Top 100 Juniors: Mancuso, Lanning share top billing for 2004It’s a very special skier who makes the national A Team as a junior. Julia Mancuso is one of those very few. And, for the fourth straight year, the U.S. Ski Team athlete heads the list in our Top 100 U.S. Junior Alpine Skiers.

But this year Mancuso is not alone at the top. TJ Lanning, the top male skier, tied Mancuso with 360 points in our FIS-point-based ranking system. Last year, Mancuso had perfect marks — 400 points, 100 in each discipline — to easily top the junior list.

It’s worth reporting here that in terms of FIS points — the international system of ranking alpine skiers — both Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow have a single-digit discipline ranking, Mancuso in downhill and super G, Kildow in downhill. Just five other juniors world-wide (Sweden’s Jessica Lindell-Vikarby and Therese Borssen, German Maria Riesch, and Slovakia’s Veronika Zuzulova and Croatian Nika Fleiss) have rankings that low. Mancuso, Kildow and Resi Stiegler scored World Cup points last season. The health of the U.S. development program appears robust.

And the evidence is that this is not a ‘bubble’ of exceptional talent; not a cyclical phenomena typical in education and sports where a single age group shows outstanding talent. Of our top 100, 28 are J II skiers, meaning they’re either 15 or 16; J I’s are 17, 18 and 19.

Moreover, the top 100 hail from all across the country. Yes, there are pockets where development seems to be accelerated, for reasons of environment, coaching or competition. But 23 of the 50 states have at least one skier on our list. The various U.S. Ski Association regions all contribute, with the numbers bulging where one might expect, in the Rocky Mountains, the Intermountain West and the East.

Our methodology in choosing the Top 100 is relatively simple: For starters, we take the top 30 U.S. junior skiers in each of the four FIS alpine disciplines — downhill, slalom, giant slalom and super G. We then assign a value to their rankings in each discipline, as if each list were a World Cup result. So, for example, a skier gets 100 points for ranking on the top of the list in women’s downhill, 80 points for second, and down to 1 point for 30th.

(Mostly for tie-breaking purposes, if a skier ranked in the top 30 in one event and also was 31st, 32nd or 33rd in another discipline, we added fractional points to their totals.)

Then we added the four disciplines together for each skier to get a total. If a skier was the No. 1 skier in all four disciplines — as Mancuso was last season — he or she would earn 400 points. Because we used separate lists for men and women, there could theoretically be two 400-point skiers each year.

There are, we know, differences of opinion on the value of our FIS point ranking system in selecting the top junior racers. But this is the system that’s been in place for the past few years, and we’re going to stick with it, until we’re convinced there’s a better way.

So without further ado ….

SKI RACING’S TOP 100 U.S. ALPINE JUNIORS FOR 2004

Skier DH SL GS SG Total Points
1 (t). Julia MANCUSO 100 60 100 100 360
1 (t). Thomas (TJ) LANNING 60 100 100 100 360
3. Jeffrey M. HARRISON 80 60 80 50 270
4. Resi STIEGLER 50 80 80 45 255
5. Nicholas BAKER 100 10 50 80 240
6. Lindsey C. KILDOW 80 45 50 60 235
7. Kaylin L. RICHARDSON 9 100 60 36 205
8. Evan C. WEISS 24 45 60 45 174
9. Keely Blair KELLEHER 60 32 36 40 168
10 (t). Stacey J. COOK 45 6 15 80 146
10 (t). Katharine HITCHCOCK 32 50 32 32 146
12. Caitlin CICCONE 40 26 26 50 142
13. Ashley L. SPINA 36 40 45 14 135
14. Ted LIGETY – 80 45 – 125
15. Chelsea MARSHALL 22 24 24 29 99
16. Nathan ASOIAN 29 – 7 60 96
17. Julia LITTMAN 20 36 12 24 92
18. Timothy JITLOFF 22 13 13 40 88
19. Ben BABBITT 50 – – 36 86
20. Eric MANN 45 – 0.5 32 77.5
21. Charles CHRISTIANSON 36 4 1 26 67
22. Matthew SAVAGE 40 – – 24 64
23 (t). Lisa PERRICONE 11 22 29 – 62
23 (t). Cory HARRIS 16 24 – 22 62
23 (t). Will McDONALD – 50 12 – 62
23 (t). Jacob DUDEK – 26 36 – 62
23 (t). Alex FELIX – 22 40 – 62
28 (t). Erik FISHER 32 – – 29 61
28 (t). Patrick DURAN – 32 16 13 61
28 (t). Andrew WEIBRECHT – 29 32 – 61
31. Paul McDONALD – 36 20 – 56
32. Samuel BECK – 40 15 – 55
33. Katie LYONS 24 0.12 2 26 52.12
34 (t). Shelley GLOVER – 29 20 – 49
34 (t). Zachary BROWN – 20 29 – 49
36. Kristen POEHLING 26 – – 18 44
37 (t). Lesley LEMASURIER – – 40 2 42
37 (t). Andrew WAGNER – 16 26 – 42
39 (t). Kate BRAGG 15 – 10 15 40
39 (t). Mattie FORD – 18 15 7 40
41. Lindsay BRUSH – 20 13 6 39
42. Tucker BURTON 14 10 – 13 37
43. Dorothy MUIRHEAD 16 – – 20 36
44. Cody JENICK – 5 14 16 35
45 (t). Chelsea LYNCH 6 – 16 11 33
45 (t). Nelson CARLSON – 11 22 – 33
47. Chris BECKMANN 26 – – 5 31
48. Drew ROBERTS 2 18 10 – 30
49. Staci RIXFORD 29 – 0.24 0.12 29.36
50 (t). Chinon WILLIAMS 18 5 5 1 29
50 (t). Christina KIM 7 – – 22 29
50 (t). Alyssa CARTMILL 4 16 9 – 29
53. Toby LAMAR 14 – 11 2 27
54 (t). Errol KERR 11 – – 15 26
54 (t). Todd-David THIBODEAU 6 – – 20 26
56. Sealy LIVERMORE 13 – – 12 25
57 (t). Jeff HACKETT 13 – – 11 24
57 (t). David CHODOUNSKY 9 9 5 1 24
57 (t). Tony CESOLINI – – 24 – 24
60 (t). Sierra DUX – – 22 – 22
60 (t). Thomson RILEY 7 15 – – 22
62 (t). Julie CZESNOWSKI – 2 18 – 20
62 (t). Spencer COWIN 20 – – – 20
64 (t). Morgan GOSE 10 – – 9 19
64 (t). Hannah TSAI – 15 4 – 19
64 (t). Kara CROW – 8 11 19
67 (t). Mitt COATS – 0.5 – 18 18.5
67 (t). Joey SWENSSON – – 18 0.5 18.5
69 (t). Chris CUDAHY 18 – – – 18
69 (t). Samuel SWEETSER 10 – – 8 18
71 (t). Stephanie PETERS – – – 16 16
71 (t). Wes POWELL 12 – – 4 16
73. Alex MAHRE 15 15
74 (t). Jennifer M SHIVELY – 14 – – 14
74 (t). Joel Robert ADAMS – 14 – – 14
74 (t). Ian LOCHHEAD – – – 14 14
77 (t). Diane GOODING 5 – – 8 13
77 (t). Jilyne McDONALD – 13 – – 13
79 (t). Caitlin WALL 12 – – – 12
79 (t). Courtney CARMICHAEL – 12 – – 12
79 (t). Megan McJAMES – – 7 5 12
79 (t). Chris COLPITTS – 12 – – 12
79 (t). Scott R VEENIS – 8 4 – 12
79 (t). Colin DEVORE – – – 12 12
85. Sterling GRANT – 11 – – 11
86 (t). Anna KELLY – – – 10 10
86 (t). Christopher PREM – – – 10 10
88 (t). Laurel CARTER – 9 – – 9
88 (t). Stefan HUGHES – – 9 – 9
88 (t). Bobby POEHLING – – – 9 9
91. Joshua S. BRYAN 8 – 0.24 – 8.24
92 (t). Ashley BEMBENEK 8 – – – 8
92 (t). Caroline JAROLIMEK – – 8 – 8
92 (t). Sean HIGGINS – – 8 – 8
95 (t). Claire ABBE – 7 – – 7
95 (t). Joshua BEDARD – 7 – – 7
95 (t). Casey WAGNER – – 7 – 7
95 (t). Jed YEISER – – – 7 7
99. Emily COLIN 0.12 0.24 6 – 6.36
100 (t). Jacob OLSEN – 6 – – 6
100 (t). Jared FURNIA – – – 6 6

BREAKDOWN BY PROGRAM

Program Number in Top 100 (skiers)
Rowmark Ski Academy 10 (Carmichael, Adams, Cartmill, Muirhead, Burton, Beck, Fisher, Christianson, Kelleher, Baker)
Burke Mountain Academy 8 (Hughes, Devore, Dux, LeMasurier, Glover, Felix, Spina, Ciccone)
Green Mountain Valley School 8 (Furnia, Yeiser, Swensson, Crow, Czesnowski, Brush, Duran, Marshall)
Park City Ski Team 8 (McJames, Gose, Bragg, Dudek, Jitloff, Ligety, Stiegler, Lanning)
Ski Club Vail 7 (Poehling, Wall, Jenick, Poehling, Littman, Asoian, Kildow)
Crested Butte Academy 4 (Jarolimek, Chodounsky, Rixford, Babbitt)
Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club 4 (Shively, Cesolini, Roberts, Periccone)
Buck Hill 3 (Abbe, Prem, Carlson)
Quantum Sports 3 (Wagner, Lynch, McDonald)
Squaw Valley 3 (Colpitts, Kerr, Mancuso)
Sun Valley Ski Team 3 (Higgens, Powell, Brown)
Crystal Mountain 2 (McDonald, Kim)
Mammoth Mountain 2 (Mann, Cook)
New York State Ski Education Foundation 2 (Beckmann, Weibrecht)
Sugar Bowl 2 (Savage,
Hitchcock)
White Pass 2 (Mahre, Harrison)
Alpine Meadows 1 (Livermore)
Alyeska Ski Club 1 (Kelly)
Aspen Valley 1 (Lamar)
Bogus Basin 1 (Gooding)
Carrabassett Valley Academy 1 (Sweetser)
Cranmore 1 (Thibodeau)
Dartmouth College 1 (McDonald)
Ford Sayre 1 (Carter)
Gould Academy 1 (Riley)
Great Lakes 1 (Dux)
Gunstock 1 (Bedard)
Holderness 1 (Ford)
Jiminy Peak 1 (Tsai)
Killington Mountain School 1 (Hackett)
Mount Hood 1 (Cudahy)
Mount Rose 1 (Lyons)
Nubs Nob 1 (Olsen)
Powder Mountain 1(Bembenek,
Santa Fe Ski Team 1 (Colin)
Snowbird 1 (Peters)
Stevens Pass 1 (Weiss)
Stratton Mountain School 1 (Williams)
Sunday River 1 (Cowin)
Sunlight Ski Club 1 (Lockhead)
Team Connonsburg 1 (Wagner)
Team Gilboa 1 (Richardson)
Virginia Racing 1 (Veenis)
Waterford ST 1 (Coats)
Welch Village 1 (Grant)
Winter Park 1 (Bryan)
No program 1 (Harris)

BREAKDOWN BY STATE
(according to hometown, not program; 23 states represented)

State Skiers in Top 100
Alaska 2
California 9
Colorado 20
Connecticut 2
Idaho 4
Illinois 1
Maine 2
Massachusetts 1
Michigan 3
Minnesota 5
Montana 1
Nevada 2
New Hampshire 7
New Mexico 1
New York 4
Oregon 1
Pennsylvania 1
Utah 10
Virginia 2
Vermont 11
Washington 6
Wisconsin 5
Wyoming 1

BREAKDOWN BY DIVISION
(according to program, not hometown)

State Skiers in Top 100
Alaska 1
Central 7
East 29
Rocky Mountain 21
Pacific Northwest 6
South 1
Intermountain 25
Far West 11