USSA BESTOWS 2005 HONORS DURING ANNUAL CONGRESS

USSA BESTOWS 2005 HONORS DURING ANNUAL CONGRESSWorld Cup champion Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) and World Championships medalist Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA) were honored Saturday night with the highest athletic awards bestowed by the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. The Park City Ski Education Foundation was named USSA Club of the Year, U.S. Men’s Alpine Team Coach John “Johno” McBride (Snowmass, CO) was honored as USSA’s International Coach of the Year and Northern Michigan University Coach Sten Fjeldheim (Marquette, MI) received the Domestic Coach of the Year award.

USSA’s 2005 Congress at the Yarrow Resort and Conference Hotel began Wednesday in Park City and included more than 200 delegates attending committee, subcommittee and working group sessions. The Chairman’s Awards Dinner Saturday was an opportunity to honor volunteers, coaches, athletes and clubs for their outstanding contributions in the past year.

The Julius Blegen Award, USSA’s highest individual honor, was given to Michael Berry, longtime president or the National Ski Areas Association for his continued support and assistance of USSA programs.

Miller, this year’s World Cup overall and super G champion, was honored with the Beck International Award, USSA’s highest athlete award, given annually for “outstanding” international results. Along with winning two World Cup titles, Miller won gold in downhill and super G at the 2005 World Championships in Bormio, Italy. During the regular World Cup season, he won seven races and posted seven other World Cup podiums.

Rahlves earned the Buddy Werner Award, which goes for “demonstrated leadership and good sportsmanship in national and international competition.” Rahlves, who also won the honor in 2001, has led by example throughout his career and in recent years has taken it upon himself to mentor less experienced peers and younger members of the ski racing community. During the 2005 season, Rahlves earned silver in downhill and bronze in giant slalom at Worlds and had three World Cup podiums including an historic co-victory (coincidentally, with Miller) in super G at the World Cup Finals in Switzerland.

McBride also was Coach of the Year for the 2003 season. His athletes – led by Miller and Rahlves – had great success last winter, including two golds and a silver medal in speed events at World Championships, the first overall World Cup title in 22 years and the 2005 World Cup super G title.

Fjeldheim, cross country head coach at Northern Michigan University and a former U.S. development coach, coaches Lindsay Williams, the national sprint champion this year who also placed second and fourth at the NCAA championships. In addition, two NMU skiers were on the 2005 Junior Worlds Team.

The Park City Ski Team (PCST) operates under the nonprofit Park City Ski Education Foundation. Top 2005 results include: 16 athletes qualified for the Western J3/J4 Olympics, six athletes qualified to J2 Nationals, nine athletes qualified to Western J1/2 Championships (one gold medal, one silver, seven top-10 finishes). Ten current members and more than 10 PCST alumni qualified for the 2005 U.S. Freestyle Championships. Ten PCST athletes were on FIS podiums this season; in addition, the club hosted 14 FIS and 18 USSA races this season.

Among other top honors announced Saturday night:

The Paul Bacon Award for event organization: Konrad Rotermund (Salt Lake City, UT). During the 2005 season Rotermund organized the U.S. selection events, a NorAm competition, Junior Olympics, U.S. Championships and the Chevrolet Freestyle International World Cup at Deer Valley. He also acted as the FIS competition director for freestyle during the World Cup season. Rotermund also organizes regional events in the Intermountain Division.

John J. Clair Award for “outstanding service” to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team to SkiTAM. In its 10th year, SkiTAM is an annual fundraising event of the Cable Telecommunications and Marketing Society’s (CTAM) Rocky Mountain Chapter. SkiTAM’s annual ski weekend directly benefits the U.S. Disabled Ski Team, having raised more than $3 million since the program’s debut in 1996. SkiTAM is the single largest source of support for the USDST. Organized completely by volunteers, the event includes three days of social events, sidebar opportunities with USDST athletes and other key contacts, special youth ski races and clinics, a silent auction and awards banquet, and a closing reception and dinner. To further benefit the USDST, SkiTam created the Athlete Partnership Program (APP) in order to solicit sponsors for individual athletes. Now in its third successful year, the APP sponsored 14 athletes with more than $200,000 last year, allowing athletes to dedicate more time to training.

Bud & Mary Little Award for longtime service to the International Ski Federation or Olympic community: Harald Schoenhaar (Park City, UT). Schoenhaar, former German head coach, joined the U.S. Ski Team staff as a special alpine men’s coach in 1974, guided the men’s alpine program as head coach from 1976-80, served as U.S. alpine director, was a co-founder of coaches education program, and has been on various alpine and development committees. A native of Esslingen, Germany, Schoenhaar also lives in Park City, Utah.

Russell Wilder Award for “outstanding effort” to focus the attention of the nation’s young on skiing or snowboarding: Gary Black (Sun Valley, ID). Publisher of Ski Racing magazine for nearly two decades. Ski Racing not only covers snowsport competition but also sponsors various awards to inspire and honor athletes in all sports, from the grassroots to World Cup level.

West Family Cup for outstanding service as a USSA official: Molly Laramie (Heber City, UT). Laramie has been involved in competition at a variety of levels for more than two decades. She worked at Park City Mountain Resort, guided Subaru’s sponsorship of many events into the Nineties and then returned to Park City in a variety of roles at the World Cup and local levels for alpine and snowboarding.

Freestyle Club of the Year: F.L.Y. – Freestyle Lives Year-Round (Park City, UT), one of the top aerial programs in the country. In addition to athletic excellence, the F.L.Y. program, along with Utah Olympic Park, hosted four major FIS events and numerous regional events. When sites had to cancel aerials competition because of poor weather, F.L.Y. rescued events, including a NorAm and the U.S. Freestyle Championships.

Cross Country Club of the Year: Auburn Ski Club (Soda Springs, CA). Auburn Ski Club has been the cornerstone for cross country ski development in the Far West Region for many years, most notably for its junior program, which grows stronger each year. In 2005, the club hosted the Junior Olympics.

Snowboard Club of the Year: Stratton Mountain (VT) School. SMS supports all disciplines of the sport, which is not very common these days as many programs specialize in the snowboard disciplines. Seven of the riders selected for Junior Worlds were from the SMS program. Current national team members include snowboard cross world champion Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton, VT) and Tricia Byrnes (Stratton, VT).

Freestyle International Coaches of the Year: After injuries and post-Olympic retirements thinned the U.S. Ski Team’s aerials ranks, coaches Matt Christensen and Darcy Downs revised the training plan and concept of U.S. aerials – from technique and shaping kickers (jumps) to program layout. Results have been dramatic, including U.S. men sweeping the podium in Mount Tremblant, Que., Jeret “Speedy” Peterson (Boise, ID) winning the World Cup title and three World Cup events, and Ryan St. Onge (Steamboat Springs, CO) won his first two World Cups. The women’s program also has made great progress.

Cross Country International Coach of the Year: Vidar Loefshus became the Ski Team’s first sprint coach with the 2005 season. The payback w
as almost immediate, including a 12th-place finish for Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, VT) at the 2005 World Championships. It was the best U.S. sprint finish at Worlds in history.

Snowboard International Coach of the Year: Peter Foley, who has been U.S. head coach since the program began in the summer of 1994, guided his squad to four World Cup victories by four different athletes in the new Olympic discipline of snowboardcross. U.S. Snowboarding riders Lindsey Jacobellis and Seth Wescott also captured gold medals in SBX at the 2005 World Championships.

In addition to the international coaching awards, USSA’s sport-by-sport Domestic Coach of the Year award recipients include: Peter Dodge (alpine; Hanover, NH), Fjeldheim (cross country, Marquette, MI), John Cole (disabled; U.S. Disabled Ski Team; Vail, CO), Bruce Erickson (freestyle; F.L.Y.; Park City, UT), Larry Stone (ski jumping; New York Ski Education Foundation; Lake Placid, NY) and Rick Shimpeno (snowboard; Stratton Mountain School; Stratton, VT).

Alpine: Peter Dodge (Hanover, NH), head coach at Dartmouth College, has been an enthusiastic leader in support of alpine development in the United States, helping set the standard for alpine development within the college community. Through his leadership and demonstrated success with Dartmouth, many NCAA college programs are following his lead. In 2005, Dodge led U.S. men’s team at the World University Games where they won two silver medals.

Disabled: John Cole (Vail, CO) has greatly contributed to the development of the alpine athletes on the USDST. His work in advancing the team’s technical skills as well as his efforts in developing the team’s fitness program were a key to the Ski Team’s 2005 success.

Freestyle: Bruce Erickson (Park City, UT), head aerial specialty coach of the F.L.Y. Freestyle Program in Park City, Utah. Two members of F.L.Y. – Scott Bahrke (Tahoe City, CA) and Tim Massucco (Park City, UT) – were named to the U.S. Aerials Team at U.S. Selection events last winter. Bahrke won the NorAm aerials title. Jill Priest (also Park City), coached for several years by Erickson, was named the international 2005 World Cup Rookie of the Year.

Ski Jumping: Larry Stone (Wilmington, NY) has headed the NYSEF nordic program for many years. Stone’s NYSEF group placed several skiers on this year’s Junior World Championships team in nordic combined and ski jumping.

Snowboarding: Rick Shimpeno (Stratton, VT) is a development coach at Stratton Mountain School where his dedication and commitment to the athletes helped six of his halfpipe athletes to secure spots on the 2005 Junior World Championships team.

Other major recipients:

Mike Jacoby Cup honoring outstanding performance in international snowboard competition: Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT). Jacobellis won the national title in both snowboardcross and halfpipe, captured the gold in SBX World Championships, two World Cup SBX wins, two Chevrolet U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix HP victories and the overall Grand Prix title.

Al Sise Outstanding Alpine Masters Award honoring outstanding masters racers, based on results from USSA Masters National Championships: Cary Adgate (Boyne Falls, MI) and Deborah Lewis (San Clemente, CA).

Finlandia Award honoring the outstanding cross country skier in the USA: Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, VT).

Al Merrill Nordic Award honoring outstanding commitment, leadership and devotion to excellence in nordic skiing: John Aalberg (Park City, UT).

-U.S. Ski Team Press Release