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Hunter Schelper, center, took first among juniors at a Colorado Cup giant slalom Friday in Winter Park. Schleper was fourth overall.
WINTER PARK — Ask any ski racer, and they’ll tell you the sport is all about confidence — anywhere from 50 percent to 110 percent.
So it goes without saying that Hunter Schleper is feeling pretty good about his skiing after a pair of Colorado Ski Cup giant slalom races at Winter Park.
Schleper, the 16-year-old who skis with Iced Out Racing, took sixth overall Thursday and first among juniors (19 and younger) and then fourth overall Friday and tops among juniors again.
“I had the confidence that I could be right with the rest of the good guys,” Schleper said Friday of his day on Thursday.
Coming into the two races, Schleper didn’t quite know what type of expectations to set for himself.
“(Thursday) changed that quite a bit,” he said.
On Friday, Schleper, a J2 racer, didn’t disappoint, either. After sitting in sixth following the first run, Schleper moved up to fourth to finish 4.5 seconds ahead of the next J2 racer.
“We’ve been doing a ton of dry-land training, and we went to Europe for three weeks and back again for three weeks, so we’ve been training hard all fall,” said Schleper, who is coming off some injuries earlier this season.
Schleper is used to fighting against racers years older than him, and he hopes to make it to U.S. Nationals this year. So, even with the double junior win, Schleper is still hungry heading into a pair of super-G races Saturday and Sunday.
“I can always do better, but you’ve got to take what you can get,” he said.
Evan Weiss won Friday’s giant slalom, while Ski & Snowboard Club Vail’s John Kemp took 11th (fourth among juniors), with teammate Nathan Asoian in 12th. Other finishers include Rett Smith (SSCV, 34th), Wyatt McKibben (SSCV, 48th), Kieffer Christianson (Iced Out, 51st), Cody Unicume (SSCV, 61st) and Taylor Wettlaufer (SSCV, 62nd).
Sports Writer Ian Cropp can be reached at icropp@vaildaily.com.
So it goes without saying that Hunter Schleper is feeling pretty good about his skiing after a pair of Colorado Ski Cup giant slalom races at Winter Park.
Schleper, the 16-year-old who skis with Iced Out Racing, took sixth overall Thursday and first among juniors (19 and younger) and then fourth overall Friday and tops among juniors again.
“I had the confidence that I could be right with the rest of the good guys,” Schleper said Friday of his day on Thursday.
Coming into the two races, Schleper didn’t quite know what type of expectations to set for himself.
“(Thursday) changed that quite a bit,” he said.
On Friday, Schleper, a J2 racer, didn’t disappoint, either. After sitting in sixth following the first run, Schleper moved up to fourth to finish 4.5 seconds ahead of the next J2 racer.
“We’ve been doing a ton of dry-land training, and we went to Europe for three weeks and back again for three weeks, so we’ve been training hard all fall,” said Schleper, who is coming off some injuries earlier this season.
Schleper is used to fighting against racers years older than him, and he hopes to make it to U.S. Nationals this year. So, even with the double junior win, Schleper is still hungry heading into a pair of super-G races Saturday and Sunday.
“I can always do better, but you’ve got to take what you can get,” he said.
Evan Weiss won Friday’s giant slalom, while Ski & Snowboard Club Vail’s John Kemp took 11th (fourth among juniors), with teammate Nathan Asoian in 12th. Other finishers include Rett Smith (SSCV, 34th), Wyatt McKibben (SSCV, 48th), Kieffer Christianson (Iced Out, 51st), Cody Unicume (SSCV, 61st) and Taylor Wettlaufer (SSCV, 62nd).
Sports Writer Ian Cropp can be reached at icropp@vaildaily.com.
