At the 39th annual Dan Prater Memorial Cup in Crested Butte over the weekend, Ski & Snowboard Club Vail (SSCV) qualified the most athletes of any club to the Rocky/Central U14 Regional Championships, which will be held in Steamboat next month.

SSCV qualified 32 racers (15 boys and 17 girls) to the championship out 91 total athletes invited. The next-best clubs were Steamboat and Aspen with 10 apiece.

The weekend consisted of one day of super G training, followed by a super G race, a pair of giant slaloms and a pair of slaloms. Points were tabulated using a modified World Cup scoring system to determine qualification to the regional champs. From there, racers will have an opportunity to advance to the CanAm race on the East Coast or even the U16 National Championship.

As an added bonus, this year, the top eight boys from Vail and the top eight boys from Steamboat have been selected to compete in a head-to-head competition alongside the World Pro Ski Tour in Steamboat next weekend. The event will feature the Vail Wolf Pack versus the Steamboat Outlaws, shooting it out for U14 bragging rights between the rival ski clubs. …