"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly! New Heights, Online the electronic newsletter of Eastern U.S. Ski Jumping Fall 2002 Issue

New Format for Junior Olympics!
(and a New Event for Older Juniors)

The next part of this change involves a new meet for the older juniors. The new North American Junior Championships, hosted in the first year by Calgary, Alberta. This event will feature the same events: a nordic combined event, and an individual and team jumping competition in the same time frame of three days. This may be on a large (K120) hill.

Now to the ramifications for divisional skiers trying to qualify for their appropriate event: Junior Olympic Qualifiers will be on hills no bigger than a K65. See the schedule for the exact list. Salisbury is still a mandatory qualifier. These are listed in your US Skiing comp guide. The team size can be up to 16 skiers but this will depend on the level of skiers. For example Park City is a high-flying and frequently windy hill so that skiers who are only marginal on Salisbury may not be chosen for the team for their own benefit. The JO Meet is held in late February (see schedule).

The Calgary North American Junior Championships (NAJC) are in January and it will be a World Junior Championships Qualifier.  The qualifying meets for this team will be the New Year's meets in Lake Placid and, if necessary, the early snow meets in Utah and Colorado. Team size can be up to 15 but will probably be less. Older skiers who can no longer compete at the JO level but can jump a K90 or K120 will be encouraged to try for this team. The age limit goes beyond traditional Junior- to 19 years old (as of 12/31). Younger skiers who have done well at JO's may be allowed to compete in NAJC at the discretion of their Regional coaches and committees. But remember that is one more trip for you to lose school time and for your parents to pay. Plan out your winter carefully with the appropriate level of events in mind and talk with your coach.

Hot Summer Flashbacks!

(L-R) Evan Bliss, Pete Friere, Larry Stone, Nick Fairall, Chris Lamb at the 2002 Olympic Jumps in June.

After a late start in Lake Placid (tower repairs and installation of a new Mike Holland porcelain track on the K90) it was off to Park City for the 2nd Annual USST Junior Camp and tryouts for summer traveling opportunities. Lake Placid's Evan Bliss and the Andover contingent of Nick Fairall, Chris Lamb and Pete Freire jumped and trained on the K64 and K90 while Eastern Coach Larry Stone attended a Level 2 coaches' clinic given by the National Team staff. This camp is becoming a regular event and is the basis for picking skiers to attend development training and competition in Europe. It is also an opportunity for the country's top coaches to meet and update their knowledge, while getting on the same page as Kari Yliantilla and his support staff of physical conditioners, dieticians and technicians. This is a progressive step in effort to bolster USA ski jumping development.

The first competition on the high flying K64 saw Evan and Nicholas finish 4th and 5th respectively in the J2 class behind Intermountain trio of Anders Johnson, Skyler Keate and Chris Francis. Peter Freire and Chris Lamb finished 9th and 12th. On the K90, the top three remained the same with Evan maintaining 4th and Peter sparking it to 5th. Nicholas finished 8th and Chris a respectable 13th. This trip was a great summer start for these athletes with valuable K64 training and getting into the mix for the coveted summer Europe trips.

The next jump was back east for the Lake Placid July 4th qualification meets. Anders Johnson dominated the junior class but Easterners Jonathan Kling and Evan Bliss upped the ante to 2nd and 3rd with Sammy Burke starting his summer in 6th place. Evan was awarded an invitation to attend the Schuler Cup in Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany, along with Anders, Chris Francis and Kyle Kessler. Eastern Nordic Combined skier Morgan Goodwin, a member of the Nordic Combined USST Development Team, started his season off nicely with 2nd place in the open class. Shortly after the meet Kling headed to Park City for the summer to train with the USST Jumping Development team invited by Coach Matt Terwillegar.

Summer training ramped up with eight Saturday Summer Series Meets hosted by the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) with sponsorships by local Lake Placid restaurants who provided cash prizes for top finishers. Local legend Taylor Hoffman appeared each week and usually went home with the most cash. Great series, good crowds.

In late September a group of easterners traveled west for the Park City Continental Cup meets on September 28/29. Clint Jones won both days over a strong field which included double Olympic Gold medallist Simon Amman. Brian Welch now with the USST Jumping Devo Team was 28th in the first meet, Jonathan Kling 36th and “Downtown” Willy Graves 37th just missing out on FIS points. Ryan Nicholson in his first event on a K120 did well with 45th place. Evan Bliss placed 48th followed by Sammy Burke, 50th. Sammy, who had been sidelined for much of the summer for medical reasons had a terrific trial jump.

Swell Sailin' Sammy!

The Lake Placid Flaming Leaves meet brought all the top USA jumpers back East. In the Junior class Skyler Keate dominated the field beating Anders Johnson with jumps of 101 and 99.5 meters. Jonathan Kling made the podium in 3rd place. Evan Bliss and Willy Graves made top ten with 6th and 8th places. In the Open Class, local favorite, Morgan Goodwin, jumped very well on his home hill to grab 2nd place behind Jim Denney and ahead of Hartman Rector. Geoff Howe jumped well to 4th. The Nordic Combined event used a footrace at Mt. Van Hoevenberg and Goodwin won with Howe, 2nd over Brett Camerota, 3rd and Alex Glueck, 4th. Brian Welch had the long jump of the day with a 102 meter ride which, unfortunately, he didn't hold and fell, hitting his head, taking him out of the comp. He recovered with no problems. The summer showed definite improvement of US Ski Jumping and portends of good things to come.

The 2003 Winter Elite Team