Chevrolet J3 West: Christianson, Fitzpatrick tops

Kieffer Christianson used identical 51.51 second runs to win the boys J3 giant slalom, while Katie Fitzpatrick powered to a convincing victory in the girls J3 slalom to highlight the third day of competition at the 2007 Western Region J3 Junior Olympics at Mammoth Mountain.

MAMMOTH LAKES, California — Kieffer Christianson used identical 51.51 second runs to win the boys J3 giant slalom, while Katie Fitzpatrick powered to a convincing victory in the girls J3 slalom to highlight the third day of competition at the 2007 Western Region J3 Junior Olympics at Mammoth Mountain.
    On a warm, sunny day, Christianson and Fitzpatrick were joined as gold medalists by Ty Sprock, who edged Eric Haferman and Peter Papineau Jr., in a tight J4 boys GS, and Amanda Stelling, who was a decisive winner in the J4 girls slalom over J4 girls super G champion Lena Andrews.
    Christianson needed his identical runs to hold off Hank Schuler, who added a silver medal in the J3 boys GS to go with his bronze in the super G. Fitzpatrick won by more than two seconds, as her first run timing of 39.46 seconds over Mammoth’s Fascination course was easily the best of the day.
    Fitzpatrick’s victory enabled Far West to take a one medal lead in a tight J3 division race that has Far West leading with four medals. Intermountain and PNSA are tied for second with three medals. In J4, Far West has a commanding lead with seven medals, followed by Intermountain and Northern with two medals each.
    Festivities concluded Saturday with a banquet and awards presentation at Mammoth’s Main Lodge. Perhaps the highlight of the awards was a special sportsmanship honor that went to Haley Merritt, who disqualified herself for a gate infraction after being passed into the second run by the judges.