Hometown pride and joy
Skiers find success on the road
January 29-31, Northstar hosted the U16 Wild West Races. Twenty-seven MMMSST racers competed in the two GS races along with a slalom race staged between the two. On the men’s side, the Mammoth team dominated the top 15 field with Mammoth Lakes skiers Charlie Regelbrugge in first; Barrett Calvin, second. Regelbrugge came back the next day to take second. Sunday, Regelbrugge continued his award winning skiing with a fourth place in the second GS of the series. Calvin returned to take his second silver medal. After the event MMSST U16 Head Coach Kerry Brownlie reported, “In some adverse conditions the Mammoth Ski Team had a very successful weekend at the Northstar WW Qualifiers. Winning nine podiums, four hard chargers and many top ten finishes shows the strength and commitment level of our entire team.”
Meanwhile, 30 miles away at Squaw Valley, the U10/ U12s arrived Friday night, January 29 in the midst of a hammering rainstorm. When the young athletes woke up the next morning, the rain was gone and the skies showed some signs of clearing. The snow conditions had suffered from the previous day’s pouring rain and were less than ideal for racing. Even so, on Saturday in the U10/12 North Series Race, know as the Sulley Classic, MMSST placed a number of athletes in the medals for the first GS race including: U10 girls, Madeline Le Francois in eighth; Jenna Lynch, ninth; and Sierra Wight, 15th. Byrn Urdi was 14th for the U12 girls.
A strong storm moved back in on Sunday and brought snow all day. The adverse weather didn’t slow down Le Francois as she moved up to place second; Wight moved up to take 12th. Nevin Vanderhurst in 13th. Urdi came back to take her second medal for the U12 girls with a 12th.
Although the new snow didn’t slow down the MMSST racers, it did create challenges for parents and coaches trying to drive home. The drive out of Squaw took an hour—and that wasn’t the worst part. There was a 29 car accidents on I-80 that caused a few team members to wait over five hours in traffic.
