EARLY WINTER SBA NEWS

ENGEL WINS MAMMOTH FIS SLALOM; GIACOMAZZI A 2ND(DEC 18)

Sugar Bowl Ski Team athlete Mark Engel finished first overall at Tuesday's mens FIS slalom in Mammoth Mountain, CA. This is the first win of the season for the Sugar Bowl Team and Mark's first win at the FIS level. Great job Mark! SBA senior Sonia Giacomazzi finished 2nd in the women's slalom on Wednesday. RESULTS

PETERSON, LEBEL SKI FAST AT B.C. NOR-AM (Dec 14)

SBST racer Foreste Peterson finished 15th and SBA senior Jacqui finished 21st at Monday's Nor-Am slalom at Panorama, BC. Stay tuned for more updates from the week long race series. RESULTS

CARROLL PLACES 3RD AT CROSS COUNTRY NATIONALS (Dec 12)

Neither a snowy course nor a missing shoe could keep SBA 8th grader Clare Carroll off the podium at the 2009 USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships held Saturday at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park in Reno, Nevada. Snow blanketed the entire 4 kilometer course as runners from around the country battled the elements. If the snow and the cold wasn't enough, try running with only one shoe. That's exactly what 3rd place finisher Carroll had to do. "About 1/2 mile into the race someone stepped on the back of my shoe and it came right off," Carroll recalls. "I ran the remaining two miles without it." Because the missing shoe contained the timing chip needed to record her time a race volunteer handed Carroll her shoe in the closing stretch of the race. "I came across the finish line with it in my hand," Carroll said. Congratulations Clare, just imagine what you could do with two shoes! Race RESULTS

MENG 6TH OVERALL, 1ST JUNIOR AT ROYAL GORGE 10K(Dec 13)

Sugar Bowl Academy Junior Austin Meng was the top finishing junior at Sunday's 10k freestyle race at Royal Gorge. Racer's dealt with soft, slow, snowy conditions on the two lap course. Meng is one of four Academy students on the SBA Nordic team. Teammate Evan Dion finished 27th overall and 6th in class. RESULTS

SUGAR BOWL SKIERS ON THE PODIUM AT BOREAL (Dec 12)

In severe conditions with heavy snow, high winds and low visibility, Sugar Bowl Ski Team athletes put on strong performances at Saturday's Lisa Devalle Memorial Slalom at Boreal Mountain. SBA senior Sonia Giacomazzi finished third overall for the women. On the men's side, Mark Engel came in second overall for SBST with Will Kanellos 5th and Jake Perkins 6th. Six other Sugar Bowl J1 skiers finished in the overall top 20. View results HERE

SBA STUDENT DRAMA PROGRAM PRESENTS MURDER MYSTERY (Dec 11)

On Friday, December 11 the Sugar Bowl Academy Drama Program performed the murder mystery "Murder in the Manor." Written by Bill Hand, the play presents the mysterious death of wealthy publishing tycoon Artemus Ward. Hosted by SBA sophomores Dylan Murtha and Christopher Landsinger, the play starred sophomores Kelly Habibi and Grace Hutton; juniors Carrie Adams, Jace Bensch, and Evan Swayze; and seniors Mallory Duncan, Max Krone, and Corey Talbott. Under the direction of SBA Drama and English teacher Joanne Knox, the play was a wonderful success. The Drama program Ms. Knox began last year has quickly grown in popularity. After putting on four successful plays at the SBA campus last year, Ms. Knox decided to move the performance space to the Village Hall great room. The large, open room allowed for increased stage space as well as an expanded audience. Despite heavy snow, almost 50 guests attended the performance. Unfortunately, Saturday's show had to be cancelled due to adverse weather.

SBA Academy Nordic Skiers Begin Competition Season

During the Thanksgiving week the SBA Nordic team traveled to West Yellowstone, Montana for an early season training camp. Austin Meng, Kelly Habibi, Evan Dion, Corey Talbott and Joanne Reid were there for seven days of twice a day training and some early season racing. The conditions were fantastic with cold, dry snow and 40 kilometers of groomed trail. The trails were crowded with over 1000 Nordic skiers from all over North America and the world, many of whom were there to compete in the first Super Tour ski races of the season-races - Olympic qualifying races for the 2010 U.S. Olympic team.

The SBA team mostly focused on training but several athletes did compete in some of the races. The top SBA results came from Joanne Reid who was the top junior woman at the races and was 7th overall (3rd American and top junior) in the 10K skate race.  Austin Meng also turned in some excellent results including 73 th (4th junior) in the classic sprint and 93rd (3rd junior) in the 15K skate race. Kelly Habibi and Corey Talbott started their racing season with a low-key 3K Biathlon race in which Kelly was 6th overall woman and Corey was 9th man. Corey is primarily an Alpine racer but has been training with the Nordic team due to a shin injury that currently prohibits Alpine training. Corey has picked up Nordic skiing extremely fast and his large aerobic capacity is serving him well on the Nordic trails.

The SBA Nordic team will start local racing with a 5/10k skate race at Royal Gorge on December 13th and the first CNISSF school race at Kirkwood on December 18th.

OPENINGS STILL AVAILABLE FOR THE SUGAR BOWL ACADEMY 6TH AND 7TH GRADE WINTER TERM PROGRAM – 5th GRADE OPTION TOO

In order to provide younger athletes the opportunity to train full time with our J1, J2, and J3 alpine racers without sacrificing their academics, SBA will be offering a 6th and 7th academic program at the Village Hall. 

Sugar Bowl Academy has hired Betsy Hansen to direct and teach the 6th and 7th grade program. Betsy comes to us with glowing references from her co-workers, supervisors, former students, and parents of former students.  Betsy has lived and worked in Truckee for the past nine years and has a wealth of experience working with middle school students. She has taught at the Donner Trail School, Kings Beach Elementary, and Alder Creek Middle School and coached the Tahoe Truckee Swim Team. In addition to her experience as a middle school teacher, Betsy’s background as an All-American Swimmer and Athletic Scholar makes her an earnest supporter of our mission. 

Also, SBST athletes in the 5th grade will also have the opportunity to train with Sugar Bowl Academy athletes by attending school in the afternoons with a program we have coordinated with Clever Minds Learning Center in Truckee.

For further information or to enroll please contact Head of School, Tracy Wilson, at twilson@sbacademy.org or 530.426.1844

Sixth and Seventh Grade Schedule
January 4th through April 2nd.
Monday:  8:30 – 2:30
Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday: 12:15 – 3:30
Friday: 8:30-12:00

Link to Fall archived news items