J2 Nationals: Schleper wins GS versus familiar foes

Hunter Schleper collected his second gold medal of the J2 National Junior Olympics at Aspen Sunday and set up what appears will be an intense battle for the combined gold.
    In second by less than four tenths was Michael Ankeny, registering his third podium in three races to date and third went to Kitt Flowers who won the downhill on Friday.
    Flowers said he particularly liked the first of the two GS courses that was , " … set with the terrain on a World Cup hill. I ran in bib three and the track was in perfect conditions."

Hunter Schleper collected his second gold medal of the J2 National Junior Olympics at Aspen Sunday and set up what appears will be an intense battle for the combined gold.
    In second by less than four tenths was Michael Ankeny, registering his third podium in three races to date and third went to Kitt Flowers who won the downhill on Friday.
    Flowers said he particularly liked the first of the two GS courses that was , " … set with the terrain on a World Cup hill. I ran in bib three and the track was in perfect conditions."
    He said he ran into some difficulty in the second run when he started further to the back, hip-checked early then charged hard to make up for the error.
    Ankeny ran a bib before Flowers in the first run said he felt good through out the run, which showed in the results with the first run lead. "SO I ran 30th in the second and it was rougher, but not bad compared to what I've raced this year. I got pretty low late in the run though."
    Just low enough to let Schleper through for the win.
    Schleper said an evening of video examination with the coaches had him well prepared for the race. "We watched some World Cup and I saw the good things they were doing," Schleper said, "How aggressive they were throughout the turn."
    He put it to practice and came out with the win.
    Schleper coach Bruce Knoepfel, of the newly created Iced Out Racing team, set the first course and said it was a joy to watch the athletes attack it. "It was a fantastic hill with terrain going every which way. I tried to get to use the whole hill and was relieved it came out as good as it did. This was a stellar day of GS for the whole field. The J2 boys field is very, very strong. It was fun to watch them. Almost magical."

J2 Nationals
Men's Giant Slalom
Aspen, Colo.
March 9, 2008
1 Hunter SCHLEPER USA/91      1:49.57
2 Michael ANKENY USA/91      1:49.99
3 Kitt FLOWERS USA/91      1:50.66
4 Derek STRAND USA/91      1:50.87
5 Kieffer CHRISTIANSON USA/92      1:52.34
6 Bryce BENNETT USA/92      1:53.14
7 Michael RADFORD USA/91      1:53.15
8 Ben MORSE USA/92      1:53.19
9 Max MARNO USA/91      1:53.28
10 Hig ROBERTS USA/91      1:53.47
11 Ryan MCCONNELL USA/91      1:53.52
12 Evan DIAMOND USA/91      1:53.53
13 Matthew MCKENNA USA/91      1:53.55
14 Brennan RUBIE USA/91      1:53.61
15 Liam MULHERN USA/91      1:53.63
16 Bobby FARRELL USA/91      1:53.78
17 Coleman LIEB USA/91      1:53.91
18 Jared GOLDBERG USA/91      1:53.92
19 Jim RYAN USA/91      1:54.00
20 Nick BAILEY USA/91      1:54.26
21 Taylor WUNSCH USA/91      1:54.53
22 William ST.HILAIRE CAN/91      1:54.72
23 Zachery RICKENBACH USA/92      1:55.09
24 Billy WONG USA/92      1:55.24
25 Travis KUSTER USA/91      1:55.92
26 Derek SMITH USA/91      1:56.50
27 Loudon FRUTH USA/91      1:56.56
28 Carl NOGES USA/91      1:56.59
29 Kristoffer ENGEN USA/92      1:56.67
30 Dustin MARTIN USA/91      1:56.75
31 Ryan COCHRAN-SIEGLE USA/92      1:56.81
32 John ZINSER USA/91      1:56.84
33 Taylor SHIFFRIN USA/92      1:57.49
34 Alex JERRED USA/92      1:57.57
35 Cody UNICUME USA/91      1:57.82
36 Taber ENGELKEN USA/92      1:57.87
37 Cole WRIGHT USA/91      1:58.30
38 Robert CONE USA/92      1:59.09
39 Victor MAJOR USA/92      1:59.67
40 Dylan ROGERS USA/92      2:00.83
41 Paul WARNER USA/91      2:03.15
42 Graham COLLINS USA/92      2:04.77
43 William KANELLOS USA/91      2:06.21
44 Sean HORNER USA/91      2:07.74
45 Russell LORANG USA/91      2:09.66
46 Kris HOPKINS USA/91      2:53.22