Mendes continues NorAm roll in Big Mountain DH

Mendes continues NorAm roll in Big Mountain DHWorld Cupper Jonna Mendes won the second-to-last NorAm downhill of the season at Big Mountain, Montana, by nearly four tenths of a second on Feb.12. Mendes’ decisive victory is her second in as many starts, and it came on a day when American women filled out the race’s top seven spots, virtually shutting out team Canada.

The Big Mountain downhill track has been nearly perfect through two days of training and one day of racing for both sexes. Big Mountain program director Jeff Pickering and his staff have prepped the course with water, and the athletes are raving about the track, which is both smooth and durable.

‘Coming to Big Mountain has been awesome for me’ said race winner Mendes. ‘The course has been perfect, and I have really good memories from skiing here. … Some of my first FIS races were here, and I won a national championship here [the 2001 giant slalom].’

Mendes missed most of the season’s Olympic qualifiers after having taken a bad crash Dec. 3 at a World Cup race in Lake Louise, Alberta, and though she had a couple of chances in January, the two-time Olympian fell short of making the Torino squad.

The plan to find her form at Big Mountain has already paid dividends. Despite a shaky opening super G on Feb. 8, Mendes captured the following day’s super G by nearly a second, making the Feb. 12 downhill two straight wins.

Bryna McCarty, Mendes’ World Cup teammate, finished second and added to the solid results she’s posted throughout the Apex, British Columbia, and Big Mountain speed events. McCarty was followed by Americans Julia Littman, Chelsea Marshall, Keely Kelleher, Megan McJames and Laurenne Ross; all besides Ross members of the U.S. Ski Team.

‘The whole team is skiing well’ said NorAm/Europa Cup coach Eric Harlow, ‘… and it’s pretty cool to see younger racers like Ross step up like that.’

Ross, from Mount Bachelor Ski Education Foundation, was the third-place junior behind Marshall and McJames. Ross has finished on the front page in each of her last five NorAm starts, and now has a shot at making this year’s World Junior Championships, which will begin in Quebec City, Canada, later this month.

‘Everything was so smooth and clean that I didn’t even know I was fast today’ said Ross of her seventh-place finish, adding, ‘Hopefully, I can let it all hang out tomorrow.’

The Feb. 13 race will be the final NorAm downhill of 2005-06. Littman is currently 20 points behind Canadians Larisa Yurkiw and Sherry Lawrence in the NorAm downhill standings. Lawrence made the Canadian Olympic squad, so she obviously won’t race at Big Mountain on Feb. 13, which leaves the door open for Littman to claim a place on next year’s World Cup by sliding into one of the top-two spots.

Women’s NorAm downhill
Feb. 12, 2006

Top 10
Penalty: 26.61
1. MENDES, Jonna USA 1`28.88
2. MCCARTY, Bryna USA 1`29.27
3. LITTMAN, Julia USA 1`29.60
4. MARSHALL, Chelsea USA 1`29.85
5. KELLEHER, Keely Blair USA 1`30.34
6. MCJAMES, Megan USA 1`30.62
7. ROSS, Laurenne USA 1`31.15
8. MCBROOM, Kelly CAN 1`31.21
9. ARCHAMBAULT-LEGER, Veronique CAN 1`31.35
9. POLESCHUK, Danielle CAN 1`31.35

Click here for complete women’s Feb. 12 NorAm downhill results.

The men’s Feb. 12 NorAm downhill was run on the same track shortly after the women’s race was completed. Canada’s Gareth Sine, coming off fourth- and sixth-place super G finishes in Apex last week, raced to a narrow victory over American C teamer Christopher Beckmann, who was the day’s fastest junior.

Just .19 seconds separated Sine from his third-place teammate Jeffrey Frisch; in all, Canadian’s stole six of the top eight spots.

The men’s Feb. 13 downhill will be followed by two super G’s, which mark the final NorAm speed events of the season.

Men’s NorAm downhill
Feb. 12, 2006

Top 10
Penalty: 25.02
1. SINE, Gareth CAN 1`26.00
2. BECKMANN, Christopher USA 1`26.14
3. FRISCH, Jeffrey CAN 1`26.19
4. HUDEC, Jan CAN 1`26.68
5. FRANCIS, Kevin USA 1`26.74
6. STUTZ, Paul CAN 1`27.04
7. HELIE, Louis-Pierre CAN 1`27.06
8. GUAY, Stefan CAN 1`27.17
9. SPENCER, Dane USA 1`27.30
10. ZAMANSKY, Jake USA 1`27.40

Click here for complete men’s Feb. 12 NoArm downhill results.