U16 GS at Northstar and Slalom at Diamond Peak
January 11-13, 2025 - U16 Alpine had a huge weekend at our regional first qualifier series of the season. We started with two GS races at Northstar followed by one Slalom at Diamond Peak. On Saturday kicking off our first GS qualifier first year U16 Meila Ayers took a strong start in our series with a 3rd overall in the GS, on the boys side the SBA 2nd Year U16s took a commanding lead, stacking 5 athletes into the top 10, and by the end of the day finding Seb Atra on the top of the podium with teammate Jameson Pfeister hot on his heels in 2nd position. Jonah Peyzner, Mason Ayers and Ryan Russo kept their spots in 7th, 8th & 9th; keeping SBA in a strong position with 5 in the top 10 at the end of the day and kept a commanding lead placing 10 athletes in the top 30 positions. Miles Pfiester was a notable finisher moving up more positions from start from anyone else in the field, stepping up 26 positions; starting 52nd and finishing in 26th place.
Sunday showed a repeat of GS at Northstar, with the addition of part of the UNR ski team providing pace and point opportunities for our FW U16 Athletes. Again the SBA U16 boys showed the Far West division they meant business, placing 4 in the top 10 for U16s in the race and 10 in the top 30. 2nd run was a nail-biter with both Sebastian Atra and Jameson Pfeister again fighting for spots on the podium after a tight run 1 with athletes from Northstar and Diamond Peak. Sebastian ended up with a strong run but not enough to edge out Northstar’s David Lu for the top step on the podium. Miles Pfeister again found himself with the biggest move up of the day climbing 23 spots and dropping his points by nearly 100 over the two days of GS racing.
Monday brought the team to Diamond Peak, with cold temps and continued high winds we felt like we had gone all the way to Vermont despite only being in Incline Village, the SBA ladies had some strong finishes with Meila Ayers again finding her way into the top 10 and another first year and resident Kiwi, Liv Mahoney finding a PB finish of 17th overall in the Slalom. 2nd Year Maya Cummings fought hard during her second run after a teen place finish on run 1 but straddled on the 2nd run. The Sugar Bowl boys again found themselves with 5 in the top 10 for U16s, with Atra, Pfeister and Fossum finding spots 2, 3 and 4 respectively. This was Jackson Fossums first top 5 result of his U16 career as well as a substantial point score with the UNR racing with the U16s; helping show them the next level of pace they'll need at the FIS level.