Ford, Maple crowned national DH champs at Sugarloaf
Deciding the 2015 national downhill champions was no easy task as heavy snow over the weekend forced postponement of both the men’s and women’s training runs to the morning of the races Tuesday. The U.S. National Championship for downhill this year coincides with the final speed races of the NorAm series at Sugarloaf, Maine.
Julia Ford secured a narrow two-hundredths of a second win over fellow American Jacqueline Wiles to earn her third national downhill title. Placing third was top U21 Breezy Johnson of the development team.
In the men’s race, which was delayed until after the women had completed their competition, Wiley Maple drew a breath of relief from U.S. team officials, as he was the only American to make the top six, finishing first. Maple outgunned Canadians Tyler Werry and Jeffrey Frisch, who finished second and third, respectively.
It was amazing the races were held at all. Sugarloaf experienced some classic March weather with 22 centimeters of snow coating the resort, followed by heavy wind. Race secretary Thelma Hostettler said it looked like a halfpipe midway down the Narrow Gauge track. The formation forced the race crew to attack the course with cats, while a shortage of forerunners resulted in a “snow seed” which kicked out ahead of the top-seeded racers.
Once things got underway, the race moved relatively smoothly. In the women’s event, Abby Ghent scored fourth. Alice Merryweather and Canadian Mikaela Tommy finished in a tie for fifth. Isabella Wright was seventh with a second Canadian, Emma Woodhouse, in eighth. Patricia Mangan and Heidi Livran rounded out the top 10.
Finishing just of the podium in the men’s race was British skier Jack Gower in fourth. He was followed by another pair of Canadians. As the second-best American finisher, Kipling Weisel notched seventh, followed by Bryce Bennett, Sam Morse and Tanner Farrow, who closed out the top 10 in that order.
Women’s results
1 14 538855 FORD, Julia USA 1`19.55 0.00 2 12 539536 WILES, Jacqueline USA 1`19.57 0.31 3 7 6535455 JOHNSON, Breezy USA 1`20.48 14.61 4 16 539363 GHENT, Abby USA 1`21.16 25.30 5 9 6535600 MERRYWEATHER, Alice USA 1`21.26 26.87 8 107532 TOMMY, Mikaela CAN 1`21.26 26.87 7 13 6535791 WRIGHT, Isabella USA 1`22.08 39.75 8 36 107588 WOODHOUSE, Emma CAN 1`23.06 55.15 18 6535765 MANGAN, Patricia USA 1`23.06 55.15 10 19 6535761 LIVRAN, Heidi USA 1`23.20 57.35 11 30 6535907 ENGLISH, Francesca USA 1`23.26 58.30 12 29 6535947 DECKER, Cecily USA 1`23.46 61.44 13 15 6535773 O BRIEN, Nina USA 1`23.49 61.91 14 4 6535882 DESROCHERS, Rachael USA 1`23.62 63.95 15 10 107583 REMME, Roni CAN 1`23.76 66.15 16 2 6535163 CALCAGNI, Lexi USA 1`24.16 72.44
17 17 6535414 AHMANN, Lindsay USA 1`24.38 75.90 18 27 6535868 MURER, Abigail USA 1`24.72 81.24 19 39 6535930 WARDLE, Galena USA 1`24.76 81.87 20 26 6535759 LEBBY, Stephanie USA 1`24.98 85.32 21 21 6535934 KLOMHAUS, Storm USA 1`25.07 86.74 22 24 6535941 PARKE, Juliette USA 1`25.16 88.15 23 23 6535808 SCHOEPKE, Sandra USA 1`25.55 94.28 24 37 6535935 OSELAND, Alexandria USA 1`26.17 104.02 25 35 107682 CURRIE, Stephanie CAN 1`27.11 118.79 26 28 6535902 BICKERT, Maia USA 1`27.48 124.61 27 33 6536023 BERNIER, Maya USA 1`27.53 125.39 28 32 6536018 MORRIS, Sophia USA 1`28.05 133.56 29 38 6536159 GLAVIN, Madelyn USA 1`29.09 149.91 DID NOT START 25 107387 CRAWFORD, Candace CAN 6 539932 IRWIN, Katharine USA 5 6535807 CUTLER, Haley USA DID NOT FINISH 34 6535661 STANDTEINER, Tenaya USA 31 6535942 LEBEL, Maureen USA 22 6535561 SOCKETT, Kaitlynn USA 20 539457 MARNO, Anna USA 11 107613 GRENIER, Valerie CAN 3 426262 SELVAAG, Josefine NOR 1 107424 SCHMIDT, Hannah CAN
Men’s results
1 54 930024 MAPLE, Wiley USA 1`16.90 0.00 2 58 103762 WERRY, Tyler CAN 1`17.09 3.09 3 56 103512 FRISCH, Jeffrey CAN 1`17.52 10.08 4 59 221117 GOWER, Jack GBR 1`17.60 11.38 5 65 104272 SEGER, Brodie CAN 1`17.77 14.14 6 52 104096 THOMPSON, Broderick CAN 1`17.98 17.56 7 63 6531217 WEISEL, Kipling USA 1`18.00 17.88 8 55 6530104 BENNETT, Bryce USA 1`18.09 19.34 9 57 6531520 MORSE, Sam USA 1`18.18 20.81 10 61 6530454 FARROW, Tanner USA 1`18.27 22.27 11 64 6530453 DUPRATT, Samuel USA 1`18.38 24.06 12 60 103612 PRIDY, Morgan CAN 1`18.49 25.85 13 53 104023 STEINKE, Chris CAN 1`18.86 31.86 14 62 103942 BELL, Jeffrey CAN 1`18.94 33.16 15 76 104468 READ, Jeffrey CAN 1`19.42 40.96
16 71 104246 LYNOTT, Patrick CAN 1`19.63 44.38 17 80 6531509 LEBEL, James USA 1`19.84 47.79 18 79 6531936 WINTERS, Luke USA 1`19.91 48.93 19 78 6531486 FUCIGNA, Peter USA 1`20.11 52.18 20 68 6531401 MITCHELL, Nicholas USA 1`20.24 54.29 21 83 6531928 KENNEY, Patrick USA 1`20.50 58.52 22 74 104537 ALEXANDER, Cameron CAN 1`20.60 60.14 23 89 6532084 RADAMUS, River USA 1`20.61 60.31 24 82 6530925 VAN DEURSEN, Jake USA 1`20.64 60.79 25 96 6531885 SHEILS, Paul USA 1`20.69 61.61 26 51 104156 NACIUK, Anthony CAN 1`20.73 62.26 27 97 6532004 BOUCHARD, Zach USA 1`20.82 63.72 28 87 104436 QUENNEVILLE, Raphael CAN 1`20.87 64.53 29 77 6531852 GALLAGHER, Christian USA 1`20.96 65.99 30 86 104529 MULLIGAN, Sam CAN 1`20.97 66.16 31 85 6532159 DESPRES, Jack USA 1`21.01 66.81 32 81 104525 PEIFFER, Max CAN 1`21.15 69.08 33 75 6531726 SZWEBEL, Florian USA 1`21.37 72.66 34 88 6531978 JANCO, Cole USA 1`21.63 76.89 35 90 104539 SEGER, Riley CAN 1`21.90 81.27 36 93 6531917 CAMPBELL, Pate USA 1`22.10 84.53 37 99 6532112 LILLEY, Austin Michael USA 1`22.28 87.45 38 107 40621 MUHLEN, Louis AUS 1`22.34 88.43 39 92 6531981 SLATTERY, Logan USA 1`22.59 92.49 40 101 6532009 CASHMAN, Jordan USA 1`22.60 92.65 41 102 6531598 JORDAN, Colby USA 1`22.74 94.93 42 91 104407 LALIBERTE, Felix CAN 1`22.75 95.09 43 104 104488 FOURNIER, Simon CAN 1`22.76 95.25 44 94 6531702 LAYMAN, Brooks USA 1`22.77 95.42 45 98 6531526 OSBORNE, Andrew USA 1`22.97 98.67 46 95 6532173 SMITH, Spencer USA 1`23.06 100.13 47 100 104412 BRUNEAU-BOUCHARD, William CAN 1`23.49 107.12 48 108 6532086 GUTSTEIN, Trent USA 1`23.76 111.51 49 106 6532148 RODRICK, Hunter USA 1`24.60 125.16 50 105 104495 PARIZEAU-HAMEL, Sebastien CAN 1`24.69 126.63 51 109 6532183 THOMAS, Devereux USA 1`24.95 130.85 52 103 104516 BEAURIVAGE, Justin CAN 1`25.17 134.43 53 110 6530968 HOLMES, Darnell USA 1`26.75 160.11
DID NOT START 73 104531 CRAWFORD, James CAN DID NOT FINISH 84 104409 QUEZEL, Lambert CAN 72 6530539 WRIGHT, Bronson USA 70 6531127 DUFFY, Drew USA 69 6531444 ARVIDSSON, Erik USA 67 6531560 WILSON, Cody USA 66 6531987 KELSEY, Sky USA