March 21, 2023

Greetings SBSEF,

It’s championship time!  SBSEF athletes and coaches put in a great deal of work throughout the year leading up to this point.  Conditioning, mental preparation, technical fundamental work, and countless hours of deliberate practice.  It’s no accident, no coincidence, when it all comes together; “The hay is in the barn”.

Bella Wright “breathing fire” at the Andora World Cup

It has been a historic winter here in LCC, copious amounts of snow have given us one of the best powder seasons in memory, and a snowpack that is nearly unprecedented.  However, it has also created some major operational challenges.  I want to recognize the patience and dedication of our athletes and families to navigate the logistical challenges.  I also want to thank our tireless staff and volunteers for making it possible for SBSEF to host the highest-quality events in the region.  It takes an army!

SBSEF athletes continue to produce great results, see below for group highlights. The program keeps moving, keeps working, and keeps elevating our athletes.  It is powered by your energy.  Full hearts and open eyes, go get it, it’s yours!

Work Hard.  Dream Big.

Bridger Call
Executive Director, SBSEF

Jfast Update

The JFast team just wrapped up their 2023 competition season with a bang. Last weekend, we sent athletes to both IMD Finals at Park City and IMD Champs which we hosted at Snowbird. SBSEF zthletes put on a spectacular performance in front of the whole intermountain division. Here are a few of the highlights:

IMD Finals, hosted at Park City:
U14’s
Lilly Johnson – 4th place, GS
Issac Cheung – 3rd place, GS
Benson Scofield – 3rd place, SL
U12’s
Cami Greener – IMD Finals 1st x 2
(GS & SL)
Emersyn Easley – 3rd place, SL
Jack Gowski – 1st place, GS, 2nd SL

IMD U12 Championships, hosted at Snowbird:

Girls:

Liz Eden – Intermountain GS + SL Champion

Heidi Baudendistel – 7th place SL
Boys:
Brody Eaton –  Intermountain GS champ, 3rd Kombi
Vonn Kunigenas – 2nd place Kombi
Cedric Sullivan – Intermountain SL, Kombi Champion, 2nd GS, Overall winner for series 
Miles Young – 4th place GS, 4th SL, 5th Kombi
Arlo Hochman – 8th place GS, 8th Kombi
Quinn Webster – 7th place GS, 6th SL, 6th Kombi

While the aforementioned athletes placed in the top 10 at IMD championships, many other SBSEF athletes had an amazing weekend. SBSEF athletes were consistently in the top 50% of the division’s best U10 and U12 skiers. This is a huge accomplishment considering the fact that the Intermountain Division itself is one of the most competitive divisions in the country.

~ Bo Maciejko, Head Coach Jfast

We want to thank Feldman’s Deli for sponsoring the IMD U12 Championships!



And thank you to KÜHL for providing the gift bags for athletes and the Young Family for the Culver’s gift certificates for each athlete.

U16 Update

As the snow has been flying so have the U16 Alpine skiers!  Despite the unrelenting storms in Little Cottonwood we have managed to find some really good training at the UOP in all 3 events which has been very instrumental in our successes so far this season.

The U16s finished their Regional and Tri Divisional Championship qualifying series at Sun Valley near the end of February on the steep and difficult race hills at Sun Valley.  The team as a whole did a tremendous job managing the steeps and managed to pull off our best series with nearly every one of our skiers moving up from their start positions.  We had multiple top 20 finishes as well Devon Harman and Evan Easely both moved up 28 places in GS, Hayden Comey moved up 31 places in GS, and Sam Schlegel moved up 33 places in GS, but it was Calvin Cui who had the biggest move by going from 71st to 30th for a 41 place jump!

Shortly after the Sun Valley series the Regional Championship team was named.  In an IMD quota of 32 boys and 23 girls, SBSEF skiers Talise Larsh, Molly Jarvie, Bea Martin, Avery Costello, Campbell Jones, Rome Swanwick, Everett and Fletcher Paulman, Charlie Bland, and Maddox Comey will once again go to Sun Valley to compete against the top U16 skiers in Western Region.

The Tri Divisional Championship team was also named in which SBSEF has 5 boys and 7 girls qualified.  The Tri Divisional Championships will be held in beautiful Grand Thargee where Snowbird skiers Halle Hipple, Morgan Boehner, Blake Larsen, Alta Brower, Mia Pagano, Avery Johnson, Devon Harman, Calvin Cui, Will Butterworth, Evan Easley, and Sam Schlegel will show the skiers from Alaska and Northern Divisions what’s up when it comes to skiing fast!

This month’s cowbell goes to Alta Brower and Mia Pagano.  Both of these skiers have been working hard all winter on their respective focus and have finally found a breakthrough in training.  It will be great to see how these two put their newly acquired skills to the test at the Tri Div. and at the Snow Cup races!

Congratulations to all the SBSEF U16s, you guys are a great team!!!

~ Fritz Wood, U16 Head Coach

FIS Update

Somehow we are always surprised when we’re approaching the end of march asking ourselves, “where did the season go?”. Yet, here we are in the home stretch with the band finally back together.

Those who attended U18 Nationals recently returned home from an extended 10-day trip. In preparation for the race, our athletes had the opportunity to go out 3 days early to get familiarized with the environment and adapt to the feel of the eastern snow conditions. With the East experiencing an abnormally dry early season, the snow had started to roll in just before and during the series, so conditions were challenging to compete against the best of the age group. But everyone found moments to leave their best skiing on the hill and walked away with a positive overall experience.

Another group of three FIS athletes took a 12-hour drive to Kimberly, British Columbia for the 5-day Canadian Nationals Series. Which is essentially the Canadian Equivalent of U.S. Senior Nationals. Though we ended up losing 2/5 races to an unlucky mix of rain and snow, we had three days of sunshine, hard snow, and really good racing. Everyone who attended walked away with a personal best result in either SL or SG, and Townsend Mikell was the top American, finishing in 9th place.

After lots of racing in Jan/Feb, we were hoping to be able to give those who didn’t qualify for U18’s a break, and for the weather to give us a chance for some solid training blocks. This did not materialize as evidenced by our rapidly approaching 800-inch snow totals. So with not much to accomplish outside of powder skiing at home, we were able to get everyone into a Devo series at Beaver Creek/Copper Mountain. With our staff stretched thin, I want to thank all athletes/parents involved for the flexibility and help to get athletes to and from this series. It ended up being an incredible series to attend with U.S. Team and regional college athletes attending.

Looking ahead, as these storms continue to roll through we are looking for every opportunity to squeeze out some last bit of training in preparation for our spring series races in Big Sky Mar 29-Apr 2, Sun Valley Apr 2-5, and Tahoe Apr 6-11. Keep an eye out for an update soon on spring training. While snowbird is still open for regular operations it will be beneficial to make use of the phenomenal snowpack and freeze-thaw conditions while snowbird is open for regular operation into the first week of May. Then we will likely have more opportunities as snowbird closes down midweek through the rest of May.

~ Brennan Rubie, Head FIS Coach

FIS Athlete Spotlight: Townsend Mikell –
Townsend is consistently a leader on this team. He has always naturally been a driven and talented skier, but due to a knee injury/re-injury during his first two years of FIS, is constantly fighting to catch back up to the progress of his peer group. Managing the pressure he puts on himself and expectations from others to do so can be frustrating and sometimes interrupt the in-the-moment learning process that needs to happen in order to make the changes/achieve the results to do so. At this latest series in Canada, he DNF’d days in a row and got pretty banged up in the process. However, on the last day of the series, he kept his focus and put his best skiing down, eventually finishing as the Top American in 9th Place. Beyond the result, I think his effort to stay grounded, reset after some disappointing results, and ski free showed incredible determination and resilience that is reflective of the hard work he has put in this season.

Freeride Update

We have officially wrapped up the regular competition season and it’s hard to believe we only have 2 more weeks of regular training at Snowbird left!  March Madness was busy, as expected, with 170+ starts between 8 competitions over the last 3 weeks!  The hard work has paid off, as we’ve had 12 athletes already invited to NORAMs (Owen Carlson, Michael Wheatley, AJ McCleary, Max Morris, Jack Reynolds, Kellen Larson, Obie Simper, Rowan Lamont, Maddie Johnson, Sasha Bills, Thomas McKean, Canyon Whiteside) and hope to have close to few more by the time all is said and done over the next week, keep the fingers crossed!  This year, IFSA Junior NORAMs are at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, in Golden, British Columbia.  With just under 10% of the overall field invited, it’s a huge accomplishment in itself to get the invite!  Podium Highlights from March Madness below.  Don’t forget the adult freeride competition scene will be in full swing at Snowbird over March 29-30 when the FWQ rolls into town for the 2* and 4* events with athletes vying for coveted spots on the Freeride World Tour at the final Challenger Series stop of the Season; come spectate if you can!

Snowbird IFSA National:
15-18 Ski Boys: Owen Carlson 1st, Max Morris 5th
15-18 Ski Girls: Hannah Baldwin 3rd, Sasha Bills 5th
12-14 Ski Girls: Olive Morris 4th

Park City IFSA Regional Vol 1:
15-18 Ski Boys: Obie Simper 3rd

Big Sky IFSA National:
15-18 Ski Girls: Maya Parsons 2nd, Sophia Bernard-Puckett 5th
12-14 Ski Girls: Brooke Copinga 4th

Solitude IFSA Regional Vol 1:
15-18 Ski Boys: Max Morris 1st, AJ McCleary 3rd
15-18 Ski Girls: Annie Poulsen 2nd, Maddie Johnson 3rd
12-14 Ski Girls: Olive Morris 1st, Maya Sullivan 2nd, Samantha Russell 3rd
U12 Ski Boys: Augie Dabler 3rd
U12 Ski Girls: Grace Poulsen 1st

Solitude IFSA Regional Vol 2:
15-18 Ski Boys: Owen Carlson 2nd
15-18 Ski Girls: Maddie Johnson 1st, Hannah Baldwin 2nd
12-14 Ski Boys: Thomas McKean 3rd
12-14 Ski Girls: Olive Morris 1st
U12 Ski Boys: Will Fallis 1st
U12 Ski Girls: Dorothy Hastings 1st, Priscilla Hastings 2nd, Grace Poulsen 3rd

Breckenridge IFSA National:
15-18 Ski Boys: Michael Wheatley 1st
12-14 Ski Boys: Thomas McKean 3rd, Lucas Baldwin 4th

WHAT A MONTH!!

~ Will Dujardin, Freeride Director

Devo Team Update

Devos are having an awesome winter and loving all the snow! This past month some of our Devos hit Godzilla for the first time, and many Devos experienced Get Serious for the first time and used the rope to sidestep down the narrow chute.  The coaches took a group up Baldy for their first time. We’ve also skied Lone Pine, Tiger Tail, Regulator, and every Devo has probably skied Black Forest more than I can keep track of.

Many of our Devos attended YSL Finals at Snowbasin on March 11th and 12th.  It was a fun event and below is a list of those that placed in the top 10 in their age classes:

Slalom:
Hudson Eaton 3rd U8 Boys
Lukas Sopko 5th U8 Boys
Forest Knight 2nd U10 Boys
Callum Apple 10th U10 Boys
Elka Kirner 1st U10 Girls
Abbie Young 5th U10 GirlsGS:
Sam Norton 5th U8 Boys
Hudson Eaton 6th U8 Boys
Lukas Sopko 7th U8 Boys
Gaspard Leclercq 11th U8 Boys
Forest Knight 6th U10 Boys
Lison Leclercq 3rd U8 Girls
Freddy Collins 4th U8 Girls
Elka Kirner 3rd U10 Girls
Abbie Young 5th U10 Girls
Violet Loeffler 7th U10 Girls

We had a few Devos racing at the IMD Finals, with Violet Loeffler capturing 5th place in the GS for U10s.
This weekend we are hosting our Good Vibes Only Devo Freeride Comp on Silver Fox! Come out and watch these kids rip it up!

~ Jason Stone, Head Devo Coach

Snowboard Update

Wow! March has been a busy month for the Snowboard team. The Para group started in Italy at Passo San Pelligrino with a World Cup and a Europacup. We had some strong results including:

  • Silver by Brenna Huckaby

  • 4th by Dennae Russell

Then we had an unprecedented 6 athletes invited to World Championships in La Molina, Spain where:

  • Brenna Huckaby brought home a Silver and a Gold

  • Rebecca Johnston two 4th place finishes

  • Dennae Russell a Silver

We also had athletes following the NorAm Tour in the US and Canada – first at Sunday River, Maine then Horseshoe Resort in Ontario, and finally Mont Orignol in Quebec. Some great finishes by these athletes who are new to the tour this season.

And in Big Mountain Freeride, Kaito Devine has had strong finishes all year including a 3rd place against a stacked field in Breckenridge, leading to an invite to NorAm’s.

Looking ahead we are getting close to wrapping our competition season with National Championships the first week in April in Copper Mountain and then looking at training camps for spring.

~ Lane Clegg, Snowboard Director

U14 Update

Snowbird’s U14 Team has had an incredible month of powder skiing, training gates, and racing. At the Park City Qualifiers, Snowbird athletes handled record snowfall for the area, like it was just another day of training. Georgia Mikell finished with an impressive 8th place in GS, and matched it with a 10th place finish. Nina Robin skied to a season-best 11th-place finish, while Quinn Costello had a 17th and 16th-place finish. Riley Eaton had a bold run in GS for the win! This was Riley’s best result of the season, which qualified her for Western Regional Champs in Jackson.

On the boys side, Axl Dain led the way with season-best results in 7th and 8th. Cortland Parker raced to a 10th and 12th place finish, while Luke Duffy put one in there to finish 15th. Several of the boys skied their best results of the season, packing the top 30 with Snowbird athletes.

We are off to Western Regional Championships in Jackson this week. Athletes who qualified; Sam Eden, Riley Eaton, Quinn Costello, Cortland Parker and Axl Dain. Snowbird also has an incredibly strong Tri-Divisional Team heading to Grand Targhee as well- with 32 athletes who qualified! After our best weeks of training this March, we are primed to ski our best at Champs!

Our March Athlete Highlight of the Month goes to Axl Dain! Going into our last qualifier at Park City, Axl was a long shot to qualify for Western Regional Championships. With his two best results of the season, Axl qualified for the big event- one of only two first-year U14 boys to do so from IMD. Axl has been working incredibly hard on his skiing this year. He shows up to training every day, and is one of the hardest to charge on powder days! His hard work on the hill- day in and day out- has shown with huge improvements in results on race day. Congratulations Axl!

~ Ben Reeder, U14 Head Coach

Season Wrap-Up:

Keep your eye out for more information coming out about May camps for all! We are going to take advantage of the amazing snowpack we have in Utah. Also, awards! The Devo and Jfast teams will do awards after the BBQ/Duals on April 15th. The other teams – we are looking at the first week of May, so stay tuned for dates and times.
We are hosting one more event on the race hill: Snow Cup, April 8-11, 2023. Snowbird is also hosting a National Freestyle Comp on our race hill towards the end of April, so watch for the race hill to become a mogul run! The first week of May we will have Alpine coaches from all over the country taking the Level 300 Certification clinic at Snowbird, including a few SBSEF coaches.

Dates to remember:

  • Snow Cup: April 8-11, 2023
  • Team & Family BBQ & Duals: April 15, 2023
  • Jfast Awards: April 15
  • Devo Awards: April 15
  • U14, U16, and FIS awards: first week of May – tba
  • Freeride awards: first week of May – tba
  • Freeride Tryouts – MAY
  • May weekend camps – TBA
  • Whistler U14/U16 Camp – June
  • Chile Freeride Camp – August
  • Alpine Mt Hood Camp – August
  • FIS Camps – TBA

Do you have friends or family members interested in joining the team? Please be sure they have signed up on our 2023-24 Season Waiting List. CLICK HERE to access the form. All siblings need to be on this list to get registration information for the lottery. We will be hosting tryouts for Freeride, to assist with the lottery this year. Only athletes on the waiting list will get the invite to the tryouts, so it’s critical we try to capture everyone’s contact information. This link is also on our website.

Team Programming is being updated for the 2023-2024 season. Watch for updates. Freeride teams will have more training options, and we will be doing away with the one-day training option for the 12-14 and 15-18 teams, along with competition requirements. Keep your eyes open to these changes, we will be sure to announce them as soon as everything is solidified. And as usual, our Devo team starts at age 7, we are accepting birth year 2016 and older athletes for the 2023-24 season, zero exceptions.



 

 

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