by LaRue Seitz-Dettori
The BSF Alpine Devo Team ended our season on a high note with hosting YSL Championships at Bridger March 11-14. We had four great days of racing with great snow and sunshine. BSF athletes skied their best and were awarded the overall team award for the YSL Championships!
It was a great ending to a season of challenges. We had a slow start to the season with Bridger Bowl’s delayed opening due to low snow. With so few early training opportunities, the first race at Big Sky was challenging, but we had some great results. The improvement each athlete made from the first race at Big Sky to the last race at Bridger was huge.
COVID certainly placed a number of challenges throughout the season. We had several races canceled throughout the season. There were lots of COVID protocols to follow, and our team did great with all of the new changes and adjustments. (So many Google Form COVID checks!)
A huge thanks to the volunteers and staff who helped out when Devo coaches were quarantined.
We had a larger group of athletes this year than years previously, and we had to cap our numbers in order to maintain COVID protocols. We hope that we won’t need to cap our numbers next season and that we’ll see more growth in the program.
The month of February challenged us in a different way: with too much snow! Bridger received 120 inches in February, which led to many great powder days but less gate time. The athletes and coaches adapted to all the challenges of the season and came together as a team.
New this season: we started races as a team, rather than being staggered throughout the lineup. It was really great to see BSF athletes cheering on all their teammates in the start and finish. Starting as a team also enabled us to free ski as a team after the race. At the end of YSL Championships, the Devo team went bombing down Flippers for a finale of the weekend.
Thank you to all our great coaches. Coach Buck did a great job leading the U10/U12 Devo skiers. Thank you to all the parents for all your time and effort of making this season happen.
The U14 team had a great season. The U14 athletes are a fun cohesive, inclusive group that welcomed many new athletes this season. We started off with fun and challenging fall dryland sessions and flowed right into skiing. We had a slow start with the lack of snow in December, but it continued to get better each month. February had some epic powder and pushed everyone’s freeskiing skills. Even with a variety of snow challenges, the U14 group was able to compete at several races around Montana. This group of athletes was a pleasure to coach and work with and to see all their hard work pay off in the gains each athlete made throughout the season.
New this season, the U14’s had a U14 finals for the Northern Division, held in Red Lodge. This race had some challenges for these athletes. The first GS day went well and each athlete really pushed themselves. Day two they had a parallel paneled slalom, but snow conditions caused the race to be canceled after the girls’ first run. A canceled race day didn’t stop the U14 team from having a great day, and they all went powder skiing for the day. Making the best of the day! They finished off U14 finals on the last day with some great runs and personal bests.
The U16 group had a slow start to their season but finished strong. Early-season races were cancelled due to COVID and low snow, which didn’t offer much training in December and January. They started their season with Super G races, which is an unusual first race. Their schedule continually changed, and they adapted and didn’t let the changes throw them off. They took each change in stride and moved forward.
BSF had several U16 athletes qualify for championship events. Logan Broadhead, Kell Christianson, and Connor English qualified for Tri-Divisionals held at Big Sky March 18 – 20. Drake Fricke qualified for U16 Western Regional Championship held at Mammoth Mountain, CA, April 6-9. Great job to these athletes for skiing fast. And a huge congratulations to the entire team for a great season and all their personal bests.
OHG (Over the Hill Gang) was the final race of the season in Northern Division for U14 – SR athletes. This was held at Bridger Bowl. It was a great end to a crazy season. The athletes enjoyed it with costumes and fast skiing. A special congratulations to the overall winners, Riley Asbell and Max Larimer. It was the final race for both Riley and Max after many great seasons skiing with BSF.
