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Wednesday, February 4, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Alpine skiers schuss in giant slalom
Outlaws skiers took on
an exhausting giant slalom,
running the entire length of
the mountain last Saturday,
January 31.
It was the fourth alpine
ski race for the Sisters High
School team at Mt. Bachelor
ski area. The race venues
alternate between slalom
and giant slalom every other
week. In slalom, “gates” are
close together, putting a pre-
mium on tight, quick turns.
In giant slalom, the gates are
farther apart.
Each racer runs the course
twice, and the placings are
determined by the com-
bined time of the two runs.
The Outlaws once again had
exceptional performances
from members of both the
mens and womens teams.
In the mens division,
Sisters senior Yasha Saldi
placed seventh overall. He
ranked eighth on his first run,
and sixth on his second run,
with a two-run combined
time of 2:20.08.
“Yasha really went after
that second run,” said Head
Coach Greg Ausman. “He
knew he could ski this course
more aggressively the second
time through, without making
any big mistakes.”
Sisters junior Cammi
Benson placed sixth in the
womens division, with a
fourth-place finish on her
first run, and seventh on the
second run. Her combined
time for the two GS runs was
2:25.78.
“Cammi had an incredible
Year-round
FIREWOOD
SALES
first run, very smooth and
balanced,” Ausman said. “By
her second run, the course
had developed a crusher (an
abrupt transition from a steep
slope to a flat spot, which has
the effect of crushing a skier
at high speeds), but she is so
strong in her legs, she was
able to get through that with-
out going down like many of
the girls when they hit that
spot.”
First-year racer Jake
Sahlberg had a strong 16th
place this week.
Ausman said, “Jake is
making huge improvements.
He is very coachable, and
really listens to my sugges-
tions. His performance is
already reflecting that, and
every race he’s getting better
and better. He is going to be a
serious contender for Top 10
awards very soon. I am really
excited to see him progress
this much.”
Betsy Ausman placed
26th, and her sister Emily
Ausman placed 31st in the
womens overall standings.
“Both Emily and Betsy
have been out sick for most of
the week, and were not able to
train. They knew we needed
a minimum of three girls to
qualify for team rankings, so
they both toughed it out and
competed, in spite of feeling
sick,” said Ausman. “It paid
off, too; the girls team placed
fourth this week.”
Freshman Lachlan Wood
also had a strong perfor-
mance, placing 31st.
“As a freshman and new to
ski racing, Lachlan is really
getting the technical aspects
of racing figured out. He is
improving every time we ski,
and I can see his confidence
go up after every race,” said
Ausman.
there is a lot of
camaraderie between the
smaller teams. Sometimes
we train together on a
practice course...
— Coach greg ausman
Out of the seven schools
in the Oregon Ski School
Association league (Bend,
Summit, Mountain View,
R e d m o n d , R i d g e v i e w,
Lakeview and Sisters), both
the Sisters men and women
placed 4th in the team stand-
ings this week. Ausman
explains, “There are really
two groups – the big teams of
Bend and Summit that each
have about 60 kids, and the
rest of the schools who have
smaller teams. Of the smaller
teams, one week Sisters
will be on top, then the next
week it’s Mountain View
or Lakeview. We trade off.”
This week among the smaller
teams, the Sisters wom-
ens team was second, being
edged out by Mountain View,
and the men were second-by-
a-hair to Lakeview.
According to Ausman,
“Anyfne whf thinks he’s tff small tf make a
difference has never been bit by a mfsquitf.”
— Lily Casey Smith, frfm “Half Brfke Hfrses”
— Kindling —
—
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photo by Julie benson
yasha Saldi and Cammi Benson celebrated top-10 giant slalom finishes
with Coach greg ausman.
“There is a lot of camaraderie
between the smaller teams.
Sometimes we train together
on a practice course, like last
Friday when we trained with
the Redmond and Ridgeview
teams. The coaches of the
smaller teams are very sup-
portive and encouraging
of each other, and we try to
cooperate to make it positive
for the kids. Every week, I
try to personally talk to kids
on the other teams about
my observations of their
improvements, and the other
team’s coaches do the same
for my kids. This is a way
that we can take the focus
off the flat-out competition,
which could be discourag-
ing for kids on smaller teams
trying to compete against the
huge teams. Plus they get to
make friends with kids from
other schools. I don’t know
of any other high school sport
where this happens.”