Nordic Combined

Wind and snow arrived at the perfectly wrong time Saturday morning.  Coaches and volunteers did what we could to keep the hills clear and safe but the weather proved to be too much for the jumping competition, so it was postponed to the following day.  Nevertheless, we started the Nordic Combined competition that afternoon with a mass start race.  The wind and snow continued to howl but that didn’t stop our SSWSC athletes from racing at the best of their ability.  In the XC race, SSWSC alumnus Grant Andrews finished 2nd overall followed by a pack of junior skiers just a two minutes behind. Niklas Malacinski and Bennett Gamber finished 4th and 6th respectively, then Erik Belshaw, Gunnar Gilbertson, and Canden Wilkinson trailed closely in 8th, 9th, and 11th.  Tess Arnone also competed in the U20 age class as the lone U20 Nordic Combined female.

The jumping competition was held the following morning and after the NC results were calculated, SSWSC landed 2 boys and 1 girl on the U20 NC podiums!  Bennett Gamber and Niklas Malacinski took 2nd and 3rd overall and Tess Arnone took the top spot in the women’s division!  Erik Belshaw, Gunnar Gilbertson, and Canden Wilkinson all improved their standings to 7th, 9th, and 10th respectively. 

In the U20 special jumping competition, SSWSC took 5 of the top 10 spots in the men’s division!  Decker Dean took top honors with Bennett Gamber, Canden Wilkinson, Erik Belshaw, and Gunnar Gilbertson taking 4th, 6th, 9th, and 10th respectively.  Annika Belshaw also turned heads as she took 1st place in a field of thirteen U20 females.

Looks like our SSWSC athletes are off to a blazing start to the winter!  Expect to see some of these names on big stages later this season! 

Freeskiing

Congrats to Riley Jacobs and Liam Baxter who both competed in the US Ski and Snowboard Halfpipe Grand Prix at Copper Mountain this week.  This was a great experience for both athletes to get some time in the pipe with some of the best pipe riders in the world.For both athletes, this was their first Grand Prix!  We are looking forward to the pipe season.