Wohllaib, Powell nab gold at 49 Degrees North

by Shep Snow For Bee
| January 31, 2013 6:00 AM

• World Cup Update — Lindsey Vonn won the second Giant Slalom of her career at Maribou, Slovenia last week. Julia Mancuso placed 8th and Mikaela Shiffrin 13th. Shiffrin was also 8th in Slalom the following day and is proving to be a consistent scorer in the tech events.

Meanwhile the best US finisher at the fabled Kitzbuehel Downhills was Travis Ganong at 19th. Ted Ligety placed 6th in the Super G at Kitz. On an aside, the forerunner for the race was past winner and retired USST member, Daron Rahlves.

• Wohllaib runs the table — 49 Degrees North hosted the three-day FAST Blast speed series for U14 and U12 racers this weekend. This is the only speed races these athletes will face this year, and is an important building block in their preparation for Junior level competition. The event consisted of a training day, followed by three Super G races.

Morgan Wohllaib dominated the U12 field with three Golds, won by large margins. Brennan Powell also had a big weekend, taking two Golds and a Silver in the difficult U14 Boys Division. Other top 10 performers were: Farli Boden with two 5th places and an 8th in the U14 Girls Division. Myriah Stenvers placed 8th in one of the Girls U12 races. Zion Hartley took two 5th places in U14 Boys over the weekend, and Baden Demko finished 7th and 8th for U12 Boys in two of the races. Other local competitors were: Catherine Brenner, Brayden Demko, Nathan Demko and Gabriel Merithew.

• Schweitzer Junior Race series Wrap-up — Another one in the books. This popular series ended with the fabled ice cream feast where unlimited desserts were served to families and participants. The series focuses on fun and improvement. This year the competitors as a group improved their NASTAR handicaps by an aggregate 24.9 percent — beat that Starlight racers.

The most improved team was the Aurora Borealis, coached by Carlos Suarez and Michael Demko. Members were: Laura Boge, Catherine Brenner, Nathan Demko, Erika Edmundson, Klein Fragoso, Will Lange, Kjetil Lund-Anderson, Emelia Lynch, Kate Matlosz, Riley Murphy, Renee York and Annie Zasadny.

Individual award winners were: Erika Edmundson — Most Improved girl, Piper Frank — Runner-up Most Improved Girl, Klein Fragoso — Most Improved Boy, Max Frank and Fletcher Barrett tied as Runner-up Most Improved Boy, Catherine Brenner — Fastest Girl, Jezza Hutto – Runner-up Fastest Girls, Brayden Demko – Fastest Boy and Max Edmundson – Runner-up Fastest Boy.

• USASA Alpine and Slopestyle Competition — Schweitzer hosted two days of Slopestyle and Slalom competition last weekend. On Saturday 40 athletes competed in 16 Divisions with Slopestyle results as follows: Open Skier Men Mac McGarry 3rd. Ruggle Boys (U7) Kildy Pogue 1st, Grommet Girls (8-9) Lily Gammon 1st, Mehune Boys (10-11) Aiden Hazan 2nd, Skier Boys (10-12 Cameron Peterson 1st, Sims MacDonald 2nd, Dante Kemink 3rd, Skier Women (13-15) Corine Ariss 2nd, Skier Men (13-15) Patrick Rockwell 2nd, Hunter Elliott 3rd, Skier Women (16-18) Savannah Pitts 1st, Skier Men 16-18) Anthony Fox 3rd. On Sunday 31 athletes competed in 19 Divisions with Slalom results as follows: Breaker Boys (12-13) Payton Cox 3rd and Legend Women (40-49) Theresa Kemink.

Starlight Race Series Kicks off — The Starlight Race series starts this Friday night at Schweitzer. This popular event gives the over 21 crowd a shot at racing. Skiers, snowboarders, and telemarkers are welcome. Five member teams compete weekly for prizes and bragging rights. Results are handicapped for age, gender and mode of transportation. Call the Schweitzer Activity Center at 255-3081 to join the fun.

• Snowshoe Stampede — Schweitzer hosts a variety of fun snowshoe activities this weekend, to include instruction, hikes and contests. Call the Schweitzer Activity Center at 255-3081 for information.

• Potpourri — Watch for coverage of the Hampton Cup and FISU races in next week’s edition. Any comments, recommendations, photos or contributions to this column may be sent to Shep Snow by email at “shep@thesnowschool.com.” Negative feedback should be sent to someone else.

The Inside Edge runs every Thursday during ski season in the Daily Bee.