Ackerman dominates home hill at Rocky/Central J3 JO's; Schleper wins men's overall
Ackerman dominates home hill at Rocky/Central J3 JO’s; Schleper wins men’s overall
The most talented J3s from the Midwest packed their bags and headed from their hills barely higher than sea level to Vail, Colorado, and its 11,000 feet of elevation, where even World Cup racers find it hard to breathe. Vail hosted the 2006 J3 Junior Olympics March 7-11, and despite the altitude, the Central team celebrated some stellar results, but not before a pair of local racers took full advantage of racing on their home turf.
Ski Club Vail’s Delaney Ackerman won three of the four girls’ races, winning the March 7 downhill by more than .5, the March 8 super G by around three-tenths and the March 9 giant slalom by .22.
“Most people think I’m better at speed because that’s usually what I win… I felt some pressure to win,” Ackerman told the Vail Daily News after having won both the downhill and super G, adding, “But lately I’ve been training technical and doing pretty well.”
The next day, she won the giant slalom and proved herself right. That Ackerman was dominant at these JO’s wasn’t too surprising – she’s already represented the United States at the Topolino Games this year, and will represent the red, white and blue again at Whistler later this month.
Julia Keeler, of Crested Butte Academy, won the girls’ slalom on the strength of stellar first run.
“I had a pretty good lead,” she told the Vail Daily after the race. “But everyone here is a really good skier… [So] when I crossed the finish line, [a victory] was kind of up in the air.”
The dominant force on the boys’ side was Ski Club Vail’s Hunter Schleper, who is the younger brother of World Cup star and Torino Olympian Sarah Schleper. Schelper won the downhill, and followed that performance up with three consecutive silver medals in the ensuing super G, giant slalom and slalom.
After having won the first run of slalom on March 11, Schleper seemed poised to take his second gold of the series. But with a stranglehold on the overall standings, and the special pass that’s honored at every ski resort in North America that accompanies an overall victory in his sites, Schleper played his final run conservatively and ultimately landed in second place.
Schelper’s second was more than enough for the overall title, and next year, Schleper and teammate Ackerman can ski together anywhere on the continent they like.
Buck Hill’s Michael Ankeny was the winner in both the giant slalom and slalom, edging Schleper in both races, making the Minnesotan the only double event winner in the boys’ field.
Ankeny was just one-hundredth of a second ahead of Schleper going into the second run of slalom. He told the Vail Daily that having already won the GS freed him up to attack the afternoon run.
“I was thinking just go as hard as I could,” Ankeny said, “Just go, go go. I had nothing to lose, so I went for it.”
Steamboat’s Max Marno won the boys’ super G on March 8 after getting a superb course report from his sister, Anna, who finished third among the girls. “Before my run, someone said, ‘Hey, you should get on the podium, too,'” Max told the Vail Daily.
For compelte results from the Rocky/Central J3 JOs, see the links below:
About the Author: Pete Rugh
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