Ski & Snowboard Club Vail’s alpine team was on a tear in the slalom races this past Sunday, 2/19, and Monday, 2/20, as Winter Park hosted the Surefoot Colorado Ski Cup.
The winning streak began on Sunday when SSCV’s Colin Hayes raced to the win. Hayes credits his coach for the advice given to him on race day.
“Coach Mike Wommack told me to just ski solid and to not worry about my points,” said Hayes. “I have skied well in training this season, and Wommack’s advice helped with taking the pressure off myself so I could ski like I have during training.”
SSCV’s Taylor Shiffrin, the winner in Saturday’s Surefoot GS, took the silver in Sunday’s SL.
Taking seven other spots in the top 15 for Sunday’s SL were Alex Leever in fifth, first for the J2 men, Christoph Niederhauser in sixth, Cannon O’Brien, seventh, Nick Santaniello, tenth, Alex Barounos, 11th, Florian Szwebel, 12th, and Anthony Romano in 15th.
Greta Byrne, who was first in Saturday’s GS, took the win for the SSCV women in Sunday’s slalom, with Molly McGrew placing 14th and Grace Merriman finishing 15th.
In Monday’s slalom race, SSCV took control of the men’s contest by sweeping the podium.
Shiffrin nabbed the gold; his second win for this Surefoot stop at Winter Park. Shiffrin’s teammates, Niederhauser and Hayes, stood next him on the podium in second and third, respectively. Leever stopped the clock in fourth, first for the J2 men, Nick Braun took tenth, Barounos, 12th, and Romano raced to 14th.
Greta Byrne took her third gold on this leg of the Surefoot tour by winning the slalom on Monday.
“It was a great weekend series for SSCV,” said coach James Jensen. “The men and women really stepped it up and showed great improvement
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