Schlopy, Schleper back as U.S. alpine team named

By Published On: June 19th, 2007Comments Off on Schlopy, Schleper back as U.S. alpine team named

World Championships medalists Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow plus Olympic champion Ted Ligety and first-time World Cup winner Steven Nyman headline the 2008 U.S. Alpine Ski Team, which was named Monday.
    U.S. Alpine Director Jesse Hunt said the group, from the A team through the development team, includes 27 men and 27 women; 15 are Olympians.

    The team, now in full summer training mode, will kick off the 2007-08 World Cup season in October. The top U.S. Ski Team stars will be showcased in early December when the World Cup comes to Beaver Creek, Colorado, and Aspen, Colo.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS medalists Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow plus Olympic champion Ted Ligety and first-time World Cup winner Steven Nyman headline the 2008 U.S. Alpine Ski Team, which was named Monday.

    U.S. Alpine Director Jesse Hunt said the group, from the A team through the development team, includes 27 men and 27 women; 15 are Olympians.

    The team, now in full summer training mode, will kick off the 2007-08 World Cup season in October. The top U.S. Ski Team stars will be showcased in early December when the World Cup comes to Beaver Creek, Colorado, and Aspen, Colo.

    Mancuso produced the finest U.S. women's World Cup season since 1984 as she won the first four races in her career and finished third overall. She also collected another World Championships medal (the third of her career — this one silver in super combined) during the 2007 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Are, Sweden, and was named U.S. Alpine Skier of the Year by Ski Racing magazine. Kildow added three World Cup victories (seven in her career) and earned the silver medal in downhill and super G at worlds before a knee injury shortened her 2007 season by a month.

    Nyman earned his first World Cup top three during the Visa Birds of Prey races at Beaver Creek and two weeks later won his first race, capturing the downhill in Val Gardena, Italy. Despite starting the season with a broken hand, Ligety had two more World Cup podiums and finished with two U.S. championships for the third straight season.

    "This team is loaded with talent, from our top athletes that have had Olympic, World Championship and World Cup success to the up-and-coming athletes that have been successful at the Europa Cup and NorAm levels and are ready to take a step up," Hunt said. "This is a team
on both the men's and women's side that has shown the potential to reach our goal of winning at every level."

The 2008 U.S. Alpine Ski Team (with date of birth, hometown and club program):

MEN
A team
Bryon Friedman (6/14/80; Park City, UT; Park City Ski Education Foundation)
Ted Ligety (8/31/84; Park City, UT; Park City Ski Education Foundation)
Scott Macartney (1/19/78; Crystal Mountain, WA; Crystal Mountain Alpine Club)
Steven Nyman (2/12/82; Provo, UT; Sundance/Park City Ski Education Foundation)
Erik Schlopy (8/21/72; Park City, UT; Park City Ski Education Foundation)
Dane Spencer (12/24/77; Boise, ID; Bogus Basin)
Marco Sullivan, (4/27/80; Squaw Valley, CA; Squaw Valley Ski Team)

B team
Will Brandenburg (1/1/87; Spokane, WA; Schweitzer Alpine Racing)
Jimmy Cochran (5/29/81; Keene, NH; Cochran's/Mount Mansfield Ski & Snowboard Club)
Erik Fisher (3/21/85; Middleton, ID; Bogus Basin)
Kevin Francis (6/13/82; Bend, OR; Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation)
Tim Jitloff (1/11/85; Reno, NV; Park City Ski Education Foundation)
Tim Kelley (5/20/86; Starksboro, VT; Cochran's/Mount Mansfield Ski & Snowboard Club)
T.J. Lanning (8/27/84; Park City, UT; Park City Ski Education Foundation)
Cody Marshall (11/15/82; Pittsfield, VT; Green Mountain Valley School)
Jeremy Transue (6/1/83; Hunter, NY; Green Mountain Valley School)
Jake Zamansky (6/26/81; Aspen, CO; Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club)

C team
Chris Beckmann (10/9/86; Altamont, NY; New York Ski Education Foundation)
Travis Ganong (7/14/88; Olympic Valley, CA; Squaw Valley Ski Team)
Paul McDonald (6/25/84; Bellevue, WA; Crystal Mountain Alpine Club)
Andrew Weibrecht (2/10/86; Lake Placid, NY; New York Ski Education Foundation)

WOMEN
A team

Stacey Cook (7/3/84; Mammoth Mountain, CA; Mammoth Mountain Ski Team)
Lindsey Kildow (10/18/84; Vail, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail)
Caroline Lalive (8/10/79; Steamboat Springs, CO; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club)
Libby Ludlow (8/26/81; Bellevue, WA; Crystal Mountain Alpine Club)
Julia Mancuso (9/9/84; Olympic Valley, CA; Squaw Valley Ski Team)
Kaylin Richardson (9/28/84; Edina, MN; Team Gilboa)
Sarah Schleper (2/19/79; Vail, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail)
Resi Stiegler (11/15/85; Jackson Hole, WY; Park City Ski Education Foundation/Jackson Hole Ski Club)

B team
Caitlin Ciccone (3/14/85; Bethlehem, NH; Burke Mountain Academy/Franconia Ski Club)
Katie Hitchcock (3/11/85; Sacramento, CA; Sugar Bowl Ski Team)
Jessica Kelley (10/5/82; Starksboro, VT; Cochran's/Mount Mansfield Ski & Snowboard Club)
Lauren Ross (1/8/82; Stowe, VT; Mount Mansfield Ski & Snowboard Club)

C team
Laurel Carter (10/29/86; Norwich, VT; Ski Racing International)
Hailey Duke (9/17/85; Boise, ID; Park City Ski Education Foundation)
Sterling Grant (6/1/87; Amery, WI; Buck Hill Ski Team)
Keely Kelleher (8/12/84; Big Sky, MT; Rowmark Ski Academy)
Julia Littman (7/21/84; Vail, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail)
Chelsea Marshall (8/14/86; Pittsfield, VT; Green Mountain Valley School)
Megan McJames (9/24/87; Park City, UT; Park City Ski Education Foundation)
Leanne Smith (5/28/87; Conway, NH; Mount Washington Valley Ski Team)
Kiley Staples (2/2/89; Park City, UT; Rowmark Ski Academy)

Development team
Men

Tommy Ford (3/20/89; Bend, OR; Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation)
Colby Granstrom (9/21/90; Lake Stevens, WA; Mission Ridge Ski Education Foundation)
Max Hammer (1/29/88; Jackson Hole WY; Jackson Hole Ski Club)
Bump Heldman (10/25/88; Auburn, ME; Gould Academy Snow Sports Club)
Nolan Kasper (3/27/89; Warren, VT; Burke Mountain Academy)
Andrew Phillips (5/18/89; Sandy, UT; Rowmark Ski Academy)

Women
Lindsey Cone (7/1/88; Killington, VT; Burke Mountain Academy)
Kirsten Cooper (11/12/88; Breckenridge, CO; Team Summit)
Julia Ford (3/30/90; Plymouth, NH; Holderness Ski Team)
Kristin Leggett (6/25/90; Killington, VT; Killington Mountain School)
Laurenne Ross (8/17/88; Klamath Falls, OR; Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation)
Jennie VanWagner (6/22/89; Traverse City, MI; Rowmark Ski Academy)

    Hunt said the ski team would be continuing its quest for success at the World Cup level and to accelerate the development, as much as possible, of emerging young talents. There are seven World Cup races four for men, three for women in the United States before Christmas while NorAm Finals, the level just below the World Cup, will be March 13-16 at Whiteface Mountain, outside Lake Placid, New York.
    The annual Visa Birds of Prey men's races will be Nov. 29-Dec. 2 (super combined, downhill, super G and giant slalom) at Beaver Creek. The Aspen Winternational Dec. 7-9 (downhill, super G and slalom) will have the first women's World Cup downhill in the United States since 1997 and mark the 40th anniversary of the first women's World Cup downhill in Aspen.
    "U.S. skiers took 11 of the 12 NorAm titles last winter, and with the top two skiers in each discipline [slalom, GS, super G and downhill] earning automatic World Cup starts, that provides a great opportunity for our young skiers to gain valuable experience," Hunt said. "They'll get a chance to see what the World Cup is, see how they can find their place in the top level of their sport … and keep working their way toward the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver."0
    In addition, several veterans who missed last season while recuperating from injuries are resuming their careers. Three-time Olympians Sarah Schleper and Caroline Lalive will be back along with another three-time Olympian, Erik Schlopy. Dane Spencer, a 2002 Olympian who was sidelined in '06 by a life-threatening crash in a NorAm downhill, is returning from a broken neck and pelvis while Bryon Friedman, who has undergone multiple surgeries to repair leg injuries following a training crash in January 2005, took his first racing starts in two years last winter and hopes to keep progressing back toward the World Cup.
    "These returnees are all proven World Cup contenders," Hunt said, "and it will be good to regain their talent and leadership skills, especially for the younger skiers on the 2008 ski team."

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