle in the race was staying in the right mind set after crashing the first two days in the slalom and the third last gate in giant slalom.”
Elite Spring Series
The Western Region Elite FIS Spring Series is currently being held at Mammoth Mountain, March 27-April 1 and will be followed by the WR Elite FIS Speed Series April 3-9. Participants include numerous U.S. Ski Team members including Steve Nyman, Andrew Weibrecht, Thomas Biesemeyer, Tim Jitloff and Travis Ganong. On the first day of racing Biesemeyer took the win in the first super G, with Mammoth racers Tyler Wormhoudt 49th, Kirk Carlson 53rd Lucas Underkoffler in 83rd. Former team member Michael Beutner, who is currently skiing for Holderness Ski Team, but trains with the Mammoth Ski Team when he is in Mammoth was 70th. On the women’s side thing were a little rough with eleven of the top 25 women falling victim to the icy conditions and not finishing the race. Mammoth racers had better luck with Natalie Riffel taking 25th, Charlee Kelly 36th, Alexa Wehsener 38th, and Geordie Lonza ending up on the front page in 15th. Lonza, who grew up racing for the Mammoth Mountain Ski Team, has spent the last for years on the Williams Ski Team where she recently finished eighth at the Middlebury Snow Bowl earning her an All-American result in the NCAA Championship slalom. Lonza was also named First Team All-East for the third time in her career and with a Second Team honor in 2010, Lonza earned All-East recognition all four years.
SNOWBOARD and FREESTYLE
Sun Valley Revolution Tour
Eleven Mammoth Mountain Snowboard Team members traveled to Idaho to compete in the Sun Valley Revolution Tour, March 18-22, 2013. Their results are as follows: March 19_Ski_Ladies_halfpipe: 5 Carly Margulies; 8 Sierra Bowman. March 20_Ski_Ladies_slopestyle: 6 Carly Margulies. March 21_SB_Ladies_halfpipe: 3 Kelly Berger. March 21_SB_Men halfpipe: 3 Brandon Davis; 19 Drayden Gardner. March 22_SB_Ladies_slopestyle: 17 Danika Duffy. March 22_SB_Men_slopestyle: 48 Jedediah Sky; 31 Seb Judge; 8 Brandon Davis; 57 Jordon John Rayward; 26 Hugh Marsden.
Three named to 2013 FIS Freestyle Junior World Championship team
On March 21, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association named a group of 35 talented athletes to compete at the 2013 FIS Freestyle Junior World Championships March 26-31 at Valmalenco, Italy. Three of the athletes have Mammoth connections including: Madeline Riffel (Crowley Lake, Calif.) who recently took second at the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix, USANA Skicross and the U.S. Champion title at Canyons Resort; Tyler Wallasch (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) who took second for the men at the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix, USANA Skicross at Canyons Resort and Nicolo Monforte (Olympic Valley, Calif.) who trains with the Mammoth team as a drop-in athlete. Monforte just finished competing at Mt. Hood Meadows, Oregon where he placed fifth in the skier cross event.
2013 FIS Snowboard World Cup tour Sierra Nevada, Spain
Yuuki Kadono (JPN) has shocked the international field of 107 men from 32 nations by wining the season’s last slopestyle event of the 2013 FIS Snowboard World Cup tour, which was staged in Sierra Nevada, Spain, March 26, 2013. The 16-years-old rider from Japan did cope best with the changing weather conditions and impressed the judges with a flawless run of the finals which featured a total of 24 men as the semis had to be cut short due to the weather situation. “I stomped every trick I wanted to and also nailed back-to-back 12s in my second run. I took it aggressive as I wanted to pass the 90 points mark,” said the young gun after his career’s first which he earned in his third World Cup start. Mammoth’s Andre Escobar finished 76th in the competition and 92nd for the overall 2013 World Cup season in slopestyle.
(Photo: Susan Morning/MMCF)
