Ski and Snowboard Club Vail U16 Alpine team qualifies 24 athletes to Rocky Central Championships

Ski and Snowboard Club Vail will bring a large squad to its home venue when it hosts the Rocky Central Championships March 14-18, thanks to a successful showing at the SYNC Cup in Winter Park Feb. 11-14. The tech series, which consisted of two slaloms and giant slaloms apiece, doubled as a Rocky Central qualifier.

“Winter Park’s Hughes and Norwegian Trails provided a perfect amount of challenge to our athletes, which should serve them well leading into the Rocky Central Championships,” said U16 head Alpine coach Ian Dunlop, who has 12 girls and 10 boys qualified for the event in Vail next month. 

“It will be special for our athletes as the host club for the event.”

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SSSV claimed 12 podiums and five wins across eight races at the SYNC Cup, a developmental race series primarily for U16 athletes but open to FIS racers as well. Mari Renick and Weston Roach were both 2-for-2 in the respective girls and boys giant slaloms and Connor Wick claimed a victory in the final slalom race of the day.

“Weston continues to find another gear,” Dunlop said. “He was tough to beat in the GS events.”

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The entire SSCV boys team was pretty strong, too. Roach dusted the 338-meter Hughes course in 2 minutes, 4.43 seconds for a 1.48-second win over Summit’s Trevor Palmquist, but Lasse Gaxiola (2:05.97), Wick (2:06.46) and Garrett Pooley (2:06.77) went 3-4-5 in the first GS.

The girls depth was equally impressive, with Lauren Hopkings (third), Katie McDonald (fifth), Annabelle Zurbay (sixth) and Shay Armistead (seventh) all skiing into the top 10 on the first GS day. Armistead moved onto the podium in the second GS later that morning as Ella Drai and Gracie Cohn etched their names into the top 10.

Renick also finished runner-up to Logan Grosdidier of Steamboat Springs in both slalom races.

“Conditions on the slalom days were challenging, forcing the athletes to ski through deep ruts,” Dunlop said, adding that before the boys slalom races, which took place on Feb. 14 — three days after the girls — six inches of new snow fell throughout the day.

“That made it all the more impressive for Connor Wick’s victory in the final slalom race.” 

The skiers that did not qualify for the Rocky Central Championships in Vail from March 14-18 will compete at the Rocky Central Showdown in two weeks in Crested Butte. The SYNC Cup Championships are March 22-24 in Aspen.

SYNC Cup – Winter Park (Feb. 11-14)

(Podium finishers)

Girls slalom No. 1 (Feb. 11)

1. Logan Grosdidier, SSP – 1:33.48
2. Mari Renick, SSCV – 1:35.24
3. Lara Huml, SSCV – 1:35.36

Girls slalom No. 2 (Feb. 11)

1. Logan Grosdidier, SSP – 1:36.35
2. Mari Renick, SSCV – 1:38.91
3. Katie McDonald, SSCV – 1:39.62

Girls giant slalom No. 1 (Feb. 12)

1. Mari Renick, SSCV – 2:07.96
2. Logan Grosdidier, SSP – 2:08.01
3. Lauren Hopkins, SSCV – 2:11.14

Girls giant slalom No. 2 (Feb. 13)

1. Mari Renick, SSCV – 1:59.63
2. Devon Phillips, AVSC – 2:01.61
3. Shay Armistead, SSCV – 2:05.01

Boys giant slalom No. 1 (Feb. 12)

1. Weston Roach, SSCV – 2:04.43
2. Trevor Palmquist, SUM – 2:05.91
3. Lasse Gaxiola, SSCV – 2:05.97

Boys giant slalom No. 2 (Feb. 13)

1. Weston Roach, SSCV – 2:02.65
2. Trevor Palmquist, SUM – 2:02.92
3. Blaise Turnbull, SUM – 2:03.82

Boys slalom No. 1 (Feb. 14)

1. Trevor Palmquist, SUM – 1:24.74
2. Matthew McDermott, AVSC – 1:25.20
3. Blaise Turnbull, SUM – 1:25.33

Boys slalom No. 2 (Feb. 14)

1. Connor Wick, SSCV – 1:28.84
2. Trevor Palmquist, SUM – 1:29.29
3. Josh Stephen, AVSC – 1:31.73