Friday was our Devo and Comp Team awards and end of season banquet! We gave out awards for Rookie of the Year, Most Improved and Outstanding Skier in both Devo and Comp. We also did the 2015 yearbook! 

Devo Team Awards:
Rookie of the Year - Valerie Medina 
Most Improved Skier - Aspen Curtis and Mix Broadhead
Outstanding Skier - Sophia Burkemo

Comp Team Awards:
Rookie of the Year - Logan Chamberlain
Most Improved Skier - Ingrid Norton and Xander Burkemo
Outstanding Skier - Fischer Heimburger

I'm not going to list the yearbook awards but they will be posted in the basement! 

Thank you all for a fantastic season! Summer camp and program information will be available soon. Don't miss out on some of the most fun of the year!!! 

Team Soldier Hollow had it's first International race results (as far as I know) last week! Below is a report from Lina on her trip to Norway: 

My dad bought me a ticket to Norway since he was going for a Para World cup races. Before we went to the World Cup races we got to spend a few days with the U.S. Ski Team; staying at their hotel, skiing at Holmenkollen with them, and just hanging out by the fire. We got to go classic skiing with Liz Stephen, Jessie Diggins, and Rosie Brennan at Holmenkollen, which was a really cool experience, especially at such a famous landmark. 

Then we went to the Drammen World Cup Sprint finals and got coaches bibs from the U.S coaches so we could stand inside the fence, not just on the outsides of the course. It was really special to hear the gun go off and have the athletes kicking snow up into my face and remember that I would normally be watching this on Youtube a few thousand miles away! 

His athletes arrived in Oslo, and we drove about 7 hours North up to Surnadal, where the World Cup races are being held. There was a junior ski race being held near-by, and my dad signed me up for it. The race was a one-day pursuit where we did a classic sprint qualifier and then a skate 2k. In Norway you have to be a part of a club in order to participate in a race, so we had to buy a Norwegian license & rent a timing chip for the day. In the qualifier I got 4th, which put me out of the bonus seconds range, but in the skate race I made up most of the 20 seconds and had the fastest time up to the top of the alpine hill, putting me in 2nd. 

At the awards ceremony they gave out light-up running bands and mugs as the prizes instead of medals, which I thought was really cool for a citizens race. I had lots of fun that day, and made friends with a Norwegian girl my age. 

The rest of this week I have been skiing everyday, including a few epic crust cruising days where we skied just about everywhere, and one really cool ski to the top of a mtn where the ocean Fjords and there is a trail register to sign and a small cabin where you can make a fire and have lunch. When not skiing, I have been helping out at the para races each day, and eating lots of Norwegian waffles! I am having great fun in Norway, and I hope to be able to ski at a few more places before we head back to sunny Utah!

While the Rendezvous Crew was tearing it up in West Yellowstone Felix, Xander, Coach Morgan, Coach Petie headed out to Truckee, CA to join the rest of the IMD team at Junior Nationals. 

Despite an unseasonably warm and dry winter, Truckee was able to put together a 2.5km loop of fantastic skiing! The warm and sunny week’s events included a Freestyle Sprint, Individual Start 5km Freestyle, Mass Start 5km Classic, and a 3 person x 2.5km Classic Relay.

Xander had a fantastic week of racing  finishing 42nd in the sprint, 26th in the freestyle and 21st in the classic. Despite being the 9th and final qualifier for JNs, Xander was the top IMD skier in both the 5km races. These results landed him a spot on the top Intermountain Relay Team that ended up finishing 4th!

Fielix battled a head cold most the week but still managed to race 3 of the 4 races. He finished 47th in the Sprint and 47th in the Freestyle. For the relay, Felix was on a "mixed" team (meaning skiers of different ages and from different regions). He ended up racing in the U20 category finishing 17th. It was impressive to see him go out and ski with the older guys despite not feeling well. 

Every year we do this event as an endurance challenge. While the skiers attending Junior Nationals work on top end speed the Rendezvous crew jump back into some distance and threshold training to prepare.

The Comp Team skiers completed the 25km freestyle. Spencer Brosnahan led the way finishing 13th overall and 2nd in the U18 category.  Addison McCarthy finished 17th female and 3rd in the U18 category.  Ingrid Norton wasn’t far behind finishing 26th female and 4th in the U18 category.

Joshua Livingstone a U14 skier completed the 10km race finishing 3rd in his age group and 15th overall. Coach Tricia also completed the 10km race winning her age group!

Sara Livingstone a U12 skier completed the 5km race finishing 2nd in the U12 age group and 5th female overall. 

The Intermountain Youth Ski Festival was held at Soldier Hollow over the weekend and it may have been the most fun 230 kids have ever had in 48 hours on skinny skis! Team Soldier Hollow had 31 racers under the age of 16 come out for the event. We were the 2nd biggest team behind Sun Valley's GIANT crew of 55!!!!! 

The events kicked off on Saturday with the mass start skate races. Team SoHo skied strong on the home course. Top 10 got awards in each category!  

Saturday afternoon everyone got to do a downhill obstacle course! It was a blast!!! Obstacles included slalom gates, bucket spin, big rollers (some kids did some big tricks off of them! the rest of us kept both skis on the ground), side stepping, hay bail hoping, 360 degree turns, and hula hoop diving. It was a total blast! Turns out Team SoHo really excels at these kind of races. Top 5 got awards in each category for the obstacle course:  

When the skiers were not participating in or watching (may have been just as much fun as participating) they were able to go try biathlon with the Paralympic riffles, play on the "whale" in the stadium, or play on the slalom hill. 

After a full day of fun on skis everyone headed over to the Soldier Hollow Grill (at the Golf Course) for dinner and TUBING!!! 

Sunday the events turned to the classic technique. Despite having only 11 racers we still had quite a few top 10 finishes! 1km-3km Individual Start Classic Top 10's:

Cross-country skiing is often thought of as an individual sport but at the Intermountain Youth Ski Festival the most coveted awards are the Sportsmanship Award and the overall Team Award.

For the Team Award the top 20 skiers in each event and in each category scored points. Team Soldier Hollow scored their first podium ever at the Youth Festival finishing 3rd! Powerhouse teams Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation and Park City Nordic Ski Club finished 1st and 2nd.

The Sportsmanship Award is given to the team who best exemplifies the elements of good sportsmanship such as teamwork, fairness, courage, respect, and gratitude. Wasatch Nordic Ski Academy won the 1st place trophy with Team Soldier Hollow in 2nd and Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation in 3rd.

For complete results from the weekend’s events go to www.summittiming.com 
If anyone has photos they would like to share please send them to morgan.smyth@soldierhollow.com and I will gladly add them.