March Madness!

We are now about 2 weeks into March Madness and well into the “Championship Season.”  Each of our athletes qualified for a championship series based on their season results to date.  The first series was the USSA J1/2 Eastern Finals at Okemo, March 4 – 6^th.  The girls competed in SL, GS, and a few stayed to strap on the long boards and race SG!  Congrats to Sarah Reilly as she captured the 2012 USSA J1/2 Eastern Finals SL Championship.  She also placed 3^nd in the GS right behind Sophie Leiter who finished 2^nd!

SL, March 4^th

Sarah Reilly – 1^st

Sophie Leiter – 5^th

Neza Stefanic – 12^th

Molly Danzig – 17^th

Caroline Armbruster – 38^th

Sam Dyar – 54^th

Colleen Cataldo – 64^th

SL Champ Sarah Reilly!

GS, March 5^th

Sophie Leiter – 2^nd

Sarah Reilly – 3^rd

Neza Stefanic – 15^th

Molly Danzig – 37^th

Caroline Armbruster – 54^th

Lucy Merriam – 57^th

Colleen Cataldo – 62^nd

GS J2 Podium

GS Overall Podium

Awkward Podium Hug...

SG, March 6^th

Sophie Leiter – 20^th

Neza Stefanic – 29^th

Sam Dyar – 40^th

Molly Danzig – 42^nd

Colleen Cataldo – 45^th

Caroline Armbruster – 51^st

On March 3^rd, Kelsey, Emma, and Linley flew out to Mammoth Mt., CA for J2 Nationals.  While we will get a full report from the girls on their experience out West, I have some exciting results to report!  As I said, it is amazing for our program to have 3 girls ranked in the top 20 for Eastern J2’s and have them qualify for J2 Nationals.  Getting there is much more than half the battle and once you are there, it is all about letting it rip and seeing what you can do against girls from all over the USA.  Kelsey Chenoweth had an amazing series to say the least… she was 2^nd in the SL, 4^th in the DH, 11^th in the GS (4^th second run), and when the event was all said and done, she was crowned the Overall J2 National Champion!

SL, March 7^th

Kelsey Chenoweth – 2^nd

Emma Sahn – 22^nd

Linley Shaw – 37^th

SL Podium

DH, March 8^th

Kelsey Chenoweth – 4^th

DH Podium

SG, March 9^th

Emma Sahn – 46^th

GS, March 10^th

Kelsey Chenoweth – 11^th

Emma Sahn – 45^th

J2 Overall National Champion

We also had a group of girls qualify for the Eastern NJR FIS Finals at Whiteface, March 11^th – 13^th.  We again saw some solid results as girls are continuing to improve upon the FIS point profile and rankings in the East.

SL – March 11^th

Courtney Hayden – 13^th

Denali Balser – 15^th

Hayley Armbruster – 19^th

Sloane Ross – 22^nd

Kelsey Higgins – 45^th

GS, March 13^th

 Courtney Hayden - 13th

Denali Balser - 17th (DSQ2)

Sloane Ross - 18th

Hayley Armbruster - 32nd

Waiting for the ferry

Over the weekend of March 10^th and 11^th, we had a group of girls take a road trip to NH to race a GS and SL at Gunstock Mountain in Gilford, NH.  MMSC was once again all over the podium, including a podium sweep of the SL for J2’s (if they had given J2 awards…)  All reports from the weekend were great and it was a nice opportunity for the girls to get out of VT for a weekend of racing against new competition on a new hill.

GS, March 10^th

Sophie Leiter – 8^th (3^rd for J2’s)

Sarah Reilly – 10^th

Caroline Armbruster – 21^st

Molly Danzig – 25^th

Neza Stefanic – 28^th

SL March 11^th

Neza Stefanic – 4^th (1^st for J2’s)

Sophie Leiter – 5^th (2^nd for J2’s)

Sarah Reilly – 6^th (3^rd for J2’s)

Caroline Armbruster – 12^th

Sam Dyar – 17^th

We are in the final push of the season with the last handful of USSA races, Eastern Cup Finals, and the Sugar SL on the horizon.  We just need Mother Nature to cooperate and give us some colder temps as we are not quite ready for winter to end…

Below are a couple of pictures from the Cranmore Open FIS SL...we didn't have a viable tuning set-up to scrape at the hotel so the girls improvised.  Thankfully it was a beautiful day!