J2 Nationals: Byrne and Morse collected slalom wins

First year J2 Greta Byrne roughed up the older girls in her favorite discipline while Ben Morse made it a perfect two for two with a come-from-behind slalom effort as the J2 National Championship, the Junior Olympics for 15 and 16 year olds, restarted at Aspen, Colo., after a snowstorm.First year J2 Greta Byrne roughed up the older girls in her favorite discipline while Ben Morse made it a perfect two for two with a come-from-behind slalom effort as the J2 National Championship, the Junior Olympics for 15 and 16 year olds, restarted at Aspen, Colo., after a snowstorm.

With 15 inches of new snow overnight the original schedule was scrapped, the slaloms moved up and the more difficult to prepare for super G’s were pushed to the end of the week. While it meant getting out the short skis a little sooner than anticipated it didn’t seem to bother either Byrne or Morse.

Being left about nine tenths out of the hunt after the first run, Morse, the downhill winner on Monday, turned on the afterburners in the second heat.

“It was a difficult set and conditions with the new snow were challenging,” Morse said. “Some of the turns got a little dished out, but I manage to squeek through.”

Squeek might not be the right word. Morse was 1.28 seconds ahead of the field in the second run and won by about three-tenths, but he’s pretty sure he didn’t get any style points.

“Everybody was kind of scrambling,” Morse said, adding that some of the course scraped down to “to the hard stuff,” and parts of it didn’t. “I felt I was wild and all over the place, but I guess it was fast.”

He said having two gold medals in two races was ” … surreal. The downhill hadn’t really sunk in yet.” But also said he expected to be in contention in the GS and super G races still on the docket.

Byrne said the only secret to her win was that “I just wanted it so bad.”

She added, “I thought the second course was pretty quick. You had to stay ahead of it… or you get low and mess up.” Recognizing the situation, she “stayed ahead” of the course and brought in her first J2 title.

She says slalom is her favorite discipline, but she won two J3 titles in speed events last season.

The U.S. Ski Team Alpine Director Jesse Hunt had the opportunity to watch the second runs of both athletes and was excited about what he saw.

“Greta did ski a great second run and she had a good first run, too. It was some great skiing. She kept her head on and just kept skiing hard…   you put two together like that and this is what you get.”

What she got was a National title and a chance to ski against the senior team at U.S. Nationals in Alaska.

Bryce Bennett got second behind Morse. “Bryce Bennett of Squaw put down a really nice run,” said Morse, “and Keefer and I both charged the second run and I managed to finish.” Keefer Christiansen, second after the first run, did not finish.

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J2 National Junior Olympic Championships

 

Women’s Slalom

Aspen, Colo.,

March 11, 2009

1. Greta BYRNE, USA/R/C      1:30.07

2. Lauren SAMUELS, USA/R/C      1:31.84

3. Joanna COFFEY, USA/R/C      1:32.58

4. Makenzie BROWN, USA/EST      1:33.37

5. Foreste PETERSON, USA/WST      1:33.63

6. Maisie IDE, USA/R/C      1:33.80

7. Mary SACKBAUER, USA/R/C      1:35.82

8. Vanessa BERTHER, USA/WST      1:36.61

9. Anne STRONG, USA/R/C      1:37.56

10. Sara KIKUT, USA/EST      1:38.24

11. Jacqueline WILES, USA/WST      1:38.37

12. Samantha HALL, USA/WST      1:39.41

13. Emma NAATZ, USA/WST      1:39.64

14. Jacqueline LEBEL, USA/WST      1:39.77

15. Kerry DAIGLE, USA/EST      1:40.01

16. Noah DUFF, USA/WST      1:40.90

17. Kiltie FINSAND, USA/R/C      1:41.11

18. Brittney ZIEBELL, USA/EST      1:41.17

19. Emily HAYES, USA/EST      1:41.30

20. Linda KIMBER, SWE/R/C      1:42.39

21. Chandler BRYANT, USA/WST      1:42.59

22. Abby GHENT, USA/R/C      1:42.80

23. Anna KIKUT, USA/EST      1:43.44

24. Bridget FRENCH, USA/WST      1:43.69

25. Sara ANDREWS, USA/R/C      1:45.38

26. Sydney STAPLES, USA/WST      1:46.14

27. Rylee BURROWS, USA/R/C      1:46.25

28. Laura CREWS, USA/WST      1:46.77

29. Kristen KARR, USA/WST      1:47.37

30. Katie ULVESTAD, USA/WST      1:48.06

 

Men’s Slalom

Aspen, Colo.,

March 11, 2009

1. Ben MORSE, USA/EST      1:23.08

2. Bryce BENNETT, USA/WST      1:23.39

3. Gunnar SHAW, USA/EST      1:25.85

4. Robert CONE, USA/EST      1:26.76

5. Conor MCDONALD, USA/R/C      1:27.17

6. Bergen PALMER, USA/WST      1:27.29

7. Tanner FARROW, USA/WST      1:28.04

8. Christoph LENTZ, USA/WST      1:28.88

9. George RODNEY, USA/R/C      1:28.96

10. Brant CROSSAN, USA/R/C      1:29.04

11. C Blake PENDLETON, USA/EST      1:29.18

12. Baylen RIFLEMAN, USA/R/C      1:29.86

13. Jake SCANNELL, USA/WST      1:30.20

13. Henry RONINGEN, USA/R/C      1:30.20

15. Prescott MCLAUGHLIN, USA/EST      1:30.24

16. Kegan ZORENS, USA/R/C      1:31.63

17. Lucas MATELICH, USA/WST      1:31.82

18. Sam MACOMBER, USA/EST      1:32.79

19. Tom BOBOTAS, USA/EST      1:33.28

20. Craig MARSHALL, USA/EST      1:35.15

21. Mick OSMUNDSON, USA/R/C      1:35.47

22. Graham COLLINS, USA/WST      1:37.64

23. Kevin HARTMANN, USA/R/C      1:38.77

24. Cannon O’BRIEN, USA/R/C      1:42.08

25. Brock GARDEN, USA/R/C      1:53.12

26. Cameron SMITH, USA/EST      1:54.42

27. James CLEASON, USA/WST            2:03.73