The season has wrapped up but Catamount still has a lot of snow. We had a lot of participation in post-season races with some details provided below. These events involved our racers going to FIS level hills and competing against ski academy racers who are full time athletes. I would like to congratulate all our racers on the outstanding efforts this season.
I would also like to thank all of our coaches, volunteers, and parents who lended a much need hand. The race program at Catamount is enhanced by all these efforts. We are lucky to have coaches who spend entire weekends teaching and motivating our child athletes over the season. All the parent efforts to enhance the experience and supporting our interclub race helps to create a strong ski racing community at Catamount.
We had a productive discussion with Catamount’s management and are proceeding with some projects.
• We will be looking at the homologation process to run a Slalom race (limited potential for GS) on Ally Cat as part of Tri-State. This would be a big project, as timing and safety requirements are demanding at the Tri-State Level. We may be looking for local sponsorship for such items as new bibs.
• The mountain suggested we may wish to hold a ski swap in the fall at Catamount and has offered some support. This would require us to come up with a team of volunteers, but this would be a big benefit to the area ski community and us.
• We will look to have a USSA Level 100 Coaching Clinic session at Catamount once again next year.
• We will purchase some 60” slalom gates, which are a foot shorter than the standard gates. These are much easier to block for our younger racers and will serve as a training tool for the transition from Interclub to Tri-State.
• I am looking for support on finding a new supplier/process for team jackets. Spyder’s lack of communication and avoidance of requests for information regarding their failure to produce an entire line of product has required us to find a new solution. Given the wide range of sizing requirements we have, Jacket orders often require a long lead-time.
I will be providing some updates over the next few months. We need volunteers to take many of these projects to the finish line.
Coach Sonia Tatlock has taken many pictures and you can find them on the following website.
https://picasaweb.google.com/bebecanuck/Catamount201415?authkey=Gv1sRgCJG8hqOh5uzarwE
Post Season Race Achievements
U18
Top ten regular season standings went to Allegra Colman (3), Lauren Carver (6), Elizabeth Cunningham (9). Meghan Diamond and Kelly Mcpartland joined the girls in qualifying for the U18 Eastern Finals at Gore. Allegra won the slalom race and finished 10th in GS. Elizabeth Cunningham joined in with a top 10 (7) in Slalom.
U16
Shiau-Tau Ciecierska finished the season in first place, and was joined in the top 10 by Sydney Murner (8). On the boy’s side, top 10 regular season results had Sevrin Sarachek (6), Tony Guzzi (8), Griffin Sarachek (9) and Tyler Coenraads (10).
Shiau-Tau and Sevrin went on to compete at the U16 Eastern Championships at Whiteface.
Sydney, Tony, Griffin, and Tyler went on to compete at U16 Eastern Finals at Sunday River and were joined by Tony Kasper. Griffin captured 6th in slalom, Tony Guzzi 9th in Super-G, Sydney 10th and Tyler 11th in GS.
U14
The regular season ended with Annika Carlson in 2nd, Emily Chudy and Marie DiVecchio tied for 3rd. Marie took 1st at Tri-State Championships and Emily 5th. They both went on to Eastern Championships at Stowe.
U12
Sage Siegel finished 8th at Tri-State Championships. Sage was joined by Winfred Mann, Henry DiVecchio, and Alex Bradley at the Piche Invitational at Gunstock.
I apologize for any errors or omissions in pulling this together from multiple sources.
Peter Chudy
Head of Catamount
Race Team Parents Association