Andrew wins Junior Olympic SL- Off to Whistler Cup!

I finally caught up with school work so now I can write my blog. This year the Rocky/Central Junior Championships were held in Aspen, my hometown, which was amazing. It was the first really big race that I have had at home and the top five Rocky qualifiers were all from the Aspen Valley Ski Club (AVSC). The first event was downhill. I used 208 Super G skis for the first run and got 6th place. Then I decided to try a pair of 210 downhill skis for the second training run. Unfortunately, I lost a ski and ended up in the B-net. The next day was the Downhill, and I definitely decided to return to the Super G skis. I think I was a little shook-up and ended up in 13th.

I wasn’t focusing on making Whistler at this point. My goal was to improve as the week went on. After a disappointing Downhill result, I was looking forward to the Super G. I placed 6th and the AVSC took the top six places. At least I was moving in the right direction. I was excited for the GS because I have been skiing GS really well all season and felt like I had a good shot at making the podium. My teammate, Colby Lane, picked #1 and I picked #3. We both like low numbers so we can lay down solid runs and put the pressure on the rest of the field. AVSC doesn’t train on Javelin very much but I wish we would because, I agree with what Colin Vogel said, Javelin is a fantastic GS hill. My first run felt solid and I was in 2nd behind Colby. We ran flip-30 so I ran 29th. I had one small mistake but felt like it was good enough. AVSC swept the podium; Colby in first, me in second, and Ben Throm in third.

We had the next day off. While I was taking a few slalom training runs, my SRD teammate, Serina Kidd, took silver in the women’s GS. The final day was the Slalom and my last chance to make Whistler. Having podiumed in the GS, I felt confident. Even though we train at Highlands all the time, I had never run Slalom on this part of the hill. It was a tricky set but I felt ready. A lot of kids had trouble in the first run, but I skied one of my best Slalom runs ever and was in first over my teammate, Travis Lundin, by over two seconds. Approaching the second run was difficult because I knew I had a great chance to win and Whistler was on the line. I was pretty nervous and skied a bit conservatively but still won by over two seconds.

So I finished my week with enough points to be 2nd in the overall and qualified for Whistler Cup. I am excited to accompany my three SRD teammates and three AVSC teammates to Whistler and I can’t wait to go and represent the USA and SRD.

.)) Andrew Hancock

In the Swing: Junior Olympics

A lot has happened since that last time I blogged. Since then I’ve had The last couple of days in Europe, States racing Super G, slalom and the GS at Okemo.

In States I had a disapointing weekend, In the SG I made stupid mistakes and got around 15th. In the SL it was pouring and I fell the first run, and in the second run the ruts were huge and I barely made it throught with a couple of mistakes and got around 20th that run. In the GS I skied ok not great in the first run and got 11.

I was excited to finally run somewhat in the front of the pack. I was having a great run until the 5th to last gate where there was a compression and I got in the back seat and hit soft snow and flipped. That weekend was not good. I made it to finals at Sunday River which I skied very well.

In the GS the first run I won by over 2 seconds and the second run I won by a half second. By winning this race you go to Junior Olympics. My goal for the the season was to go to Junior Olympics and I acheived my goal!

For the next week was intense training on and off the snow. When the weekend finally came I felt ready but very tired. In the GS I got 15th the first run, but in the second run I got stuck in a rut and blew out. I was very frustrated. In the SL I had another great run but fell on the last hairpin at the end of the course. I have improved very much this year. I have one more race and that is the Sugar Slalom at Stowe. This is a very fun race. Hope every one has a good rest of the year of spring skiing.

.)) Eli Swing

Céline's Update: March Madness!

Hey Its been a busy few weeks. I went to Sugarloaf for J2 Nationals. I went into it feeling pretty confident. We start with the SL one of the only beautiful days in Sugarloaf and I had a good chance but unfortunately went out about 3/4th down in the first run. Then we had our GS which got pushed back 2 days. I went out in the second run and finally had the SG which I made loads of mistakes and still managed to finished 15th.

Overall Sugarloaf was very frustrating, because we had 7 scheduled races and only got 3 because of the weather. But when I got back it was time to move on to Winter Park. We had 4 races 2 GS's and 2 SL's. I fell every single run but the runs where I didnt fall I had some good runs. The first day was GS and I won the first run and fell the second run. The next day also GS I fell on the first run.

After the GS's it was time for SL. In SL the first run I fell again and hiked and got 31st missing the flip by about a 2 tenths, then got second for the run. The next day I figured out my problems and put down a pretty good first run. I had over a 2 second lead. In the next run I was skiing even better and unfortunately fell 5 gates from the finish.

This past weekend I was racing in Beaver Creek. I had a pretty good weekend overall. The first day my first run wasn't very good I think I was a little nervous. But I managed to make the flip and run 5th. I had a nice second run and ended up finishing 21st. The second day I had a nice first run and my second run wasn't my best run but I finished 17th. So I'm pretty happy about my weekend but know I just have to get 2 good runs together.

I look forward to finishing the end of the season strong with U.S. National (SL), Spring Series and hopefully Western Spring Series in Mission Ridge WA.

.)) Céline Guilmineau