Squaw Valley, CA….Weekend two of J45 competition brings the Farwest ski racers to a GS at Squaw for the North and a GS at Snow Summit for the South.

J45 Ladies of the South: In the J5 ladies day one and day two were a carbon copy showing the strength and consistency in the girls field. It was Snow Summit’s Elle Williams taking 1st place, followed by Team Mountain High’s Lyuda Panina in 2nd and teammate Carrie Pirner in 3rd. For the J4 ladies we find two day top honors going to Team Mountain High’s Sydney Snelbaker, and Snow Summit’s Megan McElfish staying steady with 2nd place for both days. The shake up was in the 3rd place spot where day one went to Snow Summit’s Madions Ritenour while Team Mountain High’s Katelyn Pulsipher took 3rd place on day two.

J45 Gents of the South: In the J5 boys we had another de ja vue with both days looking the same. 1st place Team Mountain High’s Casey Felgar, 2nd place went to Snow Summit’s Alec Burton and Team Mountain High’s Ty Zuber in 3rd. In the J4 boys it was 6 podium spots with 5 different boys on the stand. Day 1 competition landed Snow Summit’s Johan Auer on the top followed by teammates Emerson Warren in 2nd and Chad Thomas in 3rd. On Day 2 it was Chad Thomas throwing down the consistency to be the only gent on the podium two days in a row. On the second day of competition he preferred the view from the top of the podium stand! 2nd place went to teammate Eli Wulfson, and Team Mountain High’s Jonathan Rosenblum making an appearance on the stand!

Please remember to participate in the Survey listed on the J45 results page. Next up for the South Series will be the GS/SL combination weekend being held at Mountain High!

The North Series: On Saturday it was bring your sun block and be ready for some hard fast snow, and then Mother Nature declared a powder day for Sunday – No one heard parents complaining as they pulled their fat skis from the car!

Top performances for the weekend on the ladies side: On their home turf at Squaw top 10 finishes in the J5 girls go to 1st place AJ Hurt, 4th place Sengen Meyer, and 5th place Alice Robinson. From Diamond Peak was 2nd place Belle Johnson and 9th place Emily White, from Sugar Bowl 3rd place Bill Hudson, 6th place Peyton Wolf, 7th place Sydney Gradeff and 8th place Dannah Fournier. Rounding out the Top 10 was Northstar’s Nicole Guzhavin!

As the older girls of the day, our J4’s, the strength showed up in the Sugar Bowl squad taking first place Mo Lebel, 2nd place Kathleen Smith, 5th place Megan Wood, 7th place Becka Padgett, 9th place Addison McCracken and a tie for 10th place Julia Puchkov and Kirkwood’s Haley Louis. Home hill fans were able to cheer on 3rd place Annika Hansen, and 8th place Keely Cashman. Diamond Peak’s Amanda Pretti throwing down a solid 4th place finish and our neighbors from the north, the Alyeska Ski Club’s Juliette Parke taking home 6th.

In the boys J5 category we saw some Mammoth, some Squaw, some Sugar Bowl and a Heavenly athlete bringing home the top 10 recognition. Battling back and forth with Squaw’s Ben Ellis on top, followed by Sugar Bowl’s Cameron Smith in 2nd. Mammoth rounded out the podium with Erik Eisen in 3rd. Squaw’s Preston O’Brien (from the O’Brien Clan!) taking 4th. Mammoth brings home 5th and 6th place with James Gooch followed by Connor Staley. Heavenly’s Payton Norton shaking things up in 7th, and finishing out the top 10 were Thomas Knowles in 8th(SBST), Lukas Wagner 9th (SVST) and Luke Davenport 10th (MMST).

For the big boys of the mountain, all of 11 and 12years old! It was Squaw’s Oscar Halliwell standing atop the podium, followed by Sugar Bowl’s Luke Rodarte in 2nd and Diamond Peak’s Nelson Bedient finishing off the podium in 3rd. Other top 10 finishes from Squaw include 4th place for Domenic Salvo, 6th place Jonathon Gemmel, and 7th place Christopher O’Brien. Diamond Peak’s Winston Pretti in 5th made sure that the siblings have some bragging to do at the dinner table. Sugar Bowl’s Cole Turner bringing home 8th and Leo Nierenberg in 10th. Finishing out the top 10 was Mammoth’s Cody Underkoffler in 9th place.

These athletes are going to be ready to get out there for 2 solid days of racing at the next North Series race at Diamond Peak, race announcement is posted and ready to go.