Who's in the Burrow?

SBA Freeride Skiers Dominant in First Comp of Tahoe Junior Freeride Series

Top two already and the next comp on home turf in just 10 days at Sugar Bowl!

SBA displayed its dominance in freeride skiing on the first stop of the Tahoe Junior Freeride Series last Saturday at Alpine Meadows Resort. SBA student-athletes Drew Hartley and Isaac Freeland finished first and second, respectively, in the 14-17 age group.

"Drew had the most dominant score of the day well out in front of his fellow competitors setting the bar for the next two stops," said Coach Sean Carey.

"It felt great for everything I worked toward this fall to pay off and it was really gratifying," said Hartley. "That was my first ever win of any legitimate competition."

It didn't come without a lot of hard work.

"It's been nine conditioning workouts per week in the fall getting up early four times a week, staying at school until five every day," said Hartley.

"Sometimes it's hard to stay motivated when you're not competing, just sitting their training. So now, winter has hit, I leave for Crested Butte in two weeks and, from there, it's just competing and competing and competing for seven weeks straight.

"I'm ready!"

For his part, Freeland's performance at the Alpine Meadows comp served notice that the SBA freeride team will have many contenders in the mix for the Volkl skis and Marker bindings at stake in the Tahoe Junior Freeride Series.

"Isaac began his run with a very exposed entry air that earned him the highest line score of the day," said Carey.

"And fellow Academy athletes Daniel Costa and Austin Schrage both had solid runs going, but had trouble down low on the venue costing them top 10 places.

"Carrie Adams showed strong camaraderie and support for her fellow teammates as she recovers from a knee injury. We look forward to seeing her in action soon at the first stop of the Junior Freeskiing Tour in Crested Butte in two weeks," said Carey.

The second stop of the Tahoe Junior Freeride Series is Febuary 12th and 13th here at Sugar Bowl.

The following video was shot from the GoPro camera atop the head of Alpine Meadows comp winner Hartley. This is the winning run. Enjoy!

SBA Community Rallies Behind Lebel


(listen to the interview by clicking the play button below)

Signs, signs, everywhere signs.

They're popping up all over the SBA campus for Sugar Bowl Ski Team's own James "Scotty" Lebel, who - after winning the Pokal Loka Shootout just last week - will be one of only three skiers representing the United States in Slovenia in February in what amounts to a Junior World Championships for 13 and 14 year olds.

The eighth and ninth-grade winter-term student advisory group, led by co-advisor Lesley LeMasurier, has organized a fund-raising campaign to help cover the high cost of Scotty's trip to Slovenia.

The "Pies for Pokal Fundraiser" is already underway, and students are snapping up $5 raffle tickets. For every $50 raised in ticket sales, one raffle ticket will be picked from a box, allowing the winning student the privilege of putting a pie in the face of one of Sugar Bowl Ski Team's alpine ski coaches. The pie throwing is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 9th at 1:45 pm in the Sugar Bowl Academy parking lot.

"Special throwing pies will be engineered by the 8th and 9th grade winter term advisory," said LeMasurier. "Plus an extra-large un-cashable check designed by the kids will be presented to Scotty, along with an actual smaller check totaling the funds raised."

To hear Scotty's thoughts on the outpouring of support from SBA, the upcoming pie throwing fund-raiser, and his trip to Europe, listen to the
interview...


Go Scotty!