The u14 State Championships was held this past weekend at Seven Springs Mountain Resort. The JFBB team had 14 representatives, the most from any other team and they displayed some excellent skiing throughout the weekend, along with some fun team bonding! Seven Springs has so many things for the kids to do, besides ski, that every moment was jammed packed with activity.
On Friday, many kids arrived early to train on the hill. They were treated to some unexpected fresh powder, following some hot tub and pool time! That night was the traditional JFBB team dinner, where each racer received their JFBB sweatshirt. Special thanks to U18/U12 mom, Heidi Geist, for coordinating the sweatshirts this year!
Seven Springs packed the powder down over night and set up a great trail for Saturday. The slalom event consists of 3 separate runs, all worth individual points. The first two runs are the same exact gate set, and then they reset the gates for run 3. After three runs the JFBB team was in the following positions:
Vera-8th, Mackenzie-11th, Holly-21st, Lizzie- 23rd, Gabby-29th, Sophia -34th
David -3rd, Seiji- 8th, Noah -10th, AJ-15th, Jack- 17th, Lucca -22nd, Evan -34th, Jude -44th
Vera and Evan both quoted that the course “was so fun!” To burn off some built up energy, and to show that sometimes you just need to be a kid, the girls had an epic snowball fight, made snow angels, and built a snowman!
Jude made an incredibly hard decision to pull himself out of the race after run 2, as he had been dealing with a knee injury from earlier in the week. He was missed and we wish him a speedy recovery.
Saturday evening was the race banquet in the Grand Ballroom. Each child was called up and received an embroidered state champs beanie. They were able to talk with other skiers from the various mountains and then made their way to the arcade for some epic gaming time.
Sunday morning was a bluebird day, the course was fast and difficult, but the skiers were pumped for GS. The event runs the same as SL, with run 1 and 2 being the same set, and a new set of gates for run 3. Points are calculated for each run. After three runs the GS results were:
Vera -10th, Mackenzie -14th, Lizzie- 23rd, Gabby-28th, Holly-30th, Sophia – 36th
Seiji -2nd place, David- 5th place, Jack-7th place, Noah-12th place, AJ-17th, Lucca-29th, Evan-37th
To determine the state team and overall places, they add up all 6 runs.
The top 10 earn the coveted PARA State Team sweatshirt. The top 6 are invited to attend the post season race – Eastern Championships at Whiteface Mountain in NY. Places 7-14 for girls, 7-16 for boys, are invited to the Francis Piches Invitational at Gunstock Mountain in New Hampshire.
JFBB earned 4 state sweatshirts, 2 spots at Eastern Champs and 4 spots for Piches. The overall places were as follows:
Vera -8th – State Team and invited to Piches; Mackenzie -15th – invited to Piches; Lizzie-24th; Holly- 26th; Gabby-31st; Sophia-34th;
Seiji- 3rd- State team and invited to Eastern Champs; David-4th- State team and invited to Eastern Champs; Jack-10th- State team and invited to Piches; Noah-11th- invited to Piches; AJ-16th – invited to Piches; Lucca- 22nd; Evan- 37th; Jude -44th
Noteworthy mention: Seij, after a double ejection on the first Slalom run, proved that your mindset can help you overcome anything, and crashing on your first run does not determine your fate for the whole weekend. A podium finish is possible when you don’t give up! Great job Seiji, on your perseverance.
Our parent volunteers were complimented by Seven Springs for how much we participated and of course our cheering section was complimented too for being the most fun on the mountain!
Congratulations to all on a great weekend of skiing! The entire JFBB community is so proud of how you represented the mountain. Good luck to all of our racers that will continue on to the next events.
