NCAA Championships: University of Denver takes the cake

Just a note about my old college DU! I think this is their 20th National Title.

The 2009 NCAA Championships hosted by Bates College wrapped up today with men’s and women’s cross country races as four western teams shocking the field at the top.

University of Denver led the western push with 659 points. The silver-medal race came down to half a point with the advantage going to the University of Colorado with 602.5. The University of New Mexico rounded out the podium with 602. Go Pioneers!

3 More Podiums in Aspen

The J2 Nationals in Aspen have finally ended with the Super G. And once again SRD athletes took to the podium. Starting off in the morning with Park City's Rose Caston, after 2 4th place finishes finally stepping up onto the podium with a 2nd place result.

The guys got it going early with Burke's Kieffer Christianson taking 2nd place right next to Taylor Shiffrin who tied for 3rd. In 4th was double Gold medalist Ben Morse. Almost a podium sweep!

Rumour has it that Ben Morse will be asked to join the US Ski Team!

So after the Rocky/Central J3 and J2 National Junior Olympics come to a close we congratulate all the SRD athletes who claimed an amazing 10 podium finishes.

Another podium in Aspen!

Ben Morse and Taylor Shiffrin at J2 Nationals/Aspen

Another day, another podium. Today at the J2 Nationals in Aspen another SRD Team athlete stepped up after both Kieffer Christianson and 2x Gold medalist Ben Morse skied out. Taylor Shiffrin coming back to the states after racing in Italy and Slovenia this January held on to take the Silver medal and keep SRD on every podium so far with only the Super G remaining.

Meanwhile on the woman's side Rose Caston took another 4th place just missing the podium by 1/100 of a second!

Good luck in the Super G!

Irwin Takes Silver, Silver and Bronze at J3 JO's!

The Rocky/Central J3 Junior Olympics wrapped up in Beaver Creek with the Slalom. SRD and Vail athlete Katharine Irwin ripped the fastest 2nd run to take the Silver medal! This caps a great week for Katharine after taking a Bronze in the Super G and another Silver in the GS. We wish her good luck as she heads to the prestigious Whistler Cup in Canada.

The SRD World Cup race suits took 6 podiums this week alone and the racing goes on!

Morse Takes 2nd Gold at Aspen!

SRD Team racer Ben Morse made it a perfect two for two with a come-from-behind slalom effort as the J2 National Championship, the Junior Olympics for 15 and 16 year olds, restarted at Aspen, Colo., after a snowstorm.

With 15 inches of new snow overnight the original schedule was scrapped, the slaloms moved up and the more difficult to prepare for super G's were pushed to the end of the week. While it meant getting out the short skis a little sooner than anticipated it didn't seem to bother either Morse.

Being left about nine tenths out of the hunt after the first run, Morse, the downhill winner on Monday, turned on the afterburners in the second heat.

"It was a difficult set and conditions with the new snow were challenging," Morse said. "Some of the turns got a little dished out, but I manage to squeek through."

Squeek might not be the right word. Morse was 1.28 seconds ahead of the field in the second run and won by about three-tenths, but he's pretty sure he didn't get any style points.

"Everybody was kind of scrambling," Morse said, adding that some of the course scraped down to "to the hard stuff," and parts of it didn't. "I felt I was wild and all over the place, but I guess it was fast." He said having two gold medals in two races was surreal. The downhill hadn't really sunk in yet." But also said he expected to be in contention in the GS and super G races still on the docket.

Bryce Bennett got second behind Morse." Bryce Bennett of Squaw put down a really nice run," said Morse," and Kieffer and I both charged the second run and I managed to finish." Kieffer Christiansen, second after the first run, did not finish.

Moose Take National Downhill Gold!

Great racing from the SRD Team so far this week at the opening 2009 Junior Olympics. Today under sunny skies in Aspen SRD's Ben Morse took the Gold in the J2 National Downhill Championships with SRD's Kieffer Christianson taking the Bronze. That's 2 SRD World Cup race suits there on the podium! Meanwhile in Vail at the J3 Junior Olympics, SRD's Katharine Irwin took a Bronze in the Super G and today took Silver in the GS.

Lets also not forget Vail's Taylor Shiffrin, a slalom specialist who jumped up to a tie for 8th place from a #31 start position in today's Aspen downhill. And Park City's Rose Caston, just back from the World Junior Championships in Germany just missing the podium and taking 4th place in the woman's Downhill. SRD's Burke Mountain Academy skier Katelyn Barclay skied to a solid 14th place.

This is a great start to this weeks races! Good luck in the technical events. See more photos on Facebook by clicking here.