Inside Edge: Local events and the 2022 Olympics

The Olympics have begun and several local events took place over the last week, and here are some of the results.

Northwest Cup – A large contingent of U16s and older from around the Northwest journeyed to Crystal Mountain for two days of slalom competition.

For the girls, Erika Edmundson finished 18 and 25 throughout the two days. Her sister, Avery finished at 25 and 34.

Crosby Schmidt straddled and hiked Saturday, but bounced back on Sunday with a strong ninth place finish.

Hannah Stiller also competed but didn’t place.

This group gets to stow the short skis for a while and prepare for a week of speed at Mount Bachelor at the end of the month.

Youth Ski League – The U12 and under crowd headed to Mount Spokane for slalom competition Feb. 5-6.

The U12 boys placers were as follows; Landon Buoy finished third and seventh, Wyatt Lemon finished fourth on Sunday, Logan Johnston was seventh on Saturday, and Paxton Lee finished 11 on Saturday and 15 on Sunday.

For the U12 girls, Elaina Stiller placed 13 on Sunday.

For the U10 boys, Solen Landwehr finished second both days.

The U10 girls placers were as follows; Tekla Lien finished second on Saturday and ninth on Sunday, Libby Welker finished fourth on Saturday and third on Sunday, Jordyn Lemon finished sixth on Saturday and eighth on Sunday, and Elsa Gidley was seventh on Saturday.

The U8 Boys placers were as follows; Miles Cardin had two first place finishes. Avi Hamer finished third both days. Summit Albright finished sixth and seventh. Jonah Baroni finished eighth and ninth. Wade McCoy finished 11 on Sunday, and Dominic Cipriano was 14.

Brig Ambuen, Zayda Ambuen, Jenna Baroni, Felix Hurt, Annamarie Knobbs, Brenner Knobbs, Bennett Somerville, Faith Stephany, Rex Warren, Cody Warwick also competed.

Starlight Racing– Competition kicked off on hard snow and under true starlight. This year’s theme was Snolympians.

The top three teams, using adjusted scores were; Team Jamaica -- Fully Waxed, Booster and the Variants, and 5 Guys Racing.

Fastest individuals, using raw times were; Sean Mirus, Kelly Farmin, Ben Poreitis, Dig Chrismer, Adam Tajan, and Heather Johnson.

Olympics – As of print, only three Alpine events have occurred.

The big news was Ryan Cochran-Siegle earning a Silver Medal in Giant Slalom.

Travis Ganong finished in 12, River Radamus was in 15, and Bryce Bennett ended up in 17 during the same event.

Cochran-Siegle also led United States racers in the Downhill with a 14 place finish.

He was followed by Bennett in 19 and Travis Ganong in 20.

Paula Moltzan was the top United States women’s finisher in Giant Slalom placing 12.

Tuesday was a day of surprises in the Women’s Slalom.

Mikaela Shiffrin abandoned the course; other favorite, Petra Vlhova, was slow and seemingly out of the hunt after the first run. However, Vlhova poured on the coals during the second run, seizing the gold.

Moltzan had a great first run, with a fifth place finish. Moltzan ended up in a very respectable eighth place, followed by Katie Henein in 26th after starting with bib 40.

Western Region Speed - SARS hosts the Western Region FIS Speed Series next week.

This is a big job and they often need volunteers. Give them a ring and see if you can get

one of the best seats in the house. Call SARS at 946-7859 to volunteer.

Potpourri - Any comments, recommendations or contributions to this column may be sent to Shep Snow by e-mail at [email protected]. Negative feedback should be sent to someone else.