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Jitloff claims US GS title for third time

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It was a wild race, the men's National GS championship at Squaw Valley. And though it went about the way one might have expected, with the World Cup skiers topping the scoreboard, there was plenty of excitement as young skiers took their best shot, and mostly overshot, at taking down the veterans.

Without the World Champion and World Cup star Ted Ligety in the field the duty of upholding the honor of the World Cup squad fell to Tim Jitloff and Robby Kelley and they accomplished the feat, finishing in that order as first and second.

It was the fourth national title for Jitloff and his third in GS, but his first in any discipline since 2009. His Cup season topped out with a 12th at Garmisch and he placed 16th at the World Championships. Kelley, the defending champion, gave pursuit but couldn't match the calm execution of Jitloff.

“I’m one of the older bucks out here, so this comes with some experience. I remember being wild and crazy too, but that’s not always fast. I just tried to ski smooth and clean and really just try to soak it all in.”

His run was made all the more difficult by a foot of fresh snow that had fallen Wednesday. While he had the benefit of running first ona clean course in the first heat, he ran 30th in the second and faced some challenging conditions.

“It was challenging for sure, but I grew up racing on this hill so I know what’s going on. For me this is just a lot of fun, so it’s really a weight off the shoulder if you can go and just enjoy yourself. That’s what it was today. It felt good to kind of reel back the years a little bit on home turf. It was nice.”

Third went to Seppi Stiegler while the top junior was Kieffer Christianson in fourth.

“I definitely wanted to repeat after winning last year,” said Kelley, “but it’s definitely a good accomplishment, coming here and getting second. Jit has been skiing great all year, so I kind of expected it.”

Gepa photo from earlier this season

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time FIS Points
 1  1  534959 JITLOFF Tim  1985  USA   51.58  53.23  1:44.81  8.00
 2  2  930160 KELLEY Robby  1990  USA   52.49  53.20  1:45.69  15.47
 3  7  530651 STIEGLER Seppi  1988  USA   52.59  53.38  1:45.97  17.85
 4  5  6530115 CHRISTIANSON Kieffer  1992  USA   52.66  53.40  1:46.06  18.61
 5  6  103752 TROW Andy  1991  CAN   52.67  53.62  1:46.29  20.57
 6  15  531452 BIESEMEYER Thomas  1989  USA   53.63  52.73  1:46.36  21.16
 7  3  930107 GREGORAK Will  1990  USA   52.69  53.85  1:46.54  22.69
 8  13  934643 GOLDBERG Jared  1991  USA   52.85  53.80  1:46.65  23.62
 9  10  930133 HIGGINS Sean  1990  USA   53.10  53.95  1:47.05  27.02
 10  4  530758 COHEE Nick  1988  USA   52.72  54.35  1:47.07  27.19
 11  17  6530117 CONE Robert  1992  USA   52.90  54.24  1:47.14  27.79
 12  22  934523 ENGEL Mark  1991  USA   54.47  52.83  1:47.30  29.14
 13  19  180541 HARMANEN Niko  1988  FIN   53.63  53.68  1:47.31  29.23
 14  12  930029 ACOSTA Christopher  1990  USA   53.87  53.52  1:47.39  29.91
 15  14  531392 JAMPOLSKY Grant  1989  USA   52.90  54.57  1:47.47  30.59
 16  21  934502 ANKENY Michael  1991  USA   54.09  53.56  1:47.65  32.12
 17  18  30375 RICOU Luca  1990  ARG   53.77  54.04  1:47.81  33.47
 18  29  934525 FLOWERS Kitt  1991  USA   54.99  52.88  1:47.87  33.98
 19  16  531414 BANSMER Michael  1989  USA   53.78  54.19  1:47.97  34.83
 20  28  6530104 BENNETT Bryce  1992  USA   54.81  53.46  1:48.27  37.38
 21  25  6530498 MCKENNA Christopher  1993  USA   54.14  54.18  1:48.32  37.81
 22  30  6530534 VIETZE Sandy  1993  USA   54.62  53.72  1:48.34  37.98
 23  27  6530599 STRAND Matthew  1993  USA   54.88  53.58  1:48.46  38.99
 24  24  934518 DANIELS Nick  1991  USA   55.12  53.74  1:48.86  42.39
 25  40  6530167 SHIFFRIN Taylor  1992  USA   54.99  53.96  1:48.95  43.16
 26  35  6530539 WRIGHT Bronson  1993  USA   54.98  54.00  1:48.98  43.41
 27  20  6530500 MCLAUGHLIN Brian  1993  USA   54.55  54.47  1:49.02  43.75
 28  23  103690 GAGNON Cedrik  1991  CAN   54.44  54.66  1:49.10  44.43
 29  39  6531106 AUTY Jack  1995  USA   55.02  54.33  1:49.35  46.55
 30  33  6530483 KIRCHER Andrew  1993  USA   55.24  54.42  1:49.66  49.18
 31  38  6531472 DRILLER Garret  1996  USA   55.10  55.01  1:50.11  53.01
 32  49  6531203 SPROCK Ty  1995  USA   55.42  54.74  1:50.16  53.43
 33  47  561256 JAZBEC Jaka  1992  SLO   55.08  55.16  1:50.24  54.11
 34  41  6530140 MCLAUGHLIN Prescott  1992  USA   55.52  54.96  1:50.48  56.15
 35  31  6530108 BROOKS Dylan  1992  USA   55.31  55.22  1:50.53  56.57
 36  42  6530952 BERLACK Ronald  1994  USA   55.28  55.66  1:50.94  60.05
 37  50  6531309 KULLBERG Kei  1995  USA   55.64  55.33  1:50.97  60.31
 38  36  6531127 DUFFY Drew  1995  USA   56.22  55.24  1:51.46  64.47
 39  51  6530906 ROBLES Thomas  1994  USA   55.82  55.73  1:51.55  65.23
 40  65  6531474 DVORACEK Addison  1996  USA   56.55  55.23  1:51.78  67.19
 41  54  40523 DEMSCHAR Dominic  1993  AUS   56.34  55.46  1:51.80  67.36
 42  58  6531186 PLANT Riley  1995  USA   56.61  55.78  1:52.39  72.37
 43  70  6531217 WEISEL Kipling  1995  USA   56.83  55.64  1:52.47  73.05
 43  59  6531246 ASTLE Bryce  1995  USA   56.46  56.01  1:52.47  73.05
 45  64  6531520 MORSE Sam  1996  USA   56.72  55.94  1:52.66  74.66
 45  45  6531178 NORTON Hughston  1995  USA   55.98  56.68  1:52.66  74.66
 47  48  934593 WRIGHT Cole  1991  USA   56.77  56.07  1:52.84  76.19
 48  66  6530797 WILSON Kenny  1994  USA   56.96  56.00  1:52.96  77.21
 49  37  410371 NEESON Finlay  1993  NZL   57.04  56.50  1:53.54  82.13
 50  52  6531444 ARVIDSSON Erik  1996  USA   58.09  55.81  1:53.90  85.19
 51  75  6530800 THEIS Tyler  1994  USA   57.18  56.87  1:54.05  86.46
 52  81  6531726 SZWEBEL Florian  1996  USA   57.47  56.68  1:54.15  87.31
 53  55  6530399 O BRIEN Cannon  1992  USA   56.96  57.41  1:54.37  89.18
 54  61  6531259 VETH Nicolas  1995  USA   57.82  56.98  1:54.80  92.83
 55  78  680054 GEDEVANISHVILI Dimitri  1993  GEO   58.31  57.19  1:55.50  98.77
 55  76  6531117 BURCIN Kyle  1995  USA   58.20  57.30  1:55.50  98.77
 57  69  6531228 BAROUNOS Alex  1995  USA   57.98  57.59  1:55.57  99.37
 58  67  6531519 MOONEY Ryan  1996  USA   56.94  58.93  1:55.87  101.92
 59  79  6531590 KIRWOOD Clayton  1996  USA   58.61  57.47  1:56.08  103.70
 60  62  6531135 FRANCIS Brian  1995  USA   57.62  58.60  1:56.22  104.89
 61  73  530262 LUND Jacob  1987  USA   58.59  57.84  1:56.43  106.67
 62  68  6530642 HARTMANN Kevin  1993  USA   58.99  58.39  1:57.38  114.74
Disqualified 2nd run
   71  930123 HARRIS Reilly  1990  USA         
   11  530837 KELLEY Tim  1986  USA         
   8  530827 ELLIOT Jeremy  1988  USA         
Disqualified 1st run
   74  6530896 GRAHAM Hayes  1994  USA         
   53  930024 MAPLE Wiley  1990  USA         
Did not start 2nd run
   9  6530486 KRAUSE Nicholas  1993  USA         
Did not finish 2nd run
   84  930182 LUND Max  1990  USA         
   82  6531634 CALARCO Matthew  1996  USA         
   80  6531296 STUERCKE Hunter  1995  USA         
   77  6531509 LEBEL James  1996  USA         
   63  40536 DEMSCHAR Daniel  1994  AUS         
   57  6531129 EPSTEIN Jeremy  1995  USA         
   44  6530246 ENGELKEN Taber  1992  USA         
   43  104075 COOKSON Bryan  1994  CAN         
   34  6530840 DUFFY Danny  1994  USA         
Did not finish 1st run
   83  6531560 WILSON Cody  1996  USA         
   72  6530515 QUIMBY Garrett  1993  USA         
   60  6530845 BOARDMAN Michael  1994  USA         
   56  6531145 HALL Max  1995  USA         
   46  6530925 VAN DEURSEN Jake  1994  USA         
   32  6530453 DUPRATT Samuel  1993  USA         
   26  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew  1986  USA