Domestic Roundup: NorAms, FIS, Smartwool and VARA

Domestic Roundup: NorAms, FIS, Smartwool and VARA{mosimage}NorAms in Lake Louise, Alberta

1.36 seconds was the margin by which defending NorAm champ and skiracing.com columnist Stacey Cook claimed the Lake Louise NorAm super G on December 7. Cook beat out Canadian Sherry Lawrence for the win with Christina Risler in third and Mattie Ford, of Holderness, fourth. Cook won the next day’s super G by a more pedestrian 0.44 of a second over Caitlin Ciccone, with Chelsea Marshall third and Lawrence and Gail Kelly tied in fourth.

It’s worth noting we may be seeing the beginning of a fresh wave of Russian alpine competitors in Anastasia Popkova. She placed top 10 in both races (10th then 6th) before jetting to Altenmarkt for the World Cup race December 11. She failed to finish at Altenmarkt.

Ciccone got the NorAm DH win December 12, after a couple-day snow delay, by edging Shona Rubens. Lawrence was third giving her three straight top-four finishes. “I was confident but nervous’ said Rubens. ‘There are a lot of good girls today. I was looking for a good result, and this is it.’ John Kucera got the men’s downhill win, narrowly, over Canadian teammate Manuel Osborne-Paradis. Third went to a Brit, Roger Cruickshank, with Jeremy Transue the first American in fourth.

FIS series in California

In U.S. based “Entry League” FIS racing, at Boreal Ridge, Calif., Canadians took the first two slots of the men’s slalom December 4 with Luke Patterson leading Cameron Barnes. California skiers John Teller and Shane Collins got third and fourth respectively. It was Patterson and Barnes first and second the next day as well, and it was California boys third and fourth again, but this time Chris McKean was third and Arman Serebriakian fourth.

Amy Harris, a J3 regional hotshot in ’03, took the women’s first win by a huge margin over Corrinne Rotter with Holly O’Brien third and Hannah Wilson fourth. Brandy Barna, a JI-II hotshot in ’03, got the second slalom win over Harris, and both of them were well ahead of the rest of the field. Erika Horst was third and Lauren Summers fourth.

Smartwool Series in Winter Park, Colorado

In the Rockies Chelsea Lynch collected the first Smartwool Series win of the season, a Winter Park GS December 11. Lauren Brien was second and Lindsay McClure third. In the slalom on the 12th, Gillian Hearn got the win over McClure with Alice McKennis in third. The men’s GS went to Sean Higgins over David Lamb, with Todd Ligare in third for a Denver University sweep of the race. Aspen’s Toby Lamar got the slalom win over Dominik Schweiger with Lamb third.

VARA Cup back East

In VARA Cup racing in Vermont, Burke hosted a men’s slalom December 11 won by Cosmopolitan magazine’s Cody Marshall, with Timothy Kelley second and Joshua Bedard third. The women raced slalom December 12, with Heidi Robbins getting the win over Allison Rood. Laura Cavin was third with fourth going to Danielle Govan out of the 53rd start.

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