Two Fords – Julia and Tommy – headline J2 nationals

Two Fords – Julia and Tommy – headline J2 nationalsThe best 15- and 16-year-old skiers in the country descended on idyllic Sun Valley, Idaho, for the J2 national championships March 8-11. For both men and women, the series featured one race in each discipline on challenging hills in tough conditions.

Mount Bachelor Ski Education Foundation’s Tommy Ford emerged as the dominant force on the men’s side, and Burke Mountain Academy’s Nolan Kasper finished second to Ford on three consecutive days.

The women’s podiums were a little more diverse than the men’s. First-year J2’s Julia Ford of the Holderness School and Stowe’s Annie Rendall set themselves up to be favorites at next year’s championships, while Aspen’s Alice McKennis, Jackson Hole’s Melissa Gill and Park City’s Kate Williams capitalized on their final shot at J2 glory by garnering some hardware.

The following is a brief, day-by-day sketch of the event as it unfolded.

March 8, Men’s and Women’s Downhill

After the March 6 downhill training runs were canceled because of heavy fog, athletes, coaches and race organizers pulled off two training runs on March 7 before race day rolled around.

The downhill track featured a couple 90-degree turns as it skipped its way down Sun Valley’s trails. Starting on Upper Gray Hawk, the course turned hard onto Cozy Road before hitting the Hemingway trail, and then turned back onto Lower Gray Hawk for the final stretch to the finish line.

Tyler Palmer, Rueben Macaya and the rest of the Sun Valley race organization did an excellent job getting the route in shape for the March 8 race.

Rowmark Academy’s Andrew Phillips pulled off a surprising victory in the men’s race, relegating Tommy Ford, who won both training runs a day earlier, to second place. Taylor Vest-Burton, also from Rowmark, brought home the bronze.

Phillips’ Rowmark teammate Jennifer Van Wagner won the women’s race by nearly seven-tenths of a second. Alice McKennis took silver, claiming the first of two medals on the week, and she was followed by Kate Williams, who would also find the podium again before week’s end.

Men’s downhill
J2 national championships downhill
Sun Valley Idado
March 8, 2006

1. Andrew Phillips 1:07.68
2. Tommy Ford 1:07.95
3. Taylor Vest-Barton 1:08.45
4. Luke McLaughry 1:08.49
5. Thomas Biesemeyer 1:08.65
6. Charlie Reynolds 1:08.70
7. Trevor Leafe 1:08.89
8. Michael Barbour 1:08.90
9. Anton Hilts 1:08.92
10. John Canney 1:08.99

Women’s downhill
J2 national championships
Sun Valley, Idaho
March 8, 2006

1. Jennifer Vanwagner 1:09.02
2. Alice Mckennis 1:09.68
3. Kate Williams 1:10.25
4. Julia Ford 1:10.50
5. Christa Ghent 1:10.90
6. Jennifer Allen 1:11.11
7. Amy McLaguhlin 1:11.12
8. Jasmine Bruce 1:11.23
9. Geordie Lonza 1:11.24
10. Melissa Gill 1:11.30

March 9, Men’s and Women’s Super G
The super G was held on exactly the same track as the previous day’s downhill. The course featured an inordinately turny set, wind blown conditions and two troublesome blind gates.

On the men’s side, Tommy Ford’s tactical superiority earned him his first victory of the championships. Nolan Kasper was the fastest skier through the upper split, but Ford mastered the two tough blind gates like no one else in the field, and those two sections proved the winning difference. Taylor Vest-Burton proved his third place in the downhill was no accident by taking bronze again.

The women’s race was claimed by young Christa Ghent from Vail, Colorado. Ghent, only a first-year J2, improved upon a strong fifth-place showing from the day before. Melissa Gill took the silver medal, and Katherine Dunleavy, who splits time between New York City and Park City, Utah, skied a strong run on her way to third place on the day.

Men’s super G
J2 national championships super G
Sun Valley, Iadaho
March 9, 2006

1. Tommy Ford 1:14.64
2. Nolan Kasper 1:15.66
3. Taylor Vest-Barton 1:16.10
4. John Kemp 1:16.12
5. Kevin McNamara 1.16.28
6. Will Gregorak 1:16.61
7. Wiley Maple 1:16.64
8. Alex Jones 1:16.83
9. Taylor Lynch 1:16.85
10. Charlie Reynolds 1:16.89

Women’s super G
J2 national championships super G
Sun Valley, Idaho
March 9, 2006

1. Christa Ghent 1:19.86
2. Melissa Gill 1:20.38
3. Katherine Dunleavy 1:20.40
4. Lucy Ainge 1:20.45
5. Danielle Shannon 1:20.51
6. Andrea Killebrew 1:20.84
7. Kristin Leggett 1:21.12
8. Jennifer Allen 1:21.13
9. Julia Ford 1:21.17
10. Christina Schueller 1:21.38

March 10, Men’s GS and Women’s SL

Day three of the championships saw the speed start dropped to Cozy Road at the top of the Hemingway trail, where the men’s giant slalom would follow what was essentially the bottom half of the DH/SG track to the finish line.

Tommy Ford and Nolan Kasper orchestrated a spooky, déjà vu day. In the morning, Ford put down a smoking fast pace and won the run by a second, and he was followed by Kasper, who was nearly a second ahead of the rest of the field. Kasper’s all-out blitz on the afternoon course proved enough to claim the second-run victory, but the distance that Ford had put on Kasper (and everyone else) proved insurmountable. For the second time in as many races, Ford took gold and Kasper settled for second.

Gunnar Ashton, Kasper’s BMA teammate, finished third, while first-year J2 Robert Kelley, from Stowe, Vermont, made an impressive leap from bib 31 to finish fourth.

The men’s and women’s races were run concurrently, and while Ford wowed spectators watching the giant slalom, Julia Ford put on the most dominating performance of the week in the women’s slalom.

The slalom was on Cozy, and the conditions on this trail were not as consistent as they’d been on the Hawk-Hemingway run. Ford, a first-year J2, proved the class of the field in mastering the rough, shelf-like grooves around the gates in both runs, winning the race by more than 2.5 seconds.

Melissa Gill took silver for the second time in two days. Crested Butte Academy’s Kelsey Roddick was third, followed by first-year J2 Annie Rendall from Stowe. Like teammate Kelly in the men’s GS, Rendall made a big jump from bib 24 to finish fourth.

Men’s giant slalom
J2 National Championships
Sun Valley, Idaho
March 10, 2006

1. Tommy Ford 1:34.47
2. Nolan Kasper 1:35.44
3. Gunnar Ashton 135.60
4. Robert Kelley 1:36.93
5. Trevor Leafe 1:36.96
6. Colby Granstrom 1:37.30
7. Gary Rumley 1:38.34
8. Andrew Phillips 1:38.37
9. Thomas Biesemeyer 1:38.62
10. Luke McLaughry 1:38.70

Women’s slalom
J2 national championships
Sun Valley, Idaho
March 10, 2006

1. Julia Ford 1:50.54
2. Melissa Gill 1:53.18
3. Kelsey Roddick 1:53.34
4. Annie Rendall 1:53.44
5. Lauren Letson 1:53.80
6. Kate Williams 1:54.10
7. Emily Capaul 1:54.57
8. Madeleine Bjornestad 1:54.62
9. Christa Ghent 1:54.65
10. Amanda McDonald 1:54.83

March 11, Men’s SL and Women’s GS

This time, the men had to brave the rocky conditions on Cozy while they wrapped up their week with slalom. If the March 10 action was déjà vu, then race was something like deja-déjà vu.

Ford and Kasper were separated by only one-hundredth of a second in the first run, but Ford built on his lead in the afternoon, and at the end of the day, the two podium hogs finished way ahead of the field in first and second place… again.

With two solid runs, Taylor Vest-Burton picked up his third bronze medal of the week.

Park City’s Kate Williams, who was third in the March 8 downhill, won the women’s giant slalom. Starting bib 32, Annie Randall improved upon her stellar skiing from the day before to take second place, and downhill silver medalist Alice
McKennis took home the bronze.

Men’s slalom
J2 national championships
Sun Valley, Idaho
March 11, 2006

1. Tommy Ford 1:40.46
2. Nolan Kasper 1:41.31
3. Taylor Vest-Burton 1:42.96
4. Andrew Phillips 1:43.48
5. Thomas Biesemeyer 1:43.50
6. Trevor Leafe 1:44.27
7. Luke Mclaughry 1:44.61
8. Alex Jones 1:44.70
9. John Kemp 1:44.99
10. Gunnar Ashton 1:44.99

Women’s slalom
J2 national championships
Sun Valley, Idaho
March 11, 2006

1. Kate Williams 1:37.07
2. Annie Rendall 1:37.21
3. Alice McKennis 1:37.29
4. Julia Ford 1:37.46
5. Melissa Gill 1:37.81
6. Jasmine Bruce 1:38.08
7. Kristin Leggett 1:38.64
Jennifer Allen 1:38.64
9. Elana Rogers 1:38.65
10. Christina Schueller 1:39.14

The combined standings and Regions Cup standings were determined using the ssame method as Junior World Championships, an event that could be the next step for many of these racers. The combined was determined using the total race points accumulated in downhill, slalom and GS. The Regions Cup was determined by calculating the top 10 finishers in each event, including the combined. Points were assigned, starting with 10 for first down to one for 10th.

Men’s combined
J2 national championships
Sun Valley, Idaho
(Rank, name, region, DH Race Points, SL, GS, TOTAL)
1. FORD Tommy West 5.27 0.00 0.00 5.27
2. KASPER Nolan East 37.45 8.93 5.08 51.46
3. PHILLIPS Andrew West 0.00 35.92 18.04 53.96
4. LEAFE Trevor East 23.60 22.93 22.76 69.29
5. VEST-BURTON Taylor West 15.02 41.99 14.93 71.94
6. BIESEMEYER Thomas East 18.92 38.22 18.16 75.30
7. MCLAUGHRY Luke East 15.80 38.96 24.79 79.55
8. NOCEK Christopher East 47.00 41.07 28.31 116.38
9. SWING Blaise West 35.11 47.15 34.70 116.96
10. WOODS Tim RC 32.96 50.10 34.82 117.88

Women’s combined
J2 national championships
Sun Valley, Idaho
(Rank, name, region, DH Race Points, SL, GS, TOTAL)
1. FORD Julia East 28.30 0.00 3.50 31.80
2. MCKENNIS Alice RC 12.62 23.45 1.97 38.04
3. WILLIAMS Kate West 23.52 19.32 0.00 42.84
4. GILL Melissa West 43.60 14.33 6.63 64.56
5. ALLEN Jennifer RC 39.97 24.64 14.07 78.68
6. LONZA Geordie West 42.46 28.12 28.50 99.08
7. MCLAUGHLIN Amy East 40.16 41.36 24.20 105.72
8. RENDALL Annie East 110.92 15.74 1.25 127.91
9. CHIASSON Sabrina East 92.76 23.50 19.99 136.25
10. GHENT Christa RC 35.95 22.31 86.85 145.11

Nations Cup
J2 national championships
Sun Valley, Idaho
East 229
West 218
Rocky/Central 98