Trips! A Report from the Field

Our inaugural Trips program (click HERE if you missed that post) is underway, with five groups afield for their fourth day of experiential learning. Thank you to Steve Ascher for sending daily photo updates of the Owens River Gorge trip. Live vicariously on the small screen!

3.2 Miles, Uphill!

Three SBA student-athletes competed in Sunday's annual Billy Dutton Uphill, a fund raiser for Far West Nordic entailing a punishing 3.2 mile ski/run/snowshoe race ascending 2,000 vertical feet from the base of Squaw Valley's KT-22 to High Camp. Full results are available HERE. Many thanks to Paige Derdowski for the photos of Casey Jobe ('16) - first in his class and 14th of 168 racers overall - and Peter Carroll ('15) - second in his class and 24th overall. SBA's Hannah Halvorsen (not pictured) also finished first in her class.

Congratulations on behalf of the entire SBA community to Casey, Peter, and Hannah from The Fighting Marmot.

Team Nordic Flexes Muscles Before Nationals

SBA Team Nordic has ambitions beyond Saturday's state championships, to be sure. Fulfilling the pre-season team goal of qualifying every SBA racer for Junior Nationals, the entire team will be departing Friday for Fairbanks, Alaska, to race against the very best in the country.

Saturday, though, was a chance to make a team statement versus its peers in the state, and - after a season of some health adversity for a number of SBA Nordic racers - it still turned out to be a blue-and-white day yesterday at Auburn Ski Club. Please enjoy the photo below, then scroll down for the full story of marmot muscle flexing.

***

***

Statement: delivered!
Katrin Larusson took top-of-the-podium honors with impressive first-place finishes in both the classic and skate races, and the girls' team again garnered enough season points to repeat as Nordic League Varsity Women champions. The results sheet appeared to be printed in Sugar Bowl blue and white, with SBA's Danielle Nivinski third, Camille Hartley fifth, Bria Riggs sixth, Elise Hardy eleventh and Savannah Blide twelfth.

Sam Zabell had the strongest showing for the boys' team, racing to a third-place overall finish with a particularly strong skate race. Peter Carroll placed sixth, Casey Jobe eleventh, and Skyler Mullings thirteenth. The boys finished second on the season among Nordic League Varsity Men.

The Fighting Marmot congratulates both the boys and girls Nordic ski racers and wishes them - along with the entire Far West team - the very best against the very best in Alaska. 

Nordic Marmots Strong on "Home Snow"

For a full photo essay of our home race, please click HERE

Sugar Bowl played host to a high school Nordic ski race Friday, with some impressive results for SBA racers both at our well-attended and spirited "home snow" race as well as on Sunday at Tahoe City Cross Country's Junior Nationals Qualifier. 

Head Nordic Coach Jeff Schloss was kind enough to offer the following summary of season highlights thus far. Thank you, Jeff, and congratulations to team Nordic on a very strong start to the season! 

"The 2012/2013 Nordic race season is still in the early stages, with races running all the way until the middle of April, but things are off to a great start for the Fighting Marmots' Nordic squad. In the CNISSF school league, SBA captured first place for women and second place for men in the opening race, the Kirkwood relay. The SBA team of Danielle Nivinski, Elise Hardy, and Katrin Larusson dominated the race with a win by over a minute, and the young J2 boys with Peter Carroll, Skyler Mullings, and Sam Zabell skied to a strong second place. In the SBA home CNISSF race on January 11th, all SBA athletes who raced placed in the varsity top ten, including Katrin Larusson in first, Camille Hartley in ninth, Savannah Blide in tenth, Sam Zabell in fourth, Peter Carroll in sixth, Skyler Mullings in ninth, and Casey Jobe in tenth. In Far West racing, SBA athletes have been very strong in the Junior National qualifying races, with age-group wins from Katrin, Sam, and Danielle, as well as strong qualifying races from almost the entire team. On the National front, the older girls of Katrin, Danielle, Elise, and Bria have been racing at the U.S. Super Tour races in West Yellowstone, Montana, the Bozeman Super Tour (Katrin) and U.S. Nationals in Soldier Hollow, Utah (Katrin, Danielle, and Elise). The biggest highlights of these races have come with Katrin winning the J1 girls classic race in Bozeman and coming in fourth for J1 girls in the skate sprint at U.S. Nationals. Some goals for the team this year include trying to qualify the entire team for the Junior National Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska, putting an SBA athlete on the podium at Junior Nationals, winning the CNISSF league for women, and coming in top two for men. Finally, we would like to see every SBA athlete feel that they have improved significantly from last year. The season is young, but we feel we are on the way to achieving our ambitious goals!"

Scene OFF Campus Pic of the Day

Three SBA student-athlete-musicians, violinists Sam Zabell, Camille Hartley, and Casey Jobe, performed last night at the Glenshire Community Center. All three are students of Truckee's Liz Glattly.  Pictured below are Hartley and Zabell, who were the final two acts. 

SBA Can!

Skyler Mullings (left) and Casey Jobe (right) move
canned goods collected by our community,
readying them for transport to the Truckee Community
Christmas collection facility on Monday.

Single mothers, the elderly or housebound, and over 300 needy families in the Truckee area are among those who will not go hungry this holiday season thanks to the efforts of Truckee Community Christmas. 

Sugar Bowl Academy students and faculty made a difference, too, partnering with Truckee Community Christmas in its canned food drive. 

For over two weeks students and faculty brought canned goods to campus in a challenge to see which advisory group could collect the most food. Skyler Mullings even brought in a large load of organic Annie's bunny rabbit pasta. 

The winning advisory ended up being the group that sponsored the canned-food drive this year, the ninth-and-tenth-grade "Off Piste" advisory. Coming in a close second was the older boy's advisory, with a strong late push by Marc Talbott. 

Photos follow of parts of the collection facility (only two rooms of many other rooms full of food are pictured here), which has seen canned-food donations hit a historic high this year, according to local realtor and Truckee Community Christmas leader Lynn Richardson. 

Scene on Campus Pic of the Day

SBA's violinists rehearsed yesterday after school for their performance at next week's formal dinner. 

SBA Musicians Perform at Pioneer Center

Finding time to practice a musical instrument when faced with a rigorous conditioning regimen and equally rigorous college-prep academics can be a challenge, to say the least. 

That doesn't stop four SBA student-athletes, who travel to Reno weekly to practice with their respective orchestras. 

Two SBA student-athletes - ninth-graders Skyler Mullings and Casey Jobe - recently performed with the Reno Youth Concert Orchestra and two more - Camille Hartley and Sam Zabell - with the Reno Youth Symphony Orchestra. 

Mullings plays the trombone and Jobe is a first violin for the Reno Youth Concert Orchestra, which is considered the intermediate-level orchestra. Zabell (Principal) and Hartley play violin for the more advanced Youth Symphony Orchestra. The Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts plays host every year to the Reno Philharmonic Youth Orchestra Fall Concert. 

Hartley, Jobe, Zabell, and Mullings

Trail Mix Relay Prep Accelerates

Behind the scenes, teaching faculty, coaching staff, and student/athletes from the ninth and tenth-grade advisories are working hard to make this weekend's Trail Mix Community Relay a memorable event. Below, Ambrose Tuscano and Casey Jobe collaborate on the obstacle course. 

Hands-on Learning, SBA Style

Photos in this post
by Andy Giordano

The following report of hands-on learning, SBA style, comes from Health teacher Kristen Lew:

Friday, health class students worked through ten alcohol simulation stations around the SBA campus to increase awareness of the short-term effects of alcohol use. Students performed tasks such as threading a needle with prescription glasses on, walking a straight line after being spun six times, and speaking on the legal drinking age with a marshmallow in their mouths. In groups they were asked to not only observe what happened at each station, but also write on how each task related to alcohol use or abuse and how these various given effects could be dangerous to a drinker.

Marmots Go Retro at South Lake

The following report of Fighting Marmots running wild comes from Head Nordic/XC Coach Jeff Schloss: 

We had a super fun day at the South Tahoe Retro Relays. Our Varsity girls' team of Savannah, Lauren, Elise, and Danielle medaled in fifth place out of a strong field, and our young boys' team of Sam, Sklyer, Casey, and Peter were fifth in the JV boys' race. Overall there were about 80 teams, and many were decked out in costumes. SBA looked sharp and even fielded a coaches' team with Ambrose, Martin, Jeff, and Cassidy’s Dad, Doug, joining us. We weren't the fastest coaches' team but we looked the best!

Coach Jefe's Tahoe Rim Tour Raises $2,000 for FWNSEA

A strong field showed up at North Tahoe High School yesterday for the fifth running of the Tahoe Rim Tour, a fund raiser for the Far West Nordic Ski Education Association’s Junior Ski Programs started by SBA's own Head Nordic Coach Jeff "El Jefe" Schloss.

This year's event raised some $2,000 and featured prizes donated by Sierra Nordic of Truckee, among others.

Schloss himself finished first in his age group and eighth overall in the Classic division. Congratulations, Jefe! Assistant Coach Ambrose Tuscano took eleventh overall in the Classic wave, with Peter Carroll close on his heels in fifteenth. Mother and daughter duo Laurel and Nancy Fiddler crossed the finish line together sporting matching head bands and uniforms in first place for each of their respective age divisions. Also in the Classic division, Kelly Habibi took third and Joe Piercy sixth for their age divisions.

In the Junior Skate division, SBA's Skyler Mullings and faculty child Casey Jobe finished first and second, respectively.

Said Jefe: "huge THANK  YOUS go to SBA volunteers Camille Hartley, Joelle Romo, Katrin larusson, Bria Riggs, Roxanne Romo, MaryBeth Larusson, Sonja Harris, Paige Derdowski, and Kelley Carroll.”

Enjoy the movie!

Student/Athlete/Artists!

Skyler Mullings

As Monday's formal Christmas dinner at Sugar Bowl Ski Resort's Village Hall showed, Sugar Bowl Academy is more than a family of student/athletes. 

There are among us a number of very talented performing artists, as well. 

SBA eighth-grader Skyler Mullings of the Reno Youth Concert Orchestra played a Christmas medley solo on his trombone. 

Casey Jobe, Sam Zabell, Lauren Dunn, Camille Hartley

Reno Youth Symphony Orchestra violinists Sam Zabell and Camille Hartley, YCO violinist Casey Jobe, along with Lauren Dunn (somehow still standing after a red-eye flight from races in Alaska), treated the gathering to some stringed Christmas selections, as well.

And, finally, the fledgling SBA Glee Club showcased their singing talents to the current students, faculty, staff, and alumni gathered at Village Hall Monday night. 

Head of School Tracy Keller addressed the audience as one fast-growing and tightly-knit family.

Cassidy Cichowicz, Camille Hartley, Erika Klenk, Rollin Atkinson,
Michael Cooper, Maya Anthony-Crosby

Chefs Scott and Dan cooked a tasty traditional turkey dinner and marmot moms Paige Derdowski, Gale Klenk, Mary Beth Larusson, Brenda Nivinski, and Roxanne Romo volunteered their set-up services. 

"A special thanks to our awesome marmot moms who moved lots of tables and chairs and set up beautiful holiday dining tables, replete with greenery donated by the Larusson family," said SBA Student Council Advisor Aly Kendall.