FIS Finals SL at Whiteface

Slalom on Sunday marked the end of the races at Whiteface for the Eastern FIS junior finals. After four days of rain sun and snow. During the mens GS we threw a couple hundred pounds of salt and the hill never really rebounded. areas that were salted during the gs were chunky and bottom less rotten snow. Also the areas that were dyed for the GS's and SG had the consistency of blue-green yogurt. That being said the conditions for the SL were less than ideal. Many of the guys that started in the top 15 had trouble with snow that either broke away from under foot or soft snow that made it difficult to get the ski to actually hook up and arc.
During the first run Dylan and Kip started 9th and 11th, unfortunately both guys had trouble with the extremely variable conditions and both DNF'ed. next down the hill Dan Scherding did a great job navigating the rapidly growing sinkholes and skied himself into the flip in 20th. Mike Ferri and Ben Scheu also skied well and moved themselves into the flip, Ben into 27th and Mike into 30th. Andrew Kimball also skied well but just missed the flip in 31st. Kenny McNeil was our final finisher in the first run, moving up from bib 80 to finish 65th. The rest of the guys had trouble and failed to finish, joining about 20 other guys in the lodge.
The second run was another challenging run, not only for myself trying to set through the deep ruts and rotten snow, but also for the 72 guys who managed to survive the first run. Much like the first run the track actually got better after the first 10-15 and then started to rapidly deteriorate after about 30-35. Mike had some trouble on the pitch and found himself on his hip before a quick hike back up around a gate. Dan also had some trouble after trying to cut off the line and hooking a tip on a right footed turn. Ben and Andrew skied well and were rewarded with their best SL results of the year, they finished 19th and 20th, scoring a 91 and a 95. Kenny moved up again and skied into 54th on the day. The guys did a good job on the second run both moving themselves up and skiing fast for the run. Ben and Andrew were 9th and 10th on the run, showing that they do have a lot of speed in them right now.
Now everyone is looking forward to a day or two off before we start the final push through the last development series at Stratton. We have two weeks left of school, lets make the most of it to work hard and ski fast in the closing days of the 2010-2011 season.
See you back on campus tomorrow
Stags