Inside Edge: Evans leads locals at Sun Cup speed races
World Cup — The ladies speed group was at Crans-Montana in Switzerland for the week, where the U.S. put several athletes in the points. Alice McKennis was 16th and 24th in downhill and eighth in the Alpine combined. Alice Merryweather was 20th and 29th in the downhills and Breezy Johnson was 19th in Alpine combined.
On the men’s side, Ted Ligety placed 11th in the giant slalom at Niigata Yuzawa Naeba, Japan. Mikaela Shiffrin slipped out of first place in the overall standings in the fourth week of her absence from the circuit due to her father’s death.
Sun Cup — Mount Bachelor hosted the annual speed event featuring two super-G and two downhill races. They also hosted a make-up Northwest Qualifier giant slalom before the speed series. U16 and older athletes from across the Northwest were in attendance.
For only the third time in 22 years of which The Edge is aware, it actually was a SUN Cup. Nice weather made for great races and a number of local athletes competed.
Quincy Evans had a solid weekend, placing 16th in the giant slalom, seventh and 18th in the super-Gs and fourth and fifth in the downhills. Chloie Mahko was also steady scoring 21st, 20th, 22nd, 25th and 29th for the same races.
Avery Edmundson placed 35th and 43rd in the super-Gs and 14th and 19th in her first ever downhills. Erika Avery took 28th and 33rd in the super-Gs and 21st and 30th in the downhills. Baden Brenner was 31st and 34th in super-G and a strong 12th and 13th in the two downhills. Wesley Simko was 36th and 41st in the super-Gs and 20th and 21st in downhills.
U14 Qualifiers — The final U14 Qualifiers were hosted by Stevens Pass this past weekend. The series started with great weather, and ended with a canceled race due to snowfall and wind on Sunday. 180 athletes competed in three super-Gs. Crosby Schmidt had a solid weekend, placing 19th, 15th and seventh in the three races. Cadin Billstin finished 28th, 41st and 12th respectively. Hannah Stiller captured 30th, 35th and 36th.
Starlight Race Series No. 2 — The third day of competition, leading into next week’s final, was contested last Friday. We’ll use raw scores to report individuals and adjusted for teams.
The fastest Alpine men were Gabe Lauper and Jamie Emmer. The fastest Alpine women were Theresa Kemink and Allison Murphy. Telemark men were Charles Chesbro and Ben Higgs, and women, Dig Chrismer and Natasha Splaine-Talbott.
Snowboard men were Anton Pogue and Jim Elgee and women, Tracy Tuttle and Heather Johnston. In the team competition, “Teachers on the Edge of Prohibition” holds a narrow lead over “Looks Good in Spandex”. And the team name of the day ... “Speak Easy and Carry a Big Stick.”
Mega Demo Days — Come try that new gear you’ve heard about. Mega Demo Days will be at Schweitzer on Saturday.
Potpourri — 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.