 |
Photo © John Markel/Alaska Film Locations Racers from around the state participated in the Alyeska Cup 2008 Alpine State Championships at Alyeska Resort. A Giant Salom on Sat Feb 16 carves around a gate during a first run. |
The Alyeska Cup, 2008 Alpine State Championships just ended after a week of racing in marginal weather conditions. Stefanie Klocker and Egil Ismar both UAA racers were named the Alyeska Cup Champions and will have their names engraved on the silver cup which resides in the Alyeska Ski Club Race training Center. Downhill and Super G races had to be canceled due to extreme weather and snow conditions. The race crew however in spite of the weather successfully held 2 Giant Slaloms and 1 Slalom race.
UAA racers Smaranda Munteanu and Jeffrey Crompton won the opening giant slaloms in the Alyeska Cup series Friday, February 15th at Mt. Alyeska. Two UAA teammates, Lacy Saugstad and Stefanie Klocker, followed Munteanu onto the women’s podium. Munteanu’s victory margin was nearly 1.5 seconds. Two young Alyeska Ski Club juniors, Laura Crews and Katrina Stewart, were in fourth and fifth. Joining Crompton on the men’s podium were teammate Ryan Wolosyn and Ski Club racer John Love. The men’s race was close, with the top five within 1.5 seconds. Just missing the podium with the best second-run time was UAA’s Egil Ismar. Aaron Wiggins, a second-year J2, was fifth. Eighty-seven racers competed after new snow, perfect for recreational skiing and surprisingly firm for the racers, delayed race-time.
UAA racer Smaranda Munteanu turned in two more fast giant slalom runs on a snowy Saturday at Mt. Alyeska as UAA racers again took the top places overall in Saturday’s giant slalom. Alyeska Ski Club’s Paul Crews called conditions a “winter wonderland,” but the new snow did not soften the firm Race Trail courses. The race was the second in the Alyeska Cup series. UAA teammates Stefanie Klocker, and Lacy Saugstad were second and third overall. But eleven Alyeska Ski Club and Juneau Ski Club juniors, again paced by Laura Crews, were close behind, and finished within four seconds of each other. Crews, born eight years after the three leaders, was fourth overall. UAA’s Egil Ismar won the men’s race and the next three finishers overall were teammates Jonathan Hverven, Andrew Fischer, and Jeffrey Compton. Aaron Wiggins again dominated the junior results, finishing less than two seconds behind Fischer. One hundred local, Juneau, and Fairbanks racers competed.
UAA’s Stefanie Klocker and Alyeska Ski Club and U.S. Ski Team hopeful John Love persevered in the Alyeska Cup slalom Sunday in rain, snow, and wind, in what club Head Coach Andy Gannon called “good old-fashioned ski racing.” Conditions disrupted electric timing and chair lifts, requiring men in the second run to ride Chair Three and hike to the start. UAA racer Allison Empey and ASC J1 Alannah Rice were second and third. Fourth was ASC J2 Laura Crews, for her third strong finish in the three-race series. Close behind Crews in fifth overall was club J2 Adrienne Wiggins. Joining Love on the men’s podium were UAA’s Egil Ismar and Ryan Wolosyn. ASC J2 racer Aaron Wiggins was fourth, his third top-junior finish in the series. Love said he “just held it together” in the adverse conditions and was delighted to finish first in a field that included five strong UAA men. His winning margin was 1.81 seconds.
Ninety-seven UAA, local, Juneau, and Fairbanks skiers raced. Race crew and volunteers kept the courses relatively smooth and firm, and despite atmospheric conditions thirty-four of the forty-seven women and thirty-five of the fifty men finished, a low attrition rate for a highly contested slalom. The race concluded the Alyeska Cup series.