April 20, 2021

Director's Note:

This season is difficult to compare to other years in many ways; we operated differently, had to eliminate some activities, and  competitions had a format that was different from anything we have seen before.  Still, SBSEF athletes shined bright, and the season exceeded what I dared to hope for in terms of the quality and quantity of our experience during a pandemic.  Highlights from the end of the season are provided below for each group.  

I would like to thank all of our sponsors and supporters for continuing to make it possible for SBSEF to not only operate, but thrive, even in a pandemic.  We just concluded a successful fundraiser that raised roughly 20k from over 70 donors, plus a matching grant of 10k from our Board of Directors.  Additionally, Don Goldberg and Consultnet contributed 15k toward the purchase of (much needed) new radios, which are critical to providing a safe and effective training environment.   The SBSEF community has answered the bell yet again!

Snowbird and Alta provide us with the best stage we could hope for, and the season was a resounding success!  I also want to thank our entire membership for doing what it took to make it happen despite the many obstacles this season.  Slowly we will emerge from the pandemic, and the future for SBSEF is bright!

Dream Big, Work Hard.

-- Bridger Call
Executive Director

Fundraiser Update:

Thank you for making the SBSEF Spring 2021 Renewal Drive a tremendous success! Your generous contributions helped us secure a $10,000 matching grant! Together with the matching grant, our donation total for this fund drive is over $28,000 and will help the team purchase much-needed new radio equipment, Bnet, and other technology enhancements.
On Sunday, April 18th we held our opportunity drawing at Snowbird with the help of the Devos and their coaches. You can watch this on @SBSEF IGTV. Winners will be notified this week, and we plan to distribute prizes at the May awards and then after to those we missed.

-- Ellen Tolstad
Member SBSEF Board of Directors

May is Awards Time!

Mark your calendars for the "2021 Awards at the Park!"
To ensure our successful season ends as safe as we started it, we will adjust our awards presentations this season (aka no banquet). Awards will be given out at Sugarhouse Park. This will allow us to celebrate our athletes and will allow everyone to social distance, wear masks, and stay safe, keeping our group sizes to a safe level.  More information will be coming from your coaches, the schedule is:

May 4th at the Sugar Beet Pavillion, Sugarhouse Park:
Devos at 5:00 PM
Jfast at 6:15 PM
U16's at 7:30 PM

May 4th at the Hidden Grove Pavillion, Sugarhouse Park:
Freeride has the whole night - so watch for details from Siri!

May 10th at the Sugar Beet Pavillion, Sugarhouse Park:
U14's at 5:00 PM
FIS at 6:30 PM

Snowboard awards will be virtual - details to come!

SBSEF Academic Awards:

SBSEF believes in rewarding hard work in academics as well as athletics. SBSEF awards an Academic Honor Roll acknowledgment for secondary school athletes (middle school or jr high and senior high). We recognize 3.0 and higher cumulative GPA for the 2020-21 academic year.

We also award a “Scholar Of the Year” for Senior High graduating athletes. If you are interested please contact Becky at becky@sbsef.com for more information on Scholar of the year.

Please email grades to info@sbsef.com by Monday, April 26, 2021 for the Academic Awards.

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High School Seniors: Please send us a picture and a recap of your plans after high school (college, job, travel, etc) and what you love about your SBSEF experience. We want to highlight you on social media and celebrate your accomplishments! Email picture(s) and info to info@sbsef.com. Thanks!

Freeride April Update:

This season has been filled with just about every emotion you can think of. Thinking back to this Fall when there was so much unknown about what was going to happen, and now sitting here in April thinking of all that did happen, is truly amazing. I am so proud of this team for working hard this season, staying safe, and enjoying the gift we received of getting to ski this winter.

U16 March/April News Update:

March and April were jam-packed with great ski racing action with the last of the qualifying races at Sun Valley the first week of March.  I am a firm believer our training at the UOP helps the SBSEF skiers with the snow conditions at Sun Valley as well as the wicked hard and slick surface at the Snow Cup and regional championships.

This year all of the SBSEF U16 athletes qualified to compete at one of three different championship events: IMD Finals at Snowbasin, Tri Divisional Champs at Big Sky, MT, and regional Championships at Mammoth Mtn. California.  We had great racing and weather at all three events with podiums at IMD Finals and the Tri Div. as well as three top 10 finishes at Mammoth Mtn. 

As this season comes to an end, on behalf of all the U16 coaches, congratulations to all of you.  It was not an easy year in many ways, however, you guys did what needed to be done in order to keep us skiing, allowing us to have a full and complete season.  Ski racing is not an easy sport and your/our successes are measured in far more ways than where you finished in any given race.  Having said that, especially with all the challenges and changes this season brought, it was a very successful season in many ways. 

Those of you moving into the U19 group, the U16 coaches will still be there for you and we look forward to watching you compete at the next level.  Those of you remaining as or moving into the U16 group, we look forward to May and Aug camps with you and an even better and more successful 2021-2022 season.  

More cowbell!!!

-- Fritz Wood
Head U16 Coach

FIS Team Update:

March/April has been quite a time for the FIS team. Heading into this period it was unclear how much racing our crew would get to do given an ever-evolving race schedule and small quotas due to Covid. But in the end, we found ourselves racing a lot, and getting a good portion of our racers into some more elite races! 

In mid-March the whole team went to a devo series in Snow King (our home away from home), and because of its smaller field size, a lot of our team was able to find their flow much more than in previous races, being that we didn't have to do battle with extreme course conditions. On the women's side, the entire team achieved personal best (or close to it) results in both slalom and giant slalom, and Mel Umble brought home our team's first podium of the year with a 3rd place in slalom. In the process, she lowered her points below 100--a major milestone! On the men's side there were plenty of PB's as well, most notably by Jesse Hoopes and Bjorn Karlen who significantly lowered their points, and there was even a slalom race where every member of the team made flip--a coach's dream!  

Snow Cup was a blast for the FIS team, and even though they were instructed just to have fun, they brought the heat. Max Holdaway took a slalom victory by nearly 2.5 seconds, and Bjorn Karlen nearly followed suit, holding the lead in the next slalom, but ultimately dropping to 4th...we all need a little experience in the hot seat before we can execute. Mel Umble once again led the way on the women's side, posting a solid top 10 in slalom. Kelsie Kruckenberg also laid down one of her best races of the season, using her home field knowledge and a new outlook on slalom to blow by competitors that have been out of reach in the past. 

As I write this most of the team have just completed their final tech races of the season at Spring Series in Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows. In an elite field with many competitors, it is difficult to lay down races that come close to your best race result, but nonetheless, Sadie Gregory stayed aggressive and posted a personal best slalom on a course that is over a minute long (slalom for more than a minute is one of the most exhausting things you can do). Now all that is left is downhill in Mammoth. The boys completed their first go at it today, and in his first-ever FIS downhill start from 999 points, Bjorn slid into 4th place--very impressive, and it looks like we have a combined skier on our hands. The girls will get their shot after the men give it one more go tomorrow, and I know we have some speed demons who have been chomping at the bit ever since they got their first taste of downhill earlier in the season at Aspen. 

Through this period a couple members of our team have been on a slightly different trajectory: Jeremy Mathers took down a couple of podiums racing in Europe before coming back home and achieving a personal best slalom result at Rocky Spring Series, 10th in the national DH, and 6th in the national combined. Additionally, he has recently been invited to be a member of the University of Utah ski team, which is a major accomplishment and opportunity, especially in this age of collegiate skiing where European national team members make up the majority of the field. Asa Miller, in his quest to race the Olympics for the Philippines a second time, has been on a solo tour of the Rocky and Central division races to improve his points. Asa had some ups and downs through these races, but in the end managed personal best results in GS and slalom in Lutsen. 

FIS racing can be an eye-opener. You get exposed to just how high a level people are capable of skiing. I think our entire crew has come away from the season with a better understanding of where our skiing needs to head, what high-level skiing feels like, and what type of skiers we want to become.

-- Will Gregorak
FIS Team Head Coach

Alpine Devo Team Spring Wrap-Up:

Devo's had a great season!  We started the first week of January and ended just this last weekend, in April.  We have had a lot of long commutes and awesome powder days this year but our athletes, coaches, and parents are rock stars.  Athletes worked hard all year with their coaches, and you can see it in their skiing.

YSL races were up in the air this year because of COVID so we held our own races; GS (The Cookie Cup), and slalom race (The Hot Cocoa Cup).  We were lucky to attend YSL Finals at the Utah Olympic Park.  We added the first-ever Devo Free Ride Competition this month in Rasta Chutes.  This event really got the athletes stoked and we watched the best skiing we have seen all year!  We capped off the season with the Great Devo Scavenger Hunt.  It was a sunny weekend and the athletes searched the Gad Valley for yellow ribbons to earn tickets to be entered in a raffle.  

All the Devo Coaches had fun working with the athletes and sharing their knowledge and love of skiing.  We hiked the kids up Baldy, skied the Cirque, descended the rope in Get Serious, spent hours in Black Forest and bombing the trees below Gun Tower.  It was a great season and we look forward to seeing every back next winter!

-- Jason Stone
Head Alpine Development Coach

U14 Update

After big February snowstorms canceled races, Snowbird's U14's were hungry to race in March. At the U14 qualifier in Park City, the girls threw down some fast runs- with Bea Martin finding the podium with a 2nd and 4th place finish in the GS. Talise Larsh added a 4th in GS, and both girls finished top 15 in SL. On the boy's side, Charlie Bland added a couple top 15's in GS, while Freddy Gowski and Rome Swanwick landed on the front page in SL (11th and 14th respectively).

On St. Patrick's Day at Snowbasin for IMD Finals, our team was looking for speed. Blake Larsen had a 7th in GS and a 12th in SL. Elizabeth Mackay was 15th in GS, 14th in SL. On the boy's side, Nick Ware also skied to a 7th in GS and was 13th in SL. Michael Moore was 8th in GS and skied on to the podium in SL with a 5th place finish. Devon Harman was 12th in GS and 11th in SL. Rio Geroux had a 13th place finish in GS, and Hayden Comey was 14th in GS and 9th in SL. Conditions were great for a 2 event day.

At the end of March, Snowbird's U14's decided it was time to unleash at our biggest race of the year; IMD Championships at Teton Village, WY. Bea Martin won her first race of the year in SG- sharing the podium with her sister Nina who came in 3rd- the twins celebrating their biggest results of their young careers! Teammates Talise Larsh (11th) and Annabelle Butrum (13th) rounded out the top 15 for our team. Our girls kept the momentum in GS, with Nina (6th), Talise (10th), Annabelle (12th), and Halle Hipple (13th)- finishing with four Snowbird girls in the top 15. The girls kept it rolling in SL with Talise finishing 12th, Halle in 13th, and Bea in 14th. On the boy's side, Freddy Gowski had a season-best finish in SL with a 6th place finish, with Charlie Bland finishing 11th and Maddox Comey in 13th- also in SL.

Our B group in Jackson decided to pick it up a notch- with Michael Moore winning both the GS and SL. Hayden Comey added a podium finish with a 2nd in GS and an 8th in the SL. Not wanting to miss the podium action with his teammates, Nick Ware rounded out the top honors with a 5th place finish in GS. Also skiing into the top 15 were Devon Harman (12th- GS, 10th- SL) and Jonah Widmer (14th- GS, 11th- SL). Between both groups in Jackson, Snowbird athletes proved to be the team to beat.

Next was Snowbird's own Snowcup- which was tough to qualify for as a U14 this season. We were represented by Bea, Talise, Nina, Freddy and Maddox- who all skied to top 5 finishes in the U14 age class, a stacked group of athletes.

April brought the Spring Series to Taghee, and more season-best finishes for our team. Halle was 3rd in GS and 7th in the dual SL. Rome dualed out a 2nd place finish, and was 8th in GS, before winning the Kombi event. Other notable top 15 finishers were Michal Moore, Alex Steward, Nick Ware, Annabelle Butrum, Jenna Umble, Cash Moon, Ben Firszt, and Devon Harman. Strong work!

Our last event this season is a Western Region training event in Squaw Valley, CA, taking place in the middle of April. Tallying up results from all our races this season led to a very competitive team from IMD. Invited to this project from Snowbird were Bea Martin, Talise Larsh, Nina Martin, and Charlie Bland. Congratulations!

This season ended up far better than I could have imagined from the beginning. Kudos to our athletes and families for meeting each challenge that we faced- emerging as stronger athletes, faster skiers and incredible teammates. This season will be remembered as the best times we had in a challenging year. Thank you!

 -Ben Reeder
Head U14 Coach

Jfast Update:

JFAST has officially ended the 2020- 2021 season with a bang. The U10/U12 team went to Snowbasin in March for their championships race. There, the team capitalized on what was already an excellent season. Riley Eaton, Dylan Hersh, Liz Eden, and Patrick Meirowitz solidified themselves as top contenders as they were podium finishers in multiple events.

Based on the results from IMD Championships, six second-year U12 SBSEF athletes were invited to the U14 spring project at Grand Targhee. Dylan Hersh, Cortland Parker, Owen Higgins, Oliver Lassley for the boys, and Riley Eaton, and Georgia Mikell represented the Snowbird U12 contention. There, Georgia skied to a 4th place finish in the Kombi event. 

Finally, Jfast officially wrapped up their season the second weekend in April as we were invited to join the Devo team for a big mountain competition in Rasta Chutes at Snowbird. Hannah McReynolds put together a very technical run including a fast straight-line and a big send for the highest score of the day for both genders. Cortland Parker took the men’s top prize with some solid skiing and big air at the end. 

The U10/U12 team is taking the rest of April off but will be back at it in May for two-weekend camps (May 1-2, and May 15-16). The camp will focus on technical Freeski skills. 

--Bo Maciejko

Jfast Head Coach