Ski and Snowboard Club Vail lights up Rocky Mountain Division U12 championships
SSCV claimed 34 top-10 finishes and won every single individual event
SSCV/Courtesy photo
Here’s something you don’t see every day: out of a possible four slalom individual titles up for grabs, Ski and Snowboard Club Vail claimed six. Huh?
“Never seen that before — we likely won’t ever see it again,” SSCV Alpine children’s program director Alex Shorter stated of the three-way tie for first in the boys slalom that allowed for the statistical anomaly. One thing that wasn’t an oddity during the Rocky Mountain Division U12 championships at Powderhorn Resort March 18-19 was seeing SSCV skiers race onto the podium.
The club claimed every individual title available — two GS and two slalom for both boys and girls — across two days of racing. SSCV also claimed 18 of the available 24 podium spots and 34 top-10 finishes, 23 more than the next club, en route to easily claiming the team title as well.
SSCV/Courtesy photo
“Hats off to everyone,” Shorter stated. “I have never seen a team so dominant as I did this past weekend in all my years of coaching at any level. Unbelievable.”
SSCV swept the podium in the first boys giant slalom on March 18, with Cody Martz Feige posting the fastest time on the 235-meter, 37-gate Wonderbump course. He finished 0.80 seconds ahead of his teammate, Balthazar Sachs and 0.84 up on bronze medalist Jakob Murray. Later in the day, it was Sachs’ turn to take the win with Murray coming in second. Winter Park’s Owen Applequist rounded out the podium to ruin the perfect score.
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In the two girls GS races, Hailey Anderson raced to a win, Alyxandra Sumner took a first and a second and Kristina Shamshuryn claimed a runner-up spot as SSCV had four of the top five in the afternoon race. Anderson’s time of 50.75 seconds was the fastest for both boys and girls in the afternoon race. In Sunday’s morning slalom, Shamshuryn led the way to victory as Anderson, Winter Phillips and Diana Zaytseva came in third, fourth and fifth respectively. In the afternoon slalom, Sumner took another win, Phillips claimed third and Anderson was just off the podium in fourth.
“This shows the depth of the SSCV U12 team,” Shorter said, adding that she was just as excited to see the tenacity from athletes who were just off the podium, too.
SSCV/Courtesy photo
“Some athletes had the best runs of their lives going, just sending it, (but) didn’t make it through the finish line and they should be celebrated,” she said. “Athletes were conducting great sportsmanship from what I saw,” she continued. “Carrying each other’s clothes and helping each other out. Everyone was mixing and skiing together.”
SSCV also swept the skills quest — a judged event which measures fundamental skiing skills — titles, with Shamsuryn winning for the girls and Braxton Bodziak taking the boys crown.
SSCV/Courtesy photo
The Sunday morning boys slalom saw Murray, Martz Feige and Sachs cross the line in exactly the same time — 32.85 seconds — for the once-in-a-blue-moon three-way win. Liam Cournoyer and Jack Hodgkinson also cracked the top 10, placing sixth and 10th, respectively. in the second slalom, it was Sachs who stood alone at the top with a 0.40-second victory over Teddy Titler; Murray finished third and Hodgkinson came in eighth.
“I am so proud of the U12 team,” Shorter summarized. “It was an incredible weekend to say the least. Huge thank you to our athletes, parents and coaches for creating such a strong team and supporting each other.”
SSCV/Courtesy photo
