"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly! New Heights, Online the electronic newsletter of Eastern U.S. Ski Jumping Fall 2000 Issue

SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS
News and Results

As we get ready for winter it is time for a quick review of the busy summer and fall jump season. The annual Independence Day Jump got our Eastern jumpers going with a bang as Chris Decker (right) in the Junior Class nailed down 6th place right behind a rapidly improving Geoff Howe with Brian Welch, Jonathan Kling, and Morgan Goodwin in 7th, 8th and 9th respectively. Jeremy Carter ended up 12th. Lindsey Van ran away with the Women's title over Liz Szotyori and Blair Tomten. Brendan Doran dominated the Senior Class with jumps of 96 and 94.5 meters to win over Vladimir Glyhvka and Canadian Chris Holland. On the K48 Jeremy Carter was the big winner by over 20 points with Sailin' Sammy Burke in 2nd and Marshall Ambrose in 3rd.

We continued through the summer with our NYSEF Saturday Series of meets which provided great competition experience and providing the winners with some income to offset their training expenses. We were fortunate to have an Austrian, Andreas Mitter, from Ramsau, Austria, with us for six weeks who gave our skiers some exposure to how the Austrians train and jump. Andi was here as a part of an exchange which will reciprocate next summer when Coach Stone will take several skiers to Ramsau for training on their beautiful K90 which was the site of the 1999 World Championships. Andi proceeded to win several of the Summer Series meets and made a lot of friends, some of whom will visit him next year. Ed. Note: Rumor has it that Andi may be in Brattleboro this winter.

In the last week of the summer we took a trip to Coleraine, Minnesota, to ski their K70 hill. This was a good experience and enabled many of our juniors to train on a hill that is the perfect size for younger skiers to make real progress. In addition to the older Elite Team skiers we took along "the next wave" of Easterners including Evan Bliss, Robbie Goodwin, Willy Graves, Marshall Ambrose and Matt Delaney. Willy has written a trip summary which is featured in this edition of New Heights. The competition at the end of the week was the 2000 Summer National Championships. Brian Welch, back from training in Finland was our top finisher. Clint Jones was the Summer National Champion to no one's surprise and also gave our skiers a dose of what can happen at speeds more comparable to European competitions.

The last week of September saw seven Easterners head out to Park City for the opening meets on their new hills. While there we met up with newly relocated Lindsey Van (left) who had become a fixture on the Eastern scene over the last few years. It was a great reunion for all of us as her unique personality has been missed since she moved back to her hometown of Park City. Our group included Morgan Goodwin, Tobin Whitman, Jonathan Kling, Brian Welch, Jeremy Carter and Taylor Hoffman. [ See portraits of these jumpers. ] Ryan Cutter also joined us for the week from his new residence on the Doran ranch in Steamboat Springs. The opportunity to ski a plastic K-120 was the source of much anticipation and it proved every bit as good a hill as we had hoped. Everyone had rides well over 100 meters and several skiers were taking rides well down over the K-point. Tobin Whitman handled his first 120 in style with only two years experience of ski jumping under his belt. The Swiss World Cup Special Jump Team was there to give the opening meet International flair. In the first meet on the K-120 Brian Welch who had been undergoing some trouble in landing down around the 130 meter mark (see sidebar) finally stood one at 124 meters and placed third in the Junior Class despite a fall on a jump of 128 meters. Chris Decker flew well with jumps of 118 and 111.5 meters and placed 6th with Jonathan Kling (left) in 9th with a jump of 116 meters and Morgan Goodwin in 11th. Lindsey Van skied her way to 18th overall easily winning the Women's. In addition to Welch's heroics, young 11 year old Anders Johnson flew 118 and 117 meters for 5th place serving notice that Park City has some awesome skiers on their way up. In the Senior Class Alan Alborn flew 131.5 and 129 meters for the win over Rhys Hecox and Swiss jumper Andreas Kuttel. Easterners were all over the place with Bill Demong in 5th and Hinkley in 8th. Taylor Hoffman was 23rd and Tobin Whitman 33rd.

Keep your head up, Kid! Park City, UT: Brian Welch started to gather spectators interest this fall when he started exploring new territory on the brand spanking new K120 Olympic Jump. After three or four rides over 124 meters and several over 130 meters, people were flocking to see if this “kid from the East would stand one in competition. In the middle of this string of jumps, and after turfing at 134 meters and then again on his first ride of the meet at the 128 mark, Brian's voice came up to the coaches stand on the radio lamenting, "It's not working, I can't keep my head up!" The coaches answer was simple: "Just keep your head up as you come into the landing - you dufus! Brian listened to his coach and on his second comp ride he kept his head up… and … STOOD UP at 124 meters! The crowd went nuts with the loudest cheering of the weekend. "Oh, yeah" he radioed up. "I think I know what you mean now." His smile came right through the radio. Ed. Note: Brian has transferred to National Sports Academy in Lake Placid this year and is training with the NYSEF program. He is looking forward to a great year with lots-o-flying!

The next day in a wind-shortened K-90 one rounder Bill Demong won with a jump of 102 meters and Taylor Hoffman flew 86 meters for 9th place, a good result in a tough field. Tobin was 31st on this hill while in the Junior Class Steamboat's Tommy Schwall got the win with Morgan Goodwin (left) as top Easterner in 4th place, Kling a very respectable 6th, Welch in 9th, Decker in 18th, Lindsey Van 21st overall but 1st in the Women's Class and Jeremy Carter finished 26th. Wunderkind Anders Johnson got on top of some Hellacious air to fly one to 92 meters for 3rd place . It was a great experience to ski these new Olympic Hills and we are looking forward to heading back west for early snow and the 2001 National Championships in March.

The plastic competition season ended with the Flaming Leaves meet in Lake Placid on October 7th. Lindsey Van returned to her old haunts to win the Women's class over Central girls Blair Tomten and Nupie Schnitzler. Clint Jones dominated the Junior Class jumping 99.5 and 101 meters to win over Tommy Schwall 2nd and Logan Gerber 3rd. The ever improving Geoff Howe (left) placed 5th, Decker 7th, Kling 9th, Welch 10th. Morgan Goodwin 12th and Carter in 13th. Graves, Ambrose and Sammy Burke were 14,15 and 16 respectively. Sammy had a respectable 67 meter ride at fairly low speed. Evan Bliss was right behind Sammy in 17th. This was Robbie Goodwin's first K-90 meter meet and he showed some real grit jumping at low speed dictated by the presence of Clint Jones.

Alan Alborn stopped Brendan Doran's string of recent Flaming Leaves victories in the Senior Class with flights of 102 and 101 for the win with Rhys Hecox in 2nd and Vladimir Glyhvka in 3rd. Taylor Hoffman was 7th right behind Doran. Matt Cook and Tobin Whitman were 9th and 10th. It was good to see Hecox's injuries were behind him and that the US Team looks like it is gining depth with good performances by Jones, Alborn and Rhys.

So a long summer of training and competition has ended, now we look for snow and the pre-Olympic season. Let's take the remarkable improvements of the National Team and the Eastern Squad into 2001 and then on to Salt Lake Olympic Games!

As the sun came up, somewhere in Canada, the NYSEF van got some real double takes from travelers who were either passed or passing this van full of aliens! These plastic faced creatures, hunched over their laptops appeared to be preparing to take over the world but were really just playing the latest ski jumping computer game.

Marshall Ambrose (left) took his trip job assignment seriously on this same trip. At every rest stop Marshall would thoroughly dispose of the growing mountain of soda bottles, candy wrappers, coffee cups and god only knows what else. He would quietly appear at the counter of the current convenience store asking in his soft voice, "Excuse me, sir (or madam). Do you have any plastic bags?" A huge thanks to the "Trashman!"

Robbie Goodwin (right -- the athlete formerly known as the "Cupcake") gained mythological status on this trip as he made unbelievable progress and truly became a ski flyer on the Coleraine hill. There could be some big things coming from this Keene boy?!?

Stoney's Corner
by Larry Stone, NYSEF/Eastern Jumping Coach

Several Easterners are knocking on the door of the door of the US Jumping Development Team with their progress this summer. In June Brian Welch skied with the Development Team in Coleraine and then qualified for a trip to Finland with them where he trained for several weeks. With good results in Park City (see article) in the September Opening Meet Welch, as well as Chris Decker, Jonathan Kling, and Morgan Goodwin served notice that perhaps the East can place a skier or two on the upcoming World Junior Team. Geoff Howe has moved up to Bard Elden's Nordic Combined Team and hopefully Goodwin and several of our special jumpers can hit that mark in the coming year. It's great seeing the East having a resurgence. At the same time we are keeping the next wave moving through the pipeline and they are making good progress with great summer skiing from Graves, Robbie Goodwin, Matt Delaney, Sammy Burke and Even Bliss. Nipping at their heels is yet another wave of skiers led by the group from Andover. Let's keep 'em coming!

There is a definite need to find some funding for eastern jumping/nordic combined programs to continue. The Fall Eastern Committee Meeting discussed and recognized this need. They are determined, by setting up a fundraising group, to alleviate some of the burden from the clubs and the parents who struggle to keep their skiers going with the ever increasing costs, especially as the skiers make their way up the ladder.

This winter we will see the return of the Junior Olympics to the East which should provide a home court advantage for our Eastern Team. This will also give our younger skiers more exposure to this level of competition.

So... let's go East and make this our best winter yet for results, increasing development of Ski Jumping & Nordic Combined, and of course, FUN!