The Inside Edge - Buddy Werner races

n U14 Buddy Werner Championships — The Schweitzer Alpine Racing School once again stepped up and hosted a major event, the third of the year. Before reporting on the racers, it’s important to note that events such as this require an enormous effort.

SARS has a group, the “old guard” if you wish, that makes it happen. These 10 folks don’t even have racers in the field, yet they work day after day helping the team staff produce quality events. Most of them worked more than 20 volunteer days this season — hats off! And a quality event it was, with all four days coming off exactly on schedule. Nearly 160 athletes from 25 teams traveled to Schweitzer last weekend. Several athletes from SARS and Independence were in the field to compete in Super G, Giant Slalom and Slalom.

The top local finisher was Slate Fragoso, who placed 12th in Super G, 15th in GS and 18th in Slalom. Additionally, he won the in Skills Quest, an event measuring precision in two ski racing practice drills. The other local male, Branson Whitby, placed 49th in Super G, 37th in GS and 62nd in Slalom. On the Girls’ side, Erika Edmundson set the pace with Gold in Skills Quest. She also was 41st in Super G, 43rd in GS and 42d in Slalom. Twin Sister Avery crashed in the midst of a great Super G run, but bounced back and was 24th in GS and 31st in Slalom. Laura Boge placed 38th in Super G, 42nd in GS, and 60th in Slalom. This race wraps up the season for all racers under 14 years-old.

n Why is Buddy Werner a big deal? — It starts with the name. Buddy Werner was the first, truly competitive, World Cup competitor the US produced. Before his untimely death in an avalanche, Buddy was chosen to three Olympic teams and was the first US winner of the famed Hahnenkamm Downhill. These championships are the first races for athletes this age where the arena is prepared and managed just like the big races — fully fenced and heavily staffed to maintain a quality race surface. This is also the racers’ first glimpse of the competition across the Division versus just our own league. The weekend also features a social event for the athletes to become better acquainted with their future competition. But most important, Buddies is a rite of passage. These athletes are moving up to Northwest Cup events on bigger hills with bigger fields.

n Potpourri — Watch here next week for results for the Northwest Cup Finals. Any comments, recommendations or contributions to this column may be sent to Shep Snow by email at shep@thesnowschool.com. Negative feedback should be sent to someone else.

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