AVSC J3 Skiers Dominate at Winter Park Junior Olympic Qualifier
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| by Alan Cole |
February 17, 2010
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AVSC Sweeps the Women's GS on Monday Feb. 15th: on the podium from left to right -Julia Mueller-Ristine, Danielle Brownell-Patty, Ilona Schwarz
Photo credit: Kim Lundin
AVSC's talented 13-14 year-old alpine J3 team locked up a host of spots for Junior Olympics this past weekend Feb. 14-15 in Winter Park. In two days of slalom and giant slalom races, AVSC placed 11 men and seven women in the top-15 in two slalom races, and 10 men and 6 women in top-15 in two giant slalom races. AVSC racers won 3 out 4 slaloms and all four GS races. Ben Throm, Ilona Schwarz, Danielle Brownell-Patty, Devon Cardamone and Colby Lane each struck gold for the Club. 7 of 8 victories and 17 out of 24 medals. 13 kids qualified for JOs. "I knew we were well prepared but they exceeded my expectations," said AVSC J3 coach Pat Callahan. "It was the most dominating performance I've seen in any qualifying event."
Ilona Schwarz set the pace for the women by winning both slalom races on Sunday. "I think the difference was having some time off," said Callahan. Ilona came back on track and ready to go." Right behind her in second place both races was teammate Danielle Brownell-Patty. "Dani is just one of the strongest skiers I've ever seen at her age," remarked Callahan. "She's always been stronger in speed but here slalom has come up a lot this season." Julia Mueller Ristine finished fourth and fifth. "Julia's consistently fast and is peaking at the right time," said Callahan. Keile Kropf finished 13th in the morning and 16th in the afternoon. "Keile she capitalized on her chance to qualify for Junior Olympics," said Callahan. "As a team they weren't nervous at all in the starting gate, just out having fun."
The men pulled off a remarkable 1-2-3 sweep in Sunday afternoon's slalom race. Ben Throm took third in the morning then charged down the hill to win the afternoon race. "He's incredibly focused and smooth on his skis," said Callahan. Colby Lane took his place on the podium by finishing second twice. "Colby just excels no matter what the event," remarked Callahan. Teammate Devon Cardamone was sixth in the morning and stepped up to third in the afternoon for the sweep. Travis Lundin threw down two very clean runs and finished fifth and seventh for the day. Andrew Hancock and Henry Woodrow both cracked the top-15, Hancock with a 13th place in the morning and Woodrow in 11th in the morning and 14th in the afternoon.
The AVSC women matched the men and capped the weekend with a 1-2-3 sweep on Monday afternoon in giant slalom. Danielle Brownell-Patty seized the top podium spot twice with two blistering Monday GS runs, skiing over two and a half seconds faster than the second place finisher in the morning and well over a second ahead in the afternoon. "She owned the course today," said Callahan. Julia Mueller-Ristine finished third in the morning then moved up to second in the afternoon. "Julia was really aggressive but kept it together on a rough course," said Callahan. Teammate Ilona Schwarz kept her streak of strong skiing going finishing fifth and third on the day.
The men were equally impressive in giant slalom. Devon Cardamone and Colby Lane each won a race on Monday. Cardamone's victory came in the morning and Lane stepped up to best Cardamone in the afternoon by ten one-hundredths of a second after placing fourth in the morning. "Devin's first run was crazy - a series of linked recoveries that were astounding," said Callahan. "Colby skied flawlessly in the afternoon." Travis Lundin moved up to the fourth spot in the afternoon after finishing seventh in the morning and teammate Ben Throm finished sixth in the afternoon. Brannen Haderle had a solid tenth place result in the morning and Andrew Hancock took tenth in the afternoon. According to Callahan, "both of them skied extremely well and improved their rankings for Junior Olympics." Xon Baker was 15th in the morning and 17th in the afternoon, enough to gain him entry to the Junior Olympics Henry Woodrow moved from 29th in the morning to 18th in the afternoon. "I told the team that they've been beating up on each other for the past few weeks, now we're beating up on the rest of the division." Meed Geary also qualified for Junior Olympics, finishing 26th and 22nd in slalom and 28th and 36th in GS.
AVSC Athletes that Qualified for the USSA Rocky/Central J3 Junior Olympics
Danielle Brownell-Patty
Julia Mueller-Ristine
Ilona Schwarz
Keile Kropf
Colby Lane
Devon Cardamone
Benjamin Throm
Travis Lundin
Brannen Haderle
Henry Woodrow
Xon Baker
Meed Geary
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For details, contact
Alan Cole
AVSC
(970) 205-5100
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