Angus Andrews, 15, and Eva Meyer, 16, earned podium finishes for the Juneau Ski Club during the Coca-Cola Classic race series over the last week at the Alyeska Race Trail in Girdwood, 36 miles south of Anchorage. Seven JSC members competed in the four-day event.
“Well, it has been a rough start across all of Alaska for snow,” JSC head alpine coach and program director Kevin Stell said. “We had a really late start for Eaglecrest, and Alyeska was going through the same type of weather. These races were supposed to be held a few weeks ago…We have all been struggling to get on skis to get any training done…We did practice a little bit of slalom on Porcupine, but had little giant slalom practice.”
“These races were the kids’ first runs in giant slalom gates for the year — which makes it even more impressive that they got those results, that was great to see. We didn’t go in with really high expectations, but the kids did ski really well despite the normal preparation we would have for the end of January.”
Meyer placed third overall in the ladies U16/U18 giant slalom Wednesday with a combined two-run time of 1:21.62 (1st run 41.62 third fastest / 2nd run 40.00 third fastest). The time placed Meyer first in her U18 class to earn important national qualifying points.
Juneau Ski Club’s U18 athlete Eva Meyer races in the ladies giant slalom during the Coca-Cola Classic race series on Wednesday at the Alyeska Race Trail in Girdwood. (Photo courtesy Bob Eastaugh)
JSC’s Madelyn Dale placed eighth overall with a combined 1:24.19 (1st run 42.87 / 2nd run 41.32) and sixth in her U16 class.
The top overall U16/U18 time went to Anchorage Ski Club’s U16 Lucy Olson with two top times that totaled 1:19.16 (40.34 / 38.82) and second overall was Hilltop Alpine Race Team’s U16 Alex Von Walter-Gentner in 1:20.37 (41.23 / 39.14).
Andrews placed third overall in the men’s U16/U18 giant slalom on Wednesday with a combined two-run time of 1:18.88 (40.32 fourth fastest / 38.56 fourth fastest). Andrews placed second in his U16 class.
Top overall U16/U18 time went to HART’s U16 Jed McDonald in 1:17.68 (39.34 / 38.34) and second overall was ASC’s U18 Corbin Wilson in 1:18.06 (39.85 / 38.21).
“I was excited that the races were happening despite the poor weather the last few weeks,” Andrews said. “I was up there a week before without much snow and I was happy to be back up there for some quality race courses to be set up with the cooler temperatures. I am proud to have finished my two runs with such success.”
In Tuesday’s ladies’ U16/U18 slalom runs, Dale placed ninth overall with 2:02.99 (1:02.61 / 1:00.38) and seventh in her U16 class. Meyer did not finish her first run so did not place with her second run of 54.24 (fourth overall) in the U18.
The top ladies’ overall slalom time went to ASC U21 Shyan Hargis with 1:42.15 (51.53 / 50.62) and second was ASC U16 Olson in 1:45.75 (52.11 / 53.64). Top U18 was ASC Amber Maynard with 2:20.49 (1:09.67 / 1:10.82).
Juneau Ski Club’s U16 athlete Maddie Dale races in the ladies slalom during the Coca-Cola Classic race series on Tuesday at the Alyeska Race Trail in Girdwood. (Photo courtesy Bob Eastaugh)
On Tuesday, Andrews did not finish his first run in the slalom and hit a 53.98 (ninth fastest) in the second run. Top overall finishers were Wilson in 1:38.23 (48.07 / 50.16), ASC’s U16 Henry Nordstrom in 1:41.73 (49.21 / 52.52) and McDonald in 1:42.12 (50.59 / 51.53).
“It was nice to get those podium spots with Eva and Angus in the giant slalom,” Stell said. “And we actually had three in the top 10 with Maddie placing eighth, which was a great result for her as well. That was a good day for Juneau Ski Club. Some of the younger kids struggled to find the finish line in both slaloms, but had good runs in a race. It was a good race of the year for us with very little preparation.”
On Monday, JSC’s Jackson Swanson placed ninth in the men’s U12 Slalom with 1:53.85 (57.14 / 56.71). Top times went to ASC’s Daniel Miles in 1:24.09 (40.68 / 43.41) and ASC’s Yohannan Dodge in 1:26.23 (42.04 / 44.19).
JSC’s Alexander Andrews placed fifth in the men’s U14 Slalom in 1:17.49 (38.65 / 38.84) and teammate Wesley Swanson seventh in 1:20.20 (42.33 / 37.87). JSC teammate Vadim Zimmerman did not finish his first run. The top times went to HART’s Finn Sundberg with 1:02.98 (32.47 / 30.51) and ASC’s Jasper Fleming with 1:14.97 (38.75 / 36.22).
On Sunday in the men’s U12/U14 giant slalom JSC’s W. Swanson placed ninth overall in 1:25.36 (41.56 / 43.80) and J. Swanson 26th with 1:47.92 (51.98 / 55.94). J. Swanson placed 14th in his U12 class and W. Swanson eighth in his U14 class. Alexander Andrews and Zimmerman did not finish their first runs. The top overall times were ASC’s U14 Julien-Didier Stiassny in 1:13.30 (36.65 / 36.65) and HART’s Sundberg in 1:15.71 (37.97 / 37.74).
“The kids struggled a little bit in the slalom but had good runs,” Stell said. “The giant slalom worked out really well for the older age groups…For not much time on snow, the kids skied really well and had a good time up there. Snow conditions were quite challenging. We had everything from pouring-down rain to about minus-10 windchill on Wednesday and everything in between — snowstorms and rain and cold weather — so it was a challenging race series for everybody there.”
The JSC will return to Girdwood for the Alyeska Cup Feb. 14-17 and will host a race series in Juneau March 1-2. The races are all qualifiers for the U14 and U16 age groups to go to the Western Region Championships later in March.
“I was hoping we could have a club race here, but with no snow it has been impossible,” Stell said.
The JSC has approximately 100 athletes and will hold their Free Ride Competition on March 7-8. Currently, 65 kids are signed up for that competition, which is likely to happen as it is held on the upper mountain of Eaglecrest in the West Bowl. An adult competition is held at the same time. This will be the fourth year JSC has hosted the event that also attracts adults and youth from Anchorage, Washington and Canada.
“We even had a college team from Colorado come up,” Stell said. “It was pretty exciting. They were doing eight-foot back flips off a cliff.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.
