Ladies World Cup Speed — Mikaela Shiffrin expanded her overall World Cup points lead this week at Lake Louise placing 10th and second in the two downhills and 10th in the super-G.

Alice Merryweather had a good week as well with 21st and 11th place results in the downhills and 23rd in the super-G. Rounding out the speed squad, Alice McKinnis placed 27th and 10th in the downhill. Northwest racer Jacqui Wiles was 29th in the second downhill.

Ford takes Birds of Prey GS — Northwest alumni Tommy Ford posted his first World Cup win last weekend, taking the giant slalom gold. He was followed by Ted Ligety in 11th and Ryan Cochran-Siegle in 23rd.

Travis Ganong led four U.S. men into the super-G points with a strong sixth place finish. Cochran-Siegle was 18th, Steve Nyman 24th and Ligety 28th. Cochran led the men in downhill with a sixth place finish, followed by Nyman in 17th and Jared Goldberg in 22nd.

Junior Race Series sign-up — Fliers for the January Independence Junior Race Series are at the local ski shops. This popular series features free coaching, lots of prizes, lots of kids and lots of fun!

Racers meet four Friday evenings in January from 5:30-7 p.m. No excuses — come join the fun! Historically we get an 80 percent participant return rate, so you better register now. Forms are at the Alpine Shop and Sandpoint Sports or can be downloaded at independenceracing.com.

Nice Turns Free Trial — The second Nice Turns free trial is this Saturday from 9-11 a.m. Check at the Learning Center for details.

Potpourri — **Don’t miss $10 lift tickets Friday for Community Day!** Schweitzer now has two lifts operating and the snow is trickling in. Any comments, recommendations or contributions to this column may be sent to Shep Snow by email at [email protected]. Negative feedback should be sent to someone else.