Gregorak, Ghent lead locals at Beaver Creek downhill

Click to Enlarge Browse Vail Daily Photos Ski & Snowboard Club Vail's Will Gregorak, center, and John Kemp, right, finished first and second, respectively, among juniors in a Colorado Ski Cup downhill Saturday at Beaver Creek. Get Sports Feeds

Ian Cropp
Vail, CO Colorado
January 26, 2008

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BEAVER CREEK — Will Gregorak credits the skis, but there’s somebody steering them downhill.

Gregorak, the Ski & Snowboard Club Vail athlete, was fourth in Saturday’s Colorado Ski Cup downhill at Beaver Creek and second among junior racers.

“It ended up pretty decent,” Gregorak said. “I skied well at the top. For my intervals, I was second for the top and middle flats, so I had some pretty fast skis that were running well.”

In Wednesday’s super-G, Gregorak was fourth and also second among juniors.

“I was really happy with the super-G,” he said. “I felt like I could have skied better, but I’ve had good scoring results in both (the super-G and downhill).”

Jason McNeil won Saturday’s race, making him three-for-three this week — he won both super-G races.

“He owns this hill,” Gregorak said.

SSCV’s John Kemp, a first-year J1 like Gregorak, was fifth and third among juniors, while teammate Nathan Asoian was 10th. Iced Out Racing’s Hunter Schleper was 22nd and first among J2’s, with teammates Kieffer Christianson (31st), Cooper Cartmill (34th), and Kitt Flowers (36th) rounding out the top four J2 spots.
Racers had to do with only one day of downhill training as Friday’s training was canceled due to heavy snowfall.

After another downhill on Sunday, many of the racers will head to Italy for technical races.

On the ladies side, SSCV’s Erika Ghent was the top local finisher, in fourth. The SSCV J2 ladies dominated, taking the top four spots and in the top 11 overall.

Delainey Ackerman, who had the third-fastest training run, was sixth, followed by Whitney Setterberg in seventh, Abby Ghent in eighth and Jessa Bardin in 11th. Alice Ralston (14th) and Julia Keeler (19th) were also in the top 20.

Sports Writer Ian Cropp can be reached at 748-2935 or icropp@vaildaily.com.