Vail Club racers on a tear

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Ian Cropp
Vail, CO Colorado
February 23, 2008

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JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Hunter Schleper has the ability to surprise even his coach, Bruce Knoepfel.

Saturday, Schleper, who skis with Iced Out Racing, took second in a slalom that saw eight seconds of separation between the top 10 racers.

Schleper, who finished in 1 minute, 44.94 seconds, just 0.25 seconds back from winner Ryan Wilson, scored 18.56 with the result.

“That’s unbelievable,” Knoepfel said. “It’s almost unheard of for the top 10 to be eight seconds out.”

On a heavily injected course, Schleper and Wilson flipped places between the first and second run.

“It wasn’t an even surface — it was kind of like racing on a cattle grate, but Hunter is such a good skier, he can adapt.”

The result will likely make Schleper the top-ranked slalom skier for his age in the world, Knoepfel said.

Deja vu?
TELLURIDE, Colorado — Winning Colorado Ski Cup races in Telluride this week is nothing new for Erika Ghent or Will Gregorak.

The Ski & Snowboard Club Vail pair found a way to freshen things up in Saturday’s slalom, however, by winning big.

Ghent came in more than two seconds ahead of second-place finisher Ann West, for her third win in as many days. SSCV’s Joelle Chevalier was third.

Gregorak, who won a giant slalom Thursday and took second in a giant slalom Friday, won Saturday’s slalom by more than one second. SSCV’s Sean Cummiskey was third.

DelBosco fourth
SIERRA NEVADA, Spain — Vail’s Chris DelBosco took fourth in a World Cup skicross race Friday. DelBosco, who competes with the Canadian Olympic Team, won his first heat, then took second in the quarterfinals and seminfinals.

After five races, DelBosco is ninth in the World Cup standings.