The 2012 Team
2012 Whitefish Mountain Race Team
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Whitefish YSL Championships
The 3-day season-ending YSL Championships for USSA’s Northern Division was held at Whitefish Mountain Resort this past weekend with 26 Whitefish racers, ages 6-14, competing in a strong field of 185 athletes from a three state region. Friday’s event was a 2 run, fast Giant Slalom course that tested each racers speed and stamina. Saturday was a challenging, technical 2-run tall gate Slalom race requiring quickness and technical skills tempered with speed. The final day was a single-run Kombi race combining the elements of both disciplines.
Drive and determination paid off for all of the Whitefish athletes; and 10 year-old Colter Upton capped a great season with 3 podium finishes, along with a spot on the Overall Podium. He posted two ripping slalom runs on Saturday to finish on top of the podium in 1st place. He also garnered two 3rd place finishes in Giant Slalom and Kombi. Overall points were tallied throughout the weekend for racers in all divisions to crown the top 3 boys and girls for the entire event. As a 1st year J5 racer (9-10 year olds), Upton surprised the field landing in 3rd in the boys Overall standings. Those podium spots are generally occupied by racers 2-3 years older. The Northern Division manager could only recall one other J5 racer achieving that coveted position in recent memory. Upton commented that standing next to racer’s he’s admired for the past 3 season’s on that podium is his new “best skiing memory”.
10 year-old Whitefish racer, Liam Nelson, really found his groove this weekend and finished on top of the J5 podium in Giant Slalom, along with a strong 4th place finish in Slalom Saturday. In his first year of racing on the YSL circuit he has become an amazing racer this season. Nelson says GS is his favorite because he can “go really fast” and that he does.
As well, Whitefish’s 8 year-old Gardner Dominick who does it all on skis, and showed it this weekend. He put all his strengths together to take 1st place on Sunday in his division, along with two 2nd’s in GS and Slalom. With his great balance and slick moves, he is a very fun skier to watch.
Multiple Top 10 finishes from the Whitefish team included: J4 Pixie Moore 8th in Kombi, J6 Marina Kramer 3rd in GS, 3rd in SL and 4th in Kombi, J5 Walt Hollensteiner 6th in Kombi and 10th in GS, J5 Ian Calloway 7th in GS, J6 Zane Elliott 5th in Kombi and 8th in GS. Cameron Kahle of Whitefish also finished with a strong 4th, 5th, and 6th places respectively in J6 boys.
A large group of young racers from the team competed and were led on the podium by 6 year-old Trey Nelson, finishing with two 1st places and a 2nd in his division. Elizabeth Spradlin got a 2nd place finish in the girls 5-6 year old group. Mikaela Daniels was 3rd in the Kombi and 5th GS and Murial Mercer was 6th in SL,7th in the Kombi and 8th GS.
The Jr 3; 13-14 year old J3 racers competed and the field was dominated by Whitefish athletes with Piper Howeth earning three 1st places, Kelly Shea with three 2nd’s, Britt Walton two 1st’s and a 3rd, Oliver Van Everen a 1st and two 2nd’s, and Cameron Welch with a 2nd and a 3rd.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
YSL Championships at Whitefish
Waiting for results to post, but check our the new videos under the "Photos and Videos" tab...
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
This has to Infuriate the Austrians...
Read about it here...Way to go USA Girls!
Just a bit more evidence that what we are doing here in the US is working JUST FINE!
Just a bit more evidence that what we are doing here in the US is working JUST FINE!
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Whitefish Racers Rage at Discovery!
With over 200 racers from throughout Montana attending, 14 of our local alpine ski racers took to the Giant Slalom courses with a passion and intensity that served them well. The Whitefish racers garnered 13 top 10 placements in the two races, including 6 podium finishes. Blue skies, pleasant temperatures and excitement filled the air as the athletes raced through 2 long GS courses each day.
A determined 13 year-old Cameron Welch led the team with 1st and 2nd place finishes in the J3 boys division. Ten year-old Colter Upton continued his course of podium finishes this year, landing in 2nd and 3rd places in the two J5 boys races. Speedster Gardner Dominick raced to a 2nd place finish on Sunday in J6 boys division.
In additon to Upton, a strong contingent of Whitefish J5 boys were represented well with top 10 finishes including: Liam Nelson 5th and 6th, Douglas Mercer 9th and Walt Hollensteiner 9th. James Thompson broke into the top 10 group of J6 boys with a 10th place finish on Sunday.
Not to be outdone, the Whitefish girls had a strong showing with top 10 finishes by Marina Kramer (J6 girls: 3rd and 5th) and Pixie Moore (J4 girls: 6th and 10th).
Also competing for Whitefish was Kristin VanEveren, Stella Eddy, Caroline LeCompte and William Lewison.
Look for these and many others to compete in the upcoming Base Lodge Clinic Northern Division YSL Championships to be held at our very own Whitefish Mountain Resort March 23rd-25th. A record-breaking field is expected along with some incredible ski racing, so come cheer on the racers in the season-ending finale.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Will Brandenburg 6th in World Cup Slalom!
Will Brandenburg is from Spokane; read what he said about his day:
"I really needed that. It has been a grind of a year and I have been skiing great and haven’t been getting to the finish with a clean run. It’s the first time I have done that and been happy at the finish line of a World Cup.
I have the speed and sometimes I take too much risk. Today I skied smart. My coaches and I have worked on my line and tactics a lot. I took the right tactics today in a first run for where I was starting and in the second run I let it go a little bit more. You always want more but that was a great day.
I have battled where I try to take a more aggressive line and it sometimes pays off for good speed but it hasn’t paid off in consistency. I am learning. I will come back next year and hopefully build off this result and start getting closer and closer to podium."
Read More About the Race Here
"I really needed that. It has been a grind of a year and I have been skiing great and haven’t been getting to the finish with a clean run. It’s the first time I have done that and been happy at the finish line of a World Cup.
I have the speed and sometimes I take too much risk. Today I skied smart. My coaches and I have worked on my line and tactics a lot. I took the right tactics today in a first run for where I was starting and in the second run I let it go a little bit more. You always want more but that was a great day.
I have battled where I try to take a more aggressive line and it sometimes pays off for good speed but it hasn’t paid off in consistency. I am learning. I will come back next year and hopefully build off this result and start getting closer and closer to podium."
Read More About the Race Here
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Great Day on our hill today!
Three Training Courses going at once was a wonderful sight to behold! Left to right (viewed from the bottom) A full length Kombi, a GS for the Jr. Team and full length Slalom for the FIS-USSA group.
Good Scene!
Good Scene!
Ligety Wins Large at Kranjska-Gora
Quote from Ted:
"It’s definitely a big victory, especially winning by that margin. I was proud of the effort I put in today. I think the last couple of races I was having trouble putting in the right amount of intensity and today I was able to find it and ski great both runs.
I am about 90-something points behind now and that’s difficult to make up in one race. He (Hirscher) would have to blow it and I'd have to win, but we will see. I am just going to try to take another good race to end the year and wherever I end up, I end up.
This year is pretty crazy. The season Hirsher had is incredible, he is over 600 points with one giant slalom race left. That's maybe the most points scored in giant slalom since I don’t know when. I have 500 points, which is the most points I have ever scored in giant slalom. It would be tough not to win the title but I am also proud of having that kind of season.
I feel like the last couple weeks of giant slalom have been a fluke, at least as far as my results go. Definitely I had a little more expectations for myself, so in that sense, it's tough to lose the title in just a couple of races. At least I am proving that I am right up there with Hirsher".
Read more here...
"It’s definitely a big victory, especially winning by that margin. I was proud of the effort I put in today. I think the last couple of races I was having trouble putting in the right amount of intensity and today I was able to find it and ski great both runs.
I am about 90-something points behind now and that’s difficult to make up in one race. He (Hirscher) would have to blow it and I'd have to win, but we will see. I am just going to try to take another good race to end the year and wherever I end up, I end up.
This year is pretty crazy. The season Hirsher had is incredible, he is over 600 points with one giant slalom race left. That's maybe the most points scored in giant slalom since I don’t know when. I have 500 points, which is the most points I have ever scored in giant slalom. It would be tough not to win the title but I am also proud of having that kind of season.
I feel like the last couple weeks of giant slalom have been a fluke, at least as far as my results go. Definitely I had a little more expectations for myself, so in that sense, it's tough to lose the title in just a couple of races. At least I am proving that I am right up there with Hirsher".
Read more here...
Mikael Shiffrin top ten in Are World Cup Slalom
Mikaela Shiffrin (age 16):
"I'm really excited about racing in Schladming. It feels goodt to be top 25 in the world, but honestly, I've been dreaming about winning World Cup races since I was five years old.
Sometimes it feels like, 'man, it's about time' and I have to take a step back and realize that some of these girls have been the fastest skiers in the world for ten years, so I need to fight every single run. It's hard but it's also really exciting.
I'm happy becuase I broke the trend I've had going of not making second runs and that it was one more top 10. I was only .39 out of first, so it was a really close race and I know that I have some faster skiing in me.+
Read more about her race here!
"I'm really excited about racing in Schladming. It feels goodt to be top 25 in the world, but honestly, I've been dreaming about winning World Cup races since I was five years old.
Sometimes it feels like, 'man, it's about time' and I have to take a step back and realize that some of these girls have been the fastest skiers in the world for ten years, so I need to fight every single run. It's hard but it's also really exciting.
I'm happy becuase I broke the trend I've had going of not making second runs and that it was one more top 10. I was only .39 out of first, so it was a really close race and I know that I have some faster skiing in me.+
Read more about her race here!
Friday, March 9, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
5 Whitefish Athletes to Attend Championships
The Western Region of the United States Ski Association has invited five Whitefish Alpine Ski Team athletes to race in the end of the season age group championship events.
Whitefish invitees include Nevada Kramer 15, Piper Howeth 13, Kelly Shea 13, Oliver Van Everen 13 and Britt Walton, 13
Kramer will attend the Western Regional Championships and Howeth, Shea, Van Everen and Walton will attend the Western Region Jr. Olympics.
Schweitzer Basin, Idaho will host the Western Regional Championships March 6-11. The WR Championships bring together the fastest 15-19 year old ski racers from the Western US.
The Western Region Junior Olympics will bring together the most qualified 13-14 year olds in the Western US to compete at Bridger Bowl and Big Sky resorts, March 15-18.
Coach Pete Collins commented: "All of these athletes are in the first year of their age group blocks and it is a real accomplishment to qualify to one of these events your first year."
Whitefish invitees include Nevada Kramer 15, Piper Howeth 13, Kelly Shea 13, Oliver Van Everen 13 and Britt Walton, 13
Kramer will attend the Western Regional Championships and Howeth, Shea, Van Everen and Walton will attend the Western Region Jr. Olympics.
Schweitzer Basin, Idaho will host the Western Regional Championships March 6-11. The WR Championships bring together the fastest 15-19 year old ski racers from the Western US.
The Western Region Junior Olympics will bring together the most qualified 13-14 year olds in the Western US to compete at Bridger Bowl and Big Sky resorts, March 15-18.
Coach Pete Collins commented: "All of these athletes are in the first year of their age group blocks and it is a real accomplishment to qualify to one of these events your first year."
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