Ankeny, Crawford claim NorAm overall titles
Michael Ankeny jotted the punctuation mark on his Nor Am season by taking the final race, a slalom at Waterville Valley, putting the icing on a cake layered with both the overall and slalom titles. It didn’t come easily, however, as athletes were forced to hike the race hill due to lift closures.
Ankeny took the first run and added the second for a three-tenths of a second margin over junior AJ Ginnis. The win put the final polish on the slalom plate, 450 to 326 over Norway’s Espen Lysdahl, and the overall 659-642 over Canada’s speed demon Tyler Werry.
In a tight race for the second North American World Cup starting spot in slalom for next season, Redneck Racing’s Tim Kelley narrowly edged out a hard-charging Trevor Philp by 17 points.
Meanwhile, Paula Moltzan claimed her second straight slalom win in women’s NorAm action at Burke in a fighting effort to overtake Canadian standout Candace Crawford. The Canadian took the slalom title 373-361, finishing a comfortable eighth in the final race. But Moltzan closed the gap to finish second in the standings and secure her World Cup starting spot for next season. She was the only American skier to make the top 10 of the final race.
The University of Vermont’s Laurence St. Germain was runner-up to Moltzan in the final race at Burke with Ronni Remme third, Valerie Grenier fourth, Kristina Riis-Johannessen fifth, and U18 Ali Nullmeyer sixth.
Crawford was clearly the top racer on the women’s side of the Nor Am schedule with a whopping 545 point margin over Mikaela Tommy for the overall. She also ranked first in slalom, GS, and combined and was second in super G.
Photo courtesy of WVBBTS