Nationals Update

Hey everyone,
We are now done with the GS for both the womens and mens and we have been crushing it! The run we are skiing on has 400 vertical meters of drop (1300 ft.), which is just about as close as you can get to a world cup course. The girls did very well in GS, getting 3 skiers down smoothly to take 6th place! As you can imagine all the girls were quite tired when they made it through the finish, with the top times of the day being around 1:10.00 for each run, it was hard on everyone. But nevertheless, the course was very technical because of the steeps and our girls put 'em down the hill and skied great!

Highlights->
Katie Ulvestad takes 11th and receives Second Team All-American status.
Genette Sekse takes 25th with a great first run and a solid second run to make top 30.
Madison McLachlin finished 35th with two great runs to move up over 20 places from her start.
Laurie Taschler skied in her last GS race ever and was relieved with it!
Elke Wood had a great run but her legs gave out at the bottom, but she still finished!

The guys GS was the best USCSA Nationals GS the oles have ever had, tying with the '99 men! First run was a technical and turny. We got four guys down the first run, but Jeff Stamp, our fourth finisher, had some trouble on his run and was out of the hunt for top 30. After the first run we were in 4th, behind Rocky Mountain College, Sierra Nevada College, and Plymouth College. With our top 3 vs. Plymouth's top 3, we were only 3 hundreths behind them! Second run was a cruiser, and we were looking for a top 3. It was nerve wracking but our top three skiers, Paal Proitz, Nick Stang, and Max Lund, made it down fast and smoothly (except for Max's hip-check that scared everyone). After the top 30 were finished we were happy because we knew we got top 3 by beating Plymouth College. What we didn't realize was that we actually beat Sierra Nevada College because their third skier missed a gate and had to hike. We got 2nd place!

Highlights->
Paal Proitz showed us his mountain skills placing 4th and receiving First Team All-American status.
Nick Stang made an attack from the back placing 12th and receiving Second Team All-American status.
Max Lund raced fast and made it down safely placing 13th and receiving Second Team All-American status.
Jeff Stamp did a flip in his second run (and last GS run ever) in the middle of the course. It was awesome.
Nate Hansen crossed his tips on the third gate and fell ALL THE WAY DOWN THE PITCH. It was really funny!