McKenzie Maines Earns Multiple Gold Medals at Ski Jump Nordic Combined Junior Championships
Nine SSWSC athletes, McKenzie Maines, Piper Mouttet, Austin Johnson, Ethan Maines, Fritz Gamber, Nico Bowdre, Kaden Graham, Everett Baldwin, and Miles Warnke, and two coaches, Garrett Fisk and Todd Wilson, traveled to Anchorage, Alaska February 23 - March 3 representing the Rocky Mountain Division at the 2024 Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Junior Championships.

Six other SSWSC athletes, Arthur Tirone, Haley Brabec, Ella Wilson, Sawyer Graves, Jason Colby, and Estella Hassrick, also qualified for the trip to Alaska but elected not to attend due to conflicts with higher-level competitions.

The trip started off with a fun day of alpine skiing at Alyeska, a team dinner with family members, watching dog sled racing, and few days of training before the competitions began Feb 28 - Mar 2.

The individual events came first, and McKenzie Maines kicked things off at the Karl Eid Jump Complex at Hilltop Ski Area with a bang by easily taking the gold in the U16 female jumping. Piper Mouttet finished 6th. Later in the day, McKenzie skied a strong cross couuntry race and also won the female U16 NC event for her second gold of the day. In the male U16 jumping event, Austin Johnson just missed the bronze medal by 2.4 points, coming in 4th after the second round was canceled due to high winds. Ethan Maines came in 6th, Fritz Gamber 10th, Nico Bowdre 11th, Kaden Graham 14th, Everett Baldwin 24th, and Miles Warnke finished 25th. In the NC event later that same day, with frigid temperatures and gusty winds at Kincade Park, Ethan Maines just missed the bronze, coming in 4th, Kaden Graham 11th, Miles Warnke 13th, and Everett Baldwin 15th.

Next came the team event day which started off with another gold by McKenzie Maines and Piper Mouttet in the female team jumping. Together they finished 3rd in the NC team sprint in the afternoon on another cold and windy day of racing. Our male team of Fritz, Nico, Ethan and Austin came up just short of the podium with another 4th and Everett, Miles and Kaden finished 13th. In the NC Team Sprint, Fritz and Ethan finished 6th and Miles and Kaden finished close behind in 7th.

The events concluded on Mar 2nd with an elimination jumping event that started off with brisk -10-degree temperatures. Kaden and McKenzie had the best RMD result both being eliminated in the round of 16.

All in all, the young team of SSWSC juniors had a great adventure in Alaska. They had fun, had a great team dynamic, did their best, learned a lot and came home with some encouraging results. Keep an eye on this young team down the road as the legacy continues in Ski Town USA!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RkkaKqV5fgbTjF8Jo4py1C-oQVd3skWk?usp=drive_link

U16 Female Jumping, Feb 29
1. McKenzie Maines
6. Piper Mouttet

U16 Male Jumping, Feb 29

4. Austin Johnson
6. Ethan Maines
10. Fritz Gamber
11. Nico Bowdre
14. Kaden Graham
24. Everett Baldwin
25. Miles Warnke

U16 Female NC, Feb 29
1. McKenzie Maines

U16 Male NC, Feb 29
4. Ethan Maines
11. Kaden Graham
13. Miles Warnke
15. Everett Baldwin

Team Jumping Female, Mar 1
1. McKenzie Maines, Piper Mouttet

Team Jumping Male, Mar 1
4. Fritz Gamber, Nico Bowdre, Ethan Maines, Austin Johnson
13. Everett Baldwin, Miles Warnke, Kaden Graham

NC Team Sprint Female, Mar 1
3. McKenzie Maines, Piper Mouttet

NC Team Sprint Male, Mar 1
6. Fritz Gamber, Ethan Maines
7. Miles Warnke, Kaden Graham