Friends of St. Olaf Skiing: We Are Going to Nationals!

Hey everyone!
This past weekend, after winning Divisionals at Afton Alps with nearly perfect 11 out of 12 medals, we competed in the 2011 USCSA Midwest Regional Championships in Marquette, MI. We had a long drive up (not nearly as long and scary through the snowstorm on the way home!)and arrived late Friday night for a bit of R&R before Saturday's slalom race.
The next morning we left the hotel and arrived at the hill to see that the snow was exactly as we predicted it would be after a week of mid 40's and then cold again-glare ice.

Here are our results for the weekend!

Slalom

The first run was great for the majority of the team. On the men's side, Max Lund won the first run (36.78), followed by Paal Proitz (36.99)in second, and Nick Stang(37.13) in third. Nate Hansen pulled out a solid run placing him in 9th after the disapointing news of Jeff Stamp's fall and DNF.

Second run was a heart pumper for the ole men. Nate Hansen made it down with a great run moving him into fourth, however, with Nick Stang's second run DNF, Paal and Max were left in the start knowing they needed to finish inorder to place, and needed to finish well. Thankfully, both made it down without issues with Max wining the race, and Paal coming in second.

The womens side was slightly less exciting as the women skiied more consistantly than the men. Katie Ulvestad won both runs, with a combined time nearly two seconds ahead of the second place female. Maddey McLaughlin and Alex Anderson also put together two solid runs taking 3rd and 6th place both having better second runs moving them up into these respecive places.

First seed on B team Elke Wood also had a great day finishing 4th overall and 3rd for the Oles-- This just proves you never know what can happen when you have such a strong team!

Here are the results -
http://live-timing.com/race2.php?r=24744&u=0
http://live-timing.com/race2.php?r=24743&u=0

Giant Slalom

Sunday was a great day for the Oles as well!First run was highlighted by Paal Proitz, Max Lund, and Nick Stang who came down in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively. Between Paal in 1st and Nick in 3rd were only 14 hundreths of a second! Close behind were Jeff Stamp and Nate Hanson, less than a second out of first, and just one hundreth between them!
For the first run on the B-team, Matt Hoffman edged out Joe Masciopinto by 3 tenths putting them in a similar nail biter as the rest of us with Anders Wennberg trailing by less than a second.

Second course for men was a bit turnier, but gave the guys a chance to show off their GS skills. With the oles in 5 of the top 6 spots, we knew it would be an exciting competition within the team.Nate Hansen came down first and had a little bit of trouble, but pulled off a decent run. Jeff Stamp followed next wining the second run! Nick came down next for the Ole's with a significant ammount of trouble in the flats, but kept his position in third. Then came Max Lund only 5 hundreths out of 1st. Skiing a conservative line but skiing agressivly, Max was able to tie Jeff's second run time. Last, Paal came down with a great run, however, was not quick enough to beat Max Lund-- putting him in second. The competition between the Ole men was intense, but all in good fun as it ended with a clean sweep of the podium and a trip to nationals!
On the B-team, Joe Masciopinto overcame Matt Hoffman on the second run and finished third for the B-team race, directly followed by Hoffman with Anders Wennberg in the top ten.

For the women, the day was slightly disapointing with the girls skiing strong, but not as fast as they would have liked. Katie Ulvestad won the race (as we had hoped!) and Genette finishing 4th with two solid runs. Maddey McLaughlin was the third ole finisher taking 6th, followed shortly by Alex Anderson in 8th. It was a rough day for Elke Wood, and B-Teamers Laurie Taschler and Kathleen Stefely with DNF's from Elke and Kathleen, and skating and poling from Laurie.

Here is the results sheet for GS-
http://live-timing.com/race2.php?r=24746&u=0
http://live-timing.com/race2.php?r=24745&u=0

Other highlights from the weekend include the Chinese Buffet in Marquette, team wrestling matches, enjoying a grilled hotdog at the regionals bonfire, skiier cross, and Genette winning the sportsmanship award for the year!