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Winter Park team skiers finish well at Surefoot Cup races

Will Bublitz
Sky-Hi Daily News
Courtesy photoMolly Leonard (left) of the Winter Park Competition Center's ski team celebrates her third place in the Super G races held last weekend during the Surefoot Colorado Ski Cup. Also pictured (center) are first-place winner Ann West of Steamboat Springs and Katie Hartman of Summit County, who was second.
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Ski racers on the Winter Park Competition Center’s Alpine ski team turned in excellent results during the Surefoot Colorado Ski Cup races held Thursday through Sunday, Dec. 13-16, at Winter Park Resort.

Some of the Rocky Mountain’s top male and female skiers ages 15 and older battled it out seeking qualification to the U.S. National Championships.

Topping the results for Winter Park’s team was Molly Leonard of Tabernash, who raced to a third place in the women’s Super G. Her combined time after the Saturday and Sunday’s races was 1:18.86 against a field of 41 finishers.



“Molly took third place overall both days,” said Jon Nolting, director of the Winter Park Competition Center. “She was barely behind two girls who were just back from competing well at the NorAms in Canada.”

The women’s Super G was won by Ann West of Steamboat Springs with a combined time of 1:17.80. The runner-up was Katie Hartman of Summit County with 1:18.06.



Also earning good results for the Winter Park Competition Center’s team in the women’s Super G were Chelsea Nova of Tabernash and Sarah Williams of Granby.

Nova earned a ninth place with a time of 1:21.40 while Williams was 17th with 1:23.44.

“Chelsea had great results and Sarah did excellent in her second season of FIS racing,” Nolting said.

The Surefoot men’s competition got under way Thursday and Friday with giant slalom races. They continued Saturday and Sunday with the Super G events.

In Thursday’s results, Kevin Francis of the U.S. Ski Team won the GS. Second place was taken by Evan Weiss of Western State College. Adam Cole of the University of Denver placed third.

The top finisher for the Winter Park team was one of its coaches, Ian Dunlop, who is a former Competition Center skier and raced for the DU ski team. He finished ninth Thursday.

Other Winter Park team results included at 26th place by Spencer Nelson and a 57th place by Nick Stenicka.

The Surefoot men’s giant slalom continued Friday with Evan Weiss of Western State winning first place. DU’s Adam Cole took second and Swedish skier John Buchar of the University of Denver’s team was third.

Winter Park coach Ian Dunlop was ninth again in Friday’s GS. He was followed by Spencer Nelson in 21st place and Jacob Anderson in 46th.

“It’s great to see Ian, one of our coaches, showing our skiers how it’s done and keeping his own skiing fresh,” Nolting said.

On Saturday Super G last weekend, Adam Cole of the University of Denver’s ski team won first place with a combined time after two days of racing of 1:13.48. He won against a field of 57 finishers.

Second and third places were taken by the U.S. Ski Team’s Kevin Francis and Christopher Beckmann. Francis skied a time of 1:13.70 while Beckmann posted 1:13.78.

The Winter Park Competition Center’s top male finisher was Spencer Nelson who took 29th place in 1:17.81. He was followed by teammates Jacob Anderson and Sean Horner who finished 38th (1:18.91) and 39th (1:19.45) respectively. Nicholas Stenicka rounded out the team’s results with a 51st place in 1:22.52.

“Spencer led the way for our team with excellent giant slalom results Thursday and Friday, and solid results in the super G this weekend,” Nolting said. “Jake skied particularly well in the super G, moving way up in the ranks. Sean and Nick also performed well from the back of the pack in their second year of FIS racing.”


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