Masters nationals: Leach, Hill fastest in SL

The women raced their final event, a slalom, at the masters nationals at Big Sky on Thursday with some new faces atop the leaderboard.
BIG SKY, Montana — The women raced their final event, a slalom, at the masters nationals at Big Sky on Thursday with some new faces atop the leaderboard.
    Dana Leach (W2-IM) won both runs with Far West’s Deb Lewis (W6) scoring second overall in her favorite event. Class 7 Carol Levine (RM) stunned some of the younger ladies with a third-place overall finish ahead of Chris Katzenberger (W4-IM). Kerry Brennan placed fifth overall. The closest battle in age-class competition came from sixth- and seventh-place overall finishers Heidi Lindemer (CN) and Jen Kaufman (RM) as 0.08 separated the two racers in Class 2.
     Two hairpins on the lower portion of the course provided entertainment for spectators watching the Class A men (age 21-44). Tim Hill (M4-PN) took both runs over Intermountain’s John Campbell (M4). Toby Chapman (M2-ND) followed up in third overall with Swix rep Ryan Leach (M2-IM) in fourth. In exciting class action, Sverre Nyquist (M3-ND) came back in the second run to overtake Steve Lindemer (CN) and Ara Papazian (FW) for a fifth-place overall finish with only 0.49 separating the three racers.
     The older men in Class D competed in giant slalom and it was the men’s Class 8’s stealing the show. The top seven in class were also the top seven overall. Pepi Neubauer (EA) won handily over Bob Sarchett (IM) and Alaska’s Gerald Randall. Neubauer proved a narrow stance is not only elegant, but fast! Rounding out the top five overall was Keith McCauley (IM) and Alaska’s Wayne Henderson, both Class 8 racers.
     The small Rocky Mountain contingent continues to lead the division cup with the Eastern Division still in second.
     Racing concludes on Friday with the men’s Class A racing giant slalom and men’s B and D groups racing slalom. A banquet follows on Friday evening with overall combined champions being awarded.
    Click here for full results.