U.S. Nat'ls: Mancuso packs away another title

Julia Mancuso appears to have overcome her flu bug like a champ, and has become a bona fide champ in the process … not for the first time.

The 2006 giant slalom Olympic gold medalist won the 10th national title of her career on Monday in the U.S. alpine championships women’s giant slalom in Alyeska, Alaska, matching the all-time record held by Andrea Mead-Lawrence who got her first win in 1949 and last in 1955.

After fighting the flu all last week and arriving late to this year’s champs – around 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning – Mancuso pulled off a downhill training run a few hours later, took second in the downhill race, then third in Sunday’s slalom, which earned her the national super-combined title.

It looked as if first-run leader Sarah Schleper might edge her in the second run on Monday, but then Schleper went down near the end of her second run and the GS title was Mancuso’s  … for the fourth time. She finished with a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 12.62 seconds, with Megan McJames finishing on her heels, .15 seconds back and Keely Kelleher rounding out the podium in 2:14.06.Julia Mancuso appears to have overcome her flu bug like a champ, and has become a bona fide champ in the process … not for the first time.

The 2006 giant slalom Olympic gold medalist won the 10th national title of her career on Monday in the U.S. alpine championships women’s giant slalom in Alyeska, Alaska, matching the all-time record held by Andrea Mead-Lawrence who got her first win in 1949 and last in 1955.

After fighting the flu all last week and arriving late to this year’s champs – around 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning – Mancuso pulled off a downhill training run a few hours later, took second in the downhill race, then third in Sunday’s slalom, which earned her the national super-combined title.

“Julia did a super good job today, both physically and mentally,” said U.S. Ski Team women’s head coach Jim Tracy. “She came in here sick, then we had all the new snow and all the delays and she still went out there and charged. All the girls did. I’m really proud of the racing I saw out of this team.”

It looked as if first-run leader Sarah Schleper might edge her in the second run on Monday, but then Schleper went down near the end of her second run and the GS title was Mancuso’s  … for the third time. She finished with a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 12.62 seconds, with Megan McJames finishing on her heels, .15 seconds back and Keely Kelleher rounding out the podium in 2:14.06.

Schleper, who took silver in Sunday’s slalom, sustained a concussion after her crash, but is reportedly doing OK.

“Sarah had a great first run and was really going for it, but she hooked a tip in the flats,” Tracy said. “She’s bumming, but she’s strong and will get over it. It was great to see her charging and Keely did a great job too. She didn’t race yesterday because she was really sick, but came out here full guns today.”

Mancuso also won national GS gold in 2003 and 2005, plus super-G titles in 2003 and 2007 and the downhill in 2003. But this year’s results serve as evidence that Mancuso still has a lot of speed in her despite her frustrating World Cup season, in which her best result – and one of only three top 10s – came with a sixth place in the Semmering GS.

“I’m pretty tired, but it feels good to be on podium,” Mancuso said. “U.S. champs is such a great event to come to because it’s always a lot of fun to see everyone and there isn’t too much pressure.”

The silver medal is a career best for McJames at nationals. Giant slalom is her strongest discipline and her top Cup result to date arrived this season with a 14th place in Soelden, which she followed up with a 25th in Aspen and a 24th in Maribor.

“Today was all about staying light on your skis but still being aggressive through the terrain and bumps,” McJames said. “We had at least a foot of new snow over night and it snowed throughout the day today, too. The amount of snow that’s fallen here is amazing, but Alyeska has done such a great job working on the hill so we can race, plus the powder skiing has been amazing. It was a pretty good week.”
 
The bronze is also one of Kelleher’s top showings at the U.S. Championships, though she barely missed the podium with a fourth place in Saturday’s downhill and landed on the combined podium last year. Kelleher notched her first World Cup points this season with a 27th place in the St. Moritz super-G and wrapped up the season in kind, taking 29th in downhill in Bansko and 26th in the Bansko SG.

Stacey Cook, who took bronze in Saturday’s DH despite recovering from an ankle injury and also won last year’s national DH and SG titles (also took SG in 2006), ended up fourth on Monday, finishing in 2:14.44, followed in tight succession by Katie Hitchcock (2:14.50) and Laurenne Ross (2:14.71).

Notably absent from the race was Lindsey Vonn, who, after adding the national slalom title to her stack of medals on Sunday, had to get a jump on leaving the area with delays resulting from the eruption of Mt. Redoubt in order to make it to the Verbier High Five event in Switzerland this weekend.

In celebration of her 19th birthday, Julia Ford once again put down the best junior result, taking seventh on Monday (2:15.15) to follow up her eighth place in Sunday’s slalom and seventh in downhill.

Canadian junior Alexandra Parker, also 19, skied onto the radar Monday, finishing behind Ford (2:15.87) in eighth, wrapping up a season that also tallied a number of university level and FIS wins.

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US National Championships

Women’s Giant Slalom
Alyeska, Alaska
March 30, 2009

1 Julia MANCUSO, USA/84      2:12.62

2 Megan MCJAMES, USA/87      2:12.77

3 Keely KELLEHER, USA/84      2:14.06

4 Stacey COOK, USA/84      2:14.44

5 Katie HITCHCOCK, USA/85      2:14.50

6 Laurenne ROSS, USA/88      2:14.71

7 Julia FORD, USA/90      2:15.15

8 Alexandra PARKER, CAN/89      2:15.87

9 Chelsea MARSHALL, USA/86      2:16.10

10 Angel COLLINSON, USA/90      2:16.30

11 Alice MCKENNIS, USA/89      2:16.82

12 Kara SHAW, USA/91      2:17.17

13 Anna MARNO, USA/92      2:17.20

14 Sterling GRANT, USA/87      2:17.22

15 Devin DELANEY, USA/91      2:17.32

16 Hailey DUKE, USA/85      2:17.71

17 Kirsten COOPER, USA/88      2:17.72

18 Kristin LEGGETT, USA/90      2:17.91

19 Lacy SAUGSTAD, USA/84      2:18.59

36 Rose CASTON, USA/92      2:18.59

21 Geordie LONZA, USA/89      2:18.62

22 Jennifer VANWAGNER, USA/89      2:18.75

23 Katie HARTMAN, USA/88      2:18.84

24 Madeline PACKARD, USA/90      2:19.24

25 Kaylee Ann CORTOPASSI, USA/90      2:19.72

26 Valerie PORGES, USA/90      2:20.26

27 Abby GHENT, USA/92      2:21.76

28 Lauren SAMUELS, USA/92      2:23.02

28 Sophia SMITH, USA/88      2:23.02

30 Danielle SHANNON, USA/89      2:23.98

31 Katrina STEWART, USA/91      2:24.81

32 Mary SACKBAUER, USA/92      2:25.40

33 Christine SCHOZER, USA/90      2:25.52

34 Christie PATIENT, USA/91      2:26.13

35 Joanna COFFEY, USA/92      2:26.91

36 Laura CREWS, USA/92      2:28.24

37 Sarah WILLIAMS, USA/91      2:29.02

38 Sara ANDREWS, USA/92      2:31.97

39 Jeanne BARTHOLD, USA/92      2:32.68

40 Cassady ROBERTS, USA/91      3:05.15