VAIL, Colo. January 29, 2021 – This week at Golden Peak, Ski & Snowboard Club Vail proudly hosted the SYNC Devo Ski Cup and the SYNC Ski Cup for alpine athletes. Out of the many racers that qualified to participate over four days of competition, SSCV took home 44 of the top 10 spots overall and SSCV U16s claimed 39 of the top 10 spots for their age division. 

SYNC Devo Ski Cup 

The first two days of competition saw alpine skiers with years of birth 2005 through 2008 complete two, two-run slalom races in a single day. The SSCV women started the week with a good showing overall, taking four of the top 10 spots in both races on Monday. SSCV U16 Frankie Marston proved to be a force on the course, taking second in her first race and first in her second. Teammate and U14, Katie McDonald, demonstrated skill beyond her years with an eighth and a ninth-place finish overall in a field largely dominated by older athletes. On the men’s side, SSCV competitor Kai Ogawa took home third in the first race. In the second race, SSCV made a clean sweep of the top five times with Hunter Salani leading the pack in first, Stewart Bruce in second, Julian Arthur in third, William Zurbay in fourth, and Ogawa in fifth. 

SYNC Ski Cup

On Wednesday and Thursday, alpine athletes that met a certain threshold of points in their age division were able to take part in the more competitive SYNC Ski Cup. In a sort of no-holds-barred race format featuring U14s and older, SSCV had some standout performances. 

Among the women, SSCV’s Tegan Wold flew into first overall, followed by SSCV’s Samantha Trudeau in second and Kendahl Roufa in third in the first race. The second race saw Wold and Trudeau once again take home gold and silver. Marston continued the streak from her races earlier in the week, taking 1st place for the U16 age division in race one, and second place in race two. Marston was followed shortly by teammate Kyleena Lathram in both races, with Lathram taking home a second and third for their age division. Viktoria Zaytseva, an SSCV U14, also did remarkably well in the stiff competition, finishing 12th overall in her first race and tying for 10th overall with U16 Avery Forstl in her second. On the final day of competition, SSCV’s Brendan Keane, Jack Reich, and Tanner Grant vied for the top three spots overall between race one and two. In the first race, Keane came out on top in first, Reich in second, and Grant in third. Teammate Hunter Salani trailed close behind in times and came away with a third-place finish for the U16 age division. Later in the afternoon, Reich edged out Keane to score first overall in the second race while Grant held onto another third-place podium spot. 

“This race could not have happened without the diligent efforts of the entire team,” said SSCV’s Manager of Operations and Chief of Race for this four-day event, Chris Ogilvie. “Between Eagle County Public Health, Vail Resort’s Race Department, volunteers, and our staff here at SSCV – it takes a village. And it’s so great to see it come together and have all these athletes have the opportunity to put their training to the test and compete at this level.” 

For a complete list of unofficial results displaying many outstanding finishes by athletes throughout the four-day series, go to https://livetiming.usskiandsnowboard.org/.