The BSF Skimo Team headed to Solitude Mountain in Utah for the Wasatch Powderkeg National Championships on March 4-8. The event started out with the Mixed Relay and the Sprint, both new events in the Olympics. Athlete Owen Dinkins and Coach Noah Brown went to the races early to compete in the first two events, which each have a trial and finals format. Owen did great in his first-ever Mixed Relay and Sprint, gaining experience and advancing to finals heats. He had a strong showing and placed 4th overall in the sprint. Coach Noah had a great race becoming National Champion in the Mixed Relay senior category and placing third in the Sprint event in the powdery conditions.
The team arrived on Friday after a massive storm that dropped 18 inches of new snow on the mountain. BSF had 11 kids competing in both the Individual event and the Vertical. Saturday morning the storm cleared and the Individual race was off bright and early. With over 2900 vertical feet of climbing and skiing, the kids raced against the deepest junior field in the country.
For the boys races, Owen Dinkins had a strong third day of racing placing 3rd in the U16 category. James Madsen had gear trouble yet still ended up 11th place with Colin Foley and Isaac Spencer close behind. In the U14 category both Bram Belchwender and Owen Scherer had amazing races with Bram clutching the National Champ title and Owen in a close second place! In the girls Individual event BSF had five girls race. Lucy Ostrowski placed 3rd in the U16 race with the rest of the U16 girls close behind. Elia Scheihing was in 4th followed by Ingrid Brown and Beth Goodall in 5th and 6th respectively. All three pushed hard through the long second climb and bootpack section overlooking Honeycomb basin. For the U18 race, Julia Seipel placed 5th in a competitive field!
The vertical event was Sunday morning early and all 11 kids raced up the 1,650-vertical-foot course over an inversion of clouds. BSF had several podium finishes again, with Julia Sepiepl placing 3rd in the U18 category! For the U16 girls, Lucy Ostrowski placed in 4th with Elia Scheiling in 5th and Ingrid and Beth in close pursuit! The U14 duo of Bram and Owen again podiumed with Bram in 2nd and Owen in a close third! In the U16 race Owen Dinkins placed in 5th with James Madsen, Colin Foley and Issac Spencer all finishing within one minute of each other!
All athletes had incredible racing for their debut on the national scene in sunny Utah and are looking forward to State Championships this upcoming weekend.
