Moguls

Bubba Antkiewicz qualified for his first ever World Cup start in Deer Valley and went on to score World Cup points with a top 30 finish in his debut on the 2002 Olympic course. SSWSC coach and athlete Kenzie Radway also nabbed a top 30 in her return to elite competition at Deer Valley and followed that with a top 20 in duals. Avital Carroll just missed the finals in 18th place in singles and Olivia Giaccio was 22nd in singles and 17th in duals. In FIS competition on the same venue the next week Anabel Ayad, Ella Walker and Katie McLaughlin competed well and got some great experience, with Anabel scoring a top 20 and Ella finishing 11th on the second day against a strong national and international field. On the men’s side, Ricky Casals scored a top 15 and Xander Tater-Brown, Christopher Stone, and Andres Valencia Torres skied well against the stiff FIS-level competition.

Jumping/Nordic Combined

Annika Belshaw, Annika Malacinski, Tess Arnone, Niklas Malacinski, Erik Belshaw, and Gunnar Gilbertson are competing in the Junior World Championships in Lahti, Finland. They’ve faced some adversity, read about it in the Steamboat Pilot & Today.

Cross Country

Wally Magill competed in his first Junior World Championships as the youngest American in Vuokatti, Finland, finishing in 64th out of nearly 100 competitors in the 10km freestyle. SSWSC alumnus Waverly Gebhardt had a top 25 finish, leading the USA in the classic sprint.

Alpine

The SSWSC U16 racers faced incredibly difficult snow conditions and high pressure with qualifications for the U16 Championships cut in half due to COVID in the GS and slalom qualifying races at Winter Park this week. The SSWSC U16 boys team will be the largest in Rocky qualifying to the U16 Championships that will be hosted in Steamboat on March 1-5. Jeremy Nolting led the way as the top qualifier in the division, followed closely by Roman Elvidge as the third qualifier. Daniel Ferucci, Alex Orozco, Thomas Mennen and Nick DeMarco all finished among the top ten qualifiers to the event. Ian Haupt pulled out a clutch 2nd fastest 2nd run in the final race to nab the final qualifying spot. Speedy Richeda also earned a spot with his wins in the downhill and super G qualifiers in Aspen, but took a hard crash in the GS, suffering an injury that will take him out for the championships.

The U16 girls were also impressive with Noelle Roth getting a clutch finish in the last slalom race to earn her spot to the U16 Championships, joining teammates Elena Dziura, Rylee McLouth and Lauren Haerter as qualifiers. McLouth and Haerter both had a podium finish at Winter Park.

U16 coach Ben Brown commented, “It was an exhausting week, with difficult snow conditions and increased qualification pressure with the smaller fields for Regionals. We are proud of everyone’s efforts. For those who qualified for Regionals, congratulations. For those who didn’t, the effort and improvement over the last several months has been remarkable. We are proud of ALL of the athletes. We still have a couple months to continue to train and prepare to finish the season strong.”

SSWSC alumnus Jett Seymour has qualified for his first World Championships where he’ll race in the slalom on February 21.

Snowboard

The Race to the Cup event was missing the Canadians due to travel restrictions from COVID, but the FIS-sanctioned parallel GS and SL races still drew a strong national field from around the country. Young riders Johnny Duty stood out with two second place finishes and Kendall Harrington with her fourth place finish in the first race. Conditions were difficult with all the new snow, but SSWSC riders were well represented in the final rounds. Check out the article in the Steamboat Pilot & Today.

Meanwhile, some highlights from Winter Park in the USASA Slopestyle event: Meanwhile in Winter Park for a USASA Slopestyle event:

Thursday, Feb 11
Aimee Wild - 2nd
Aaron Wild - 2nd
Caden McCaffie - 4th
Bode Wellstone - 6th

Friday, Feb 12

Izzy Hamric - 3rd

Jesse Hamric - 2nd