Please join us for our open house on Wednesday, May 9th.  This is a great chance to meet the students, shadow classes, meet the faculty and staff, and get the answers to any and all questions you may have about our program.  The detailed schedule is posted below, and directions to campus can be found at this link. If you know someone who might be interested in attending, please spread the word!  We look forward to seeing everybody there!

Megan McJames ’05 has been here before — she won the overall NorAm GS title in 2008, after all.  But still — it’s very cool to come back and reclaim a major title, especially as the excitement starts to mount for her next Olympic run in 2014.  As soon as we can get past the London games this August, it’ll be all eyes on Sochi.    Congratulations, Megan!  We’re all so proud of you!

Please click over to skiracing.com for full coverage.

Frequent readers of this blog may remember that Sarah Hendrickson ’12 had already clinched the very first overall World Cup title in Women’s Ski Jumping by virtue of her performance in Zao, Japan over a week ago.  In other words, she could put her feet up, relax by the fire, and still collect the crystal globe.  Didn’t even have to make the trip to Oslo for the final event, really.  Nope, it was in the bag…

…But she did show up.  And she won yet again.  Sarah’s final tally for the 2012 World Cup season, out of 13 events, is nine victories, three 2nd place finishes, and one 9th place finish.  Yep, she won nine, made the podium in all but one event, and she never finished out of the top 10.  She’s seventeen years old.

(double blink)

We’re not 100% sure, but we think Sarah may be the first active high school student in the history of the United States to win an overall FIS World Cup Title.  Ever.  In any discipline.  We can’t find any record of any other U.S. high school student doing so.

Unbelievable job, Sarah, and congratulations!  We’re speechless…

You can read more detail about Sarah’s overall victory at The Salt Lake Tribune.

Bryan Fletcher ’04 has just capped off a breakout 2012 season with his first nordic combined World Cup title.  After winning a six-year fight with cancer and missing the Vancouver Olympics due to injury, Bryan is climbing towards the pinnacle of his sport.  Please read full coverage of his achievement at The Deseret News, and many, many congratulations to Bryan!

Karsten Hokanson ’13 has been unstoppable in 5K races this year and, over the weekend at the Junior National Championships, he blew away the field in the 5k Free Race, winning the J2 national title by a margin of over 9 seconds.  Everyone else was sprinting for 2nd place.

Oh, and by the way, Karsten also posted a 5th place finish in the Classic Sprint event, and his  J2 3 x 3km free relay team took the silver medal.  Nice job!

Please read full coverage of  Karsten’s gold medal performance at fasterskier.com.

The Winter Sports School is tremendously proud that its student and alumni community has grown to include athletes in just about every winter sports discipline.  We sometimes remind ourselves, however, that the school started in 1994 with a very small student body 100% comprised of alpine skiers based in Park City.  This season, we are very happy indeed to see how spectacularly our local alpine contingent is doing!

• Ian Griffith ’14 has been selected as the top Intermountain J3 men’s qualifier for the Western Region J3 championships to be held at Bridger Bowl and Big Sky, Montana March 15th – 18th, 2012.
• Bridger Clifford ’11 hit the USSA’s top 60 point level to get himself appointed to the Park City Ski Team’s A Team with back-to-back 5th place finishes at the IMD slaloms in Snowbird February 11th and 12th.
• Fiona Morrison ’12 made the PCST A Team by achieving her second top 60 point result in Sun Valley at the Laura Flood Memorial GS race.
• Riley Peek ’12 made the PCST A Team by lowering his points below the 60 point mark at the Eric Hays Memorial slalom event.
• All three of the Park City Ski Team’s named “Athletes of the Month” this season are Winter Sports School students and alums: Sophie Frankenburg ’11 in December 2011, Bridget French ’10 in January 2012, and Katy Greene ’12 in February 2012.
• Cheech Minnear ’12 had the fastest women’s J2 times at two USSA Intermountain super-G events.
• Rachel Jakob ’12 had the fastest women’s J2 time at one USSA Intermountain super-G event, and the third fastest time in another.
• Riley Greene ’12 had the fastest men’s J2 times at two USSA Intermountain super-G events, and the second fastest in a third.  Those performances also earned Riley two third-place overall finishes among all J1-J3 participants, and one fourth place finish.
• Darwin Taylor ’12 had the fastest men’s J2 time at a USSA Intermountain super-G event, earning him 2nd place overall among J1-J3 participants.
• Taly Polukoff ’12 had the second fastest women’s J2 time at a USSA Intermountain super-G event.
• Hannah Hunsaker ’14 had the second fastest women’s J2 time at a USSA Intermountain super-G event.
• Remy Smith ’12 had the third fastest women’s J2 time at a USSA Intermountain super-G event.
• The list of alpine athletes qualifying to compete in the Western Region Junior Championship March 8th through 12th is chock full of WSS students / PCST athletes: Sophie Frankenburg ’11, Cheech Minnear ’12, Hannah Hunsaker ’14, Bridget French ’10, Taly Polukoff ’12, Rachel Jakob ’12, Fiona Morrison ’12, Remy Smith ’12, Max Staples ’11, Kieran Adams ’11, Bridger Clifford ’11, Riley Greene ’12, Hayes Graham ’12, Darwin Taylor ’12, Hayes Lowth ’11, Harrison Padan ’12, Riley Peek ’12, and Eric Hanaman ’12.

As a side note, of all the Park City Ski Team athletes who qualified for the Western Region Junior Championships, all but three are either Winter Sports School alumni or current students, and one of those three has committed to attending The Winter Sports School starting this spring.  We must be doing something right as a school community.    We couldn’t be more proud of all of you, and we couldn’t be more delighted as you put your (relatively) free time from academics during the winter to such amazing use.  We all hope you have a fantastic remainder of the season, and we’ll keep watching.  Congratulations to you all!

Riley Greene ’12 in Intermountain Cup Super-G.   Photo by Julie Shipman

The first weekend in March, 2012 was another biggie for the Winter Sports School Community!

Hunter Butler ’11 won the Intermountain  Snowboard Series Slopestyle #4 event onMarch 2nd, and took second in the Slopestyle #5 event on March 4th.  Nicely done, Hunter!

Hunter Piggott ’12 won the Intermountain Snowboard Series Halfpipe #4 event on March 3rd.  And, in a fit of deja vu, we say again: Nicely done, Hunter! 

Resi Stiegler ’03 overcame many seasons’ worth of injury and doubt to grab her first World Cup Podium, taking 2nd in the slalom event at Ofterschwang, Germany on March 4th.  Please click over to USA Today for full coverage of the event, and way to go, Resi!

And, last but not least, Sarah Hendrickson ’12 has clinched the very first overall World Cup Title to be contested in the history of Women’s Ski Jumping.  Yep, she doesn’t even have to show up for the final event in Oslo, Norway, and she’ll still be awarded the crystal globe.  Knowing her, though, our bet is that not only will she show up, but she’ll bring her “A” game and try to win… yet again.  Out of 12 World Cup events so far this season, she’s won eight and taken second in three, meaning that she’s finished off the podium… once.  All season.  Egad!  Sarah, there are no words other than: congratulations!  Please click over to the U.S. Women’s Ski Jumping news blog for full coverage.

We’re so proud of all our students and alums!  Finish the season strong!

Wow!  Five days after winning the first-ever World Championship for the U.S. in 2-Man Bobsled, Steven Holcomb ’97 completed another American first — sweeping the 2012 Worlds by winning the 4-Man Bobsled World Championship in Lake Placid, NY.  Of course, being Steven, he’s already looking ahead to the next challenge, saying that it’s one thing to win in your home country, but he’d like to grab a world title on foreign soil.  Okay, but in the meantime, we hope he basks a little in his incredible achievement.  Please click over to USA Today for full coverage, and many, many congratulations again to Steven!

The world is starting to sit up and take notice of Sarah Hendrickson’s World Cup run this season.  Check out the following links to The Salt Lake Tribune and USA Today to read in-depth profiles on the current Women’s Ski Jumping World Cup leader and favorite for the overall title.  In still other news, Sarah took second in the Junior World Championships in Erzurum, Turkey earlier today — she remains the only U.S. medalist in the history of the event — and you can read full coverage at U.S. Women’s Ski Jumping’s news blog. What a year it’s been for Sarah so far!

Steven Holcomb ’97 has made history.  His 4-Man Bobsled World Championship in 2009 was the first for the U.S. in 50 years, and his 4-Man Bobsled Olympic gold medal was the first in 62 years.  But now he’s crossed over into uncharted territory by winning the nation’s first World Championship in 2-Man Bobsled.  Unbelievable!

Please click over to espn.com for full coverage of the event.  Way to go, Steven!