The North America Cup got underway for Alpine ski racers over the weekend, and for local coaches, that meant 44 hours of driving and a few nice results.

Panorama Mountain Resort in Canada was the site of a full week of racing, with everything but the downhill contested.

Ski & Snowboard Club Vail coach Mark Smith, who works mainly with girls from the U19 age group, said while he only had two athletes racing, they notched some impressive results in the first major event of the season.

“Caroline Jones scored points in the NorAm super-Gs and was actually 10th in the slalom,” Smith said. “Emma Hall scored in both slaloms and a GS.”

In one run of the slalom, Hall notched a seventh-place finish and Jones finished fifth.

“It’s a solid start, for sure,” Smith said. …

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