Vail, Colo. February 21, 2022 – This past Tuesday through Friday, U16 athletes gathered on  the Golden Peak Expansion at Vail for the SYNC U16 Rocky/Central Qualifiers. Over the four days of alpine racing, Ski & Snowboard Club Vail (SSCV) athletes carved their way to victory and snatched 12 podiums and 47 top ten finishes on the Golden Peak course. Coming out of this series, SSCV has 12 women and 15 men who qualified for the Rocky/Central U16 Junior Championships, taking 54%  of the qualification spots on the mens and women’s, more than any other program. 

The SYNC U16 Rocky/Central Qualifiers race consists of two days of giant slalom racing and two days of slalom racing allowing for a total of 4 races per gender for all U16 (birth year 2006-2007) alpine athletes to compete. Skiers who race particularly well in the SYNC qualifier events throughout the season may qualify for the Rocky/Central U16 Junior Championships in Steamboat Springs, and from there athletes can qualify for U16 National Championships in Sugarloaf. Those who do not qualify for the Steamboat Springs competition can attend the Rocky Mountain Division U16 Championships in Crested Butte. 

In Tuesday’s women’s slalom race SSCV female swept a podium, dominated the top ten, and displayed that SSCV does not mess around on their home mountain. On slalom one, Viktoria Zaytseva snagged first, Addison Dulaney grabbed second, and Nicole Begue rounded out the podium in third. Isabella Gonzalez stole fifth, Sage Sappenfield took sixth, Madison Milligan took eighth, and Samara Hitt landed in ninth.  As for slalom two, Zaytseva again grabbed first, with Dulaney taking fifth,  Gonzalez grabbed sixth, Maizy Douglas in seventh and Sappenfield rounding out the top 10 in tenth. 

SSCV men kicked off their first race in the competition strong in Wednesday’s giant slalom, taking half of the top ten placements. Stewie Bruce grabbed first place and Tyler Hopkins took third place with two-thirds of the podium belonging to SSCV. Henry Andrie took fourth place, Miko Lewis landed in seventh, Oliver Helland got ninth, and Nicolas Quintero rounded out the top 10 in tenth. SSCV women again dominated the top 10 in Wednesday’s giant slalom race. Josephine Trueblood grabbed first place. Zaytseva took fourth, Dulaney snagged seventh place, Anika Jobson grabbed eighth, Begue came in ninth, and Douglas rounded out the top 10 in tenth. 

Thursday’s giant slalom race for both men and women further solidified SSCV’s impressive presence on the mountain. Once again, the U16 men grabbed more than half of the top ten on their second day of giant slalom, with Bruce securing second place on the podium. Andrie placed fourth,  Hopkins grabbed fifth, Lewis landed in sixth, Alex Krupka jumped to eighth and Helland took ninth. As for the women, Zaytseva again placed first! Douglas snagged fifth, Dulaney grabbed sixth, Gonzalez took ninth, and Crowley landed in tenth. 

The final day of the competition concluded with an impressive performance for SSCV in men’s slalom. On slalom one, Bruce again grabbed a podium spot securing second place, with Krupka grabbing third. Lewis took fourth and Hopkins placed fifth, Erik Strickler took seventh and Andrie snagged eighth. As for slalom two, Bruce held onto his second place spot. Lewis kept fourth, Hopkins took sixth, Quintero skied into seventh, Calvin Schaffler moved up into eighth, and Helland snagged ninth.

“It was great to see our U16 women put out such great runs during the competition this week,”  said Adam Chadborne, SSCV Alpine Women’s Head U16 Coach and Alpine U16 Women’s Performance Coach. “Golden Peak was in outstanding condition for these kids to compete, which wouldn’t be possible without the help of Vail Mountain, the race crew, our volunteers and coaches.”

“This group (SSCV Men)  has been working very hard over the better half of a year. They’ve shown so much growth. This past week was really a great reflection of their effort. I am very proud of the way everyone on the team skied, I believe everyone showed their best skiing, which is all we can really ask for at this stage of their development,” said Ian Dunlop, SSCV Alpine Men’s U16 Head Coach. “They have a couple of great opportunities ahead, whether in Steamboat or Crested Butte, and we can’t wait to see what’s next for them.”

SSCV athletes qualifying for Rocky/Central 

U16 Junior Championships in Steamboat Springs, CO

 

Women: 

Viktoria Zaytseva

Nicole Begue

Addison Dulaney

Maizy Douglas

Isabella Gonzalez

Sage Sappenfield

Samara Hitt

Audrey Crowley

Anika Jobson 

Ashley Anderson

Madison Milligan

Solveig Moritz

 

Men: 

Stewart Bruce

Tyler Hopkins

Alex Krupka

Henry Andrie

Miko Lewis

Oliver Helland

Nicolas Quintero

Calvin Schaffler

Hunter Peterson

Andrew Gunther

Oliver Kullberger

Erik Strickler

Ricky Shay

Spenser Gustafson

Andrew Clubine

 

For a full list of results, visit https://vola.ussalivetiming.com