Alpine nationals: Cochran: This win's for Grandma

It is pretty easy, looking at the glorious mountains surrounding this Alaska resort, to imagine convening with the spirit world. When Grandma is, perhaps, the matriarch of alpine ski racing in this nation and you are about to kick out of the start of a national championship race, it is even easier.
    Jimmy Cochran won his second national slalom championship Sunday at Alyeska and said the win was for his grandmother, Ginny. Her credentials as matriarch of the sport are hard to discount, with her children having collected 15 national titles, not to mention World Cup wins and Olympic and World Championship medals. Now the grandkids are starting their own chapters to the legacy.

IT IS PRETTY EASY, looking at the glorious mountains surrounding this Alaska resort, to imagine convening with the spirit world. When Grandma is, perhaps, the matriarch of alpine ski racing in this nation and you are about to kick out of the start of a national championship race, it is even easier.
    Jimmy Cochran won his second national slalom championship Sunday at Alyeska and said the win was for his grandmother, Ginny. Her credentials as matriarch of the sport are hard to discount, with her children having collected 15 national titles, not to mention World Cup wins, and Olympic and World Championship medals. Now the grandkids are starting their own chapters to the legacy.
    "The last time I came here (2004 U.S. Championships), my grandmother came," Jimmy said. "It was really the last time she ever got on a plane. It was certainly the last big race she ever saw. So this one is for her. That's what my dad (7 time national champion Bob Cochran) told me, 'Don't forget when you're up on that hill, your grandmother, she'll be cheering for you from wherever she is.' So that one's for her."
    The younger Cochran had been tied with Ted Ligety after the first run of the national title race, the latter having won each of the slalom titles between 2004 and today. As simple as the strategy might have been, Cochran said he had some doubts as to how to approach the second heat.
    "It's really easy to say, I'm tied, so I've got to go 110percent, but on the other hand, maybe a solid run will keep me in there. It's especially hard with Ted, because he's fast." Cochran held his fingers up, nearly pressed together. "Fortunately this year he's been just a little off in his slalom so I think that kind of gave me the edge today. It's been a few years since I beat him."
    The sport has progressed a long way since the older Cochrans competed, but Jimmy said he could see improvements coming to the sport all the time.
    "Those young kids, I'll tell you, they were impressive. They just go as hard as they can for as long as they can. Those kids who were winning the top today, in another couple of years they'll be winning the whole race, that's the nature of the sport. In athletics – you don't only get faster in a sport like ski racing, running, biking, anything – your top speed you can sustain a little longer. I couldn't believe it just riding up the lift on the way to my run watching these young kids and the girls today, too it's unbelievable how much better everybody has gotten in the last few years. It's fun to watch, it's pretty cool."
    Really fun for spectators, not so much for those trying to defend titles, or get their slalom groove back. Bode Miller, mired at 43rd on the start list behind many of those young kids Cochran mentioned, rose to the occasion, clocking in with the third best time and his 13th podium in a national championship race. The top junior on the day was a remarkable Michael Ankeny, a J2 skier from Deephaven, Minn., and the Buck Hill Ski Team who got an automatic entry to the championships by virtue of winning the J2 National Junior Olympic slalom crown at Mount Bachelor less than a month ago.
    College skiers Paul McDonald and David Chodounsky posted fourth and fifth respectively and TJ Lanning got sixth. "That course was a ripper up top, it's really fast and the snow was grippy so it was easy take advantage of that. But it can also catch you off guard."