U16 skiers charge toward regionals
U16 alpine regional qualifiers
Sequoia Anstine
Kyler Armstrong
Alexandra Blair
Emily Craig
James Lahrman
Cole Gedeon
Kyle Kagan
Jake Olson
Helenka Ostaszewski
Jack Reich
Noah Riemenschneider
Nicholas Richeda
Jack Rotermund
Colton Sankey
Phenix Tatge
Marat Washburn
Finn Sadler
Steamboat Springs — A weekend of strong results in the state helped lead a boatload Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club Alpine skiers to qualify for the Rocky Central Regional U16 Championships.
The club got 17 skiers through the qualification events and into the regional championships, which will take place next month in Vail. Local skiers racked up four top-three finishes in the four events, two giant slalom races and two slalom races. It had 16 top-10 finishes.
“That was a cool thing, that we had a lot of guys on the podium every day,” Club U16 coach Ben Brown said. “There were a lot of guys within the top 10 who had really never been there before.”
The club’s top result came in a boys giant slalom race at Eldora Mountain Resort. Noah Riemenschneider laid down a blistering second run in the race to leap into first place. Teammate Jack Reich was plenty fast as well, easily placing second and ending up just 0.06 seconds back.
Marat Washburn was fifth, James Lahrman seventh, Cole Gedeon 10th, Kyler Armstrong 11th, Phenix Tatge 16th and Jack Rotermund 20th in that same race.
“Eldora is a tricky hill, a really good GS hill, and there was a really technically difficult set with a lot of offset, and they just skied really well over all that terrain,” Brown said. “They just out-skied everyone else on the tough course. It was really good racing conditions but hard, icy snow-like spring snow.”
Later in the weekend, Colton Sankey was third in a slalom race, Washburn fourth, Gedeon sixth, Reich seventh, Lahrman eighth, Kyle Kagan 14th and Armstrong 15th.
Washburn was even a little better in a second slalom race, placing third. Reich was fourth and Lahrman fifth in that event.
“Colton’s been consistent for us all season in all disciplines,” Brown said. “Then it was really exciting to see Marat step up on the last day. That was his first U16 podium.”
The team’s girls also had stromg results. Sequoia Austine was fifth in one GS race and sixth in another. She was also 12th in a slalom race. Alex Blair was sixth in one GS and 11th in another.
Anstine, Armstrong, Blair, Emily Craig, Lanhram, Gedeon, Kagan, Jake Olson, Helenka Ostaszewski, Reich, Reimenschneider, Rostermund, Sankey, Tatge, Washburn and Finn Sadler all qualified for regionals.
Nicholas Richeda was already automatically qualified for regionals and for the ensuing national championships.
“It’s just a special group we’re coaching this season,” Brown said.
To reach Joel Reichenberger, call 970-871-4253, email jreichenberger@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @JReich9
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