Easterners Ferri and O’Brien win U18 parallel slaloms
The U18 Nationals concluded at Copper Mountain, Colo., Thursday (March 6) with a “fun” parallel slalom event and the announcement of the coveted Regions Cup, which went, once again, to the West, but with a much smaller margin than in recent years. The parallel did not count toward the Regions Cup, but the top three competitors will get an invite to the senior National Championships as do winners in all the U18 title races.
The West took the Cup followed by the East right on its tails and Rocky/Central gapped into third.
Eastern men swept the final of the parallel with James Ferri (Killington Mountain School), George Steffey (Stratton Mountain School), Peter Fucigna (Waterville Valley BBTS) and Wyatt Queirolo (Killington Mountain School) making up the final four, respectively.
Nina O’Brien (Burke Mountain Academy/NTG) stopped Stephanie Lebby (USSA TEAM Academy/NTG) from claiming her fourth title in the women’s race. Dani Brownell-Patty (Burke Mountain Academy) was third and her teammate Moriah Wilson fourth.
Lebby won the traditional combined (adding race points from the four events for the lowest total) after claiming the super G, GS and slalom. Her score was 31.24. O’Brien was second in a nearly as strong 33.69, and Patricia Mangan (Holimont Racing/NTG) was third best with a score of 35.83.
The men’s combined went to Florian Szwebel (Ski Cub Vail) with a score of 50.21. Jeff Read, a Banff skier representing Canada, was second and Ferri picked up third.
RESULTS – MEN’S PARALLEL FINALS
RNK BIB FIS USSA NAME NAT 1 6 6531482 E6033732 FERRI, James USA 2 11 6531963 E6064406 STEFFEY, George USA 3 1 6531486 E6049472 FUCIGNA, Peter USA 4 8 6531535 E6041784 QUEIROLO, Wyatt USA Eliminated before top 4 5 42 6531523 C6124986 O BRIEN, Keilan USA 6 19 6531610 R6013098 HANCOCK, Andrew USA 7 36 6531987 R6201172 KELSEY, Sky USA 8 13 6531634 R6189708 CALARCO, Matthew USA Eliminated before top 8 9 2 6531519 E6028658 MOONEY, Ryan USA 10 7 6531726 R6085302 SZWEBEL, Florian USA 11 12 6531590 R5953633 KIRWOOD, Clayton USA 12 48 6531499 I6040620 JOSEY, Tanner USA 13 22 6531454 E6039960 BEUTNER, Michael USA 14 5 6531542 E5989330 STAMLER, Max USA 15 53 400293 X6047344 WEEMAES, Pieter NED 16 25 6531854 I5944889 GRIFFITH, Ian USA
RESULTS – WOMEN’S PARALLEL FINALS
RNK BIB FIS USSA NAME NAT 1 4 6535773 E6052252 O BRIEN, Nina USA 2 3 6535759 I6007710 LEBBY, Stephanie USA 3 1 6535634 E5941406 BROWNELL-PATTY, USA 4 6 6535564 E6034201 WILSON, Anna Mor USA Eliminated before top 4 5 8 6535497 E6005862 SKOVRAN, Alexand USA 6 16 6535461 R6085948 KIDD, Serina USA 7 9 225611 X6060198 FITZGERALD, Jord GBR 8 25 6535762 E6051320 LORD, Madison USA Eliminated before top 8 9 10 6535590 R6104632 HENEGAN, Sydney USA 22.32 10 7 6535469 R6024541 MCCORMICK, Erika USA 22.52 11 19 6535882 R6010029 DESROCHERS, Rach USA 22.63 12 5 6535478 E6052161 O BRIEN, Audrey USA 22.72 13 50 6535446 C6068944 GREINER, Megan USA 22.89 14 20 6535494 R5951603 SEDBERRY, Chandl USA 22.96 15 26 6535505 I6104681 SULTE, Aspen USA 23.06 16 27 6535477 F5998984 NORTON, Nikita USA 23.07