Masters nationals: Nyquist tops GS on final day

The hoopla is over, awards have been presented and exhausted racers have headed home from the Skier’s Edge U.S. Masters Nationals at Big Sky, Montana. The weather held out and the championships were enormously successful. The final day of competition saw men’s competition in Group A giant slalom and Group B and D slalom with a festive atmosphere in the race arena.
BIG SKY, Montana — The hoopla is over, awards have been presented and exhausted racers have headed home from the Skier’s Edge U.S. Masters Nationals at Big Sky, Montana. The weather held out and the championships were enormously successful. The final day of competition saw men’s competition in Group A giant slalom and Group B and D slalom with a festive atmosphere in the race arena.
    The Skier’s Edge company has been enormously supportive of masters ski racing, not only in the United States, but also worldwide. At the masters U.S. nationals, Skier’s Edge donated two training machines (ski simulators) for auction and proceeds went to the Big Sky Ski Educational Foundation.

Men’s group A giant slalom
    While some racers took safe runs to ensure their combined status, others, on their last day of competition, held nothing back. Northern division’s Sverre Nyquist (M3) led all the way in men’s group A giant slalom action with formidable leads in both runs. With two age-class wins, Nyquist would have been a sure bet for an overall combined win, but a DSQ in super G took him out of the running. Class 4 Tim Hill (PN) and John Campbell (IM) led the chase in both runs, to no avail. Nicholas Sargent (M2-CN) followed the lead pack and Intermountain’s Ryan Leach (M2) was close behind to round out the top five.

Men’s group B slalom
    Kurt Belden, an Eastern transplant to the Far West division from Pico, Vermont, held off allcomers in the men’s Group B slalom with the closest contender, Dennis Wilhelmsen (ND), 2.41 seconds back. Sheer willpower and with the crowd pulling for him, Willie Scroggins finished two race runs in the same day. Earlier in the week, after winning both training runs in the downhill, Scroggins failed to finish the downhill, the super G and then the giant slalom. In his final attempt to get any finish, Scroggins not only scored a podium in Class 5, but also placed third overall in the race by holding off Skier’s Edge teammate Bob Skinner by 0.13. Northern division’s Ron Matelich moved past Class 6 slalom ace and Masters National Coordinator Bill Skinner to take fifth overall by 0.18.

Group D slalom
    Knut Olberg (M8-PN) was considered by most the only serious threat to a Pepi Neubauer (EA) dominance in Class 8. But once again Neubauer came out on top of Group D action as challenger Olberg ended up 1.51 seconds behind. Olberg ended up 2.76 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Keith McCauley (M8-IM). Tom Melhuse (M8) from the Northern division laid down the third-fastest second run to hold on to fourth overall over Eastern’s Class 9 Haldor Reinholt. In tight competition, Reinholt edged Gerald Randall out of the top five by a mere two-hundredths of a second.
    In class 11 action, Alphonse Sevigny (EA) moved from fourth place in the first run to gold-medal position ahead of perennial favorite Far West racers Harold Wescott and first-run leader Gaetano DeMattei, with only 0.28 separating the top three.

Combined standings — highlights
    Racers who dominated their age classes with triple wins were Duffy Dodge, Pepi Neubauer, Dana Alexandrescu-Leach, Bob Dreyer, Glenn McConkey, Deb Lewis, Tim Hill, James Thoman and Canadian Grace Oaks.

Full results at https://ussamasters.org/2007/nationals.