Coveted Salisbury Trophy
Taylor had won the event in 1998 and 1999, but was defeated in 2000 and 2001. Unable to compete in 2002, Taylor returned this year to try one more time and succeed in edging out Geoff Howe [see scores] Junior Events Meet Expectations
This year’s Junior Olympics (Feb. 26 to Mar. 1), in Park City, UT, were hosted by the National Sports Foundation. The schedule was slimmed down from the traditional format to include one training day, individual Jumping and Nordic Combined events and a team jumping event. All events were simplified to one class. The Eastern team consisted of 15 skiers and several J1’s who went as forejumpers. Team Leader Marianne Fairall did a great job with Larry Stone coaching, assisted by Joe Freire, Nordic Combined. Matt Cook helped the Combiners in preparation for his becoming more involved as an Eastern Coach next year.
In the Team Jump event, on the last day, we saw the best of the new JO’s come to the fore. In what proved to be a very exciting meet, Central out-dueled Intermountain and Eastern teams to win gold.
teammates Chris Lamb, Peter Freire and Sam Burke to a bronze medal (right).In looking back at the new JO format, it was successful in a number of ways. First of all, with the one class format and the new age limit the competition was closer which brought out the best in the younger juniors. The Team event was, for example, one of the most exciting meets that I have ever been involved with. Coaches were absolutely on pins and needles as the meet progressed! We agreed that, even including the International event, this one was the best - and the excitement continued right down to the last jump! Up to the moment the results were announced the outcome was an unknown - with all of us doing last minute calculations and figuring. Coaches, crowd and athletes were really enthused! [See Results.]
Another reason that the new Junior Olympic structure was a positive development is that there was a higher level of commitment from the younger skiers to make the team. Some young skiers were re-energized by the new Junior Olympic set-up.
Additionally, many younger skiers such as the Nordic Combined skiers benefited by being involved in this event, and it’s selection process, and made measurable improvement in their skiing. The happy faces of Peter Frenette and Cooper Dodds during a training session in which they took their first K90 meter rides in Park City was a good example. Next year’s event will be held in Anchorage, Alaska. The flip side of the Junior reorganization was the inaugural North American Junior Championships (Jan. 10-12) in Calgary, Alberta. It also consisted of a slimmed down format with a Special Jump event on the K114, a Nordic Combined event and a Team Jumping event. Unfortunately, the event being scheduled early season meant that not all athletes were at their peak. This was compounded by the fact that the Calgary K87 hill is technically difficult. The Canadians had a definite home hill advantage. The meets were well organized and the hills were in good condition. Thankfully, the notorious Calgary winds abated enough to allow jumping on the big hill. The only snow in the area was at the facility due to the snow drought throughout Western North America. Unlike the Junior Olympics this event was not as competitive. The Canadians dominated the field, certainly a result of their good program in Calgary and their facility (which has plastic hills in a progression of 15, 30, 60 and 90 meters). This wave of Canadian skiers has been in the pipeline for several years and this event was their show. Chris Francis, IMD, was the only USA skier to make it onto the podium in the jumping event in 3rd place behind Canadians Stefan Read and Michael Nell. Evan Bliss’ 7th place finish, earned the “Blisster” a spot on the USA World Junior Team. In the Nordic Combined event RMD skiers Bryan Fletcher and Ethan Johnson placed 2nd and 3rd behind Max Thompson, and Eastern Matt Delaney earned a respectable 5th place. [ See Results.]
In retrospect these events proved to be a good new step in North American Junior development. Two issues will be addressed in the Spring meetings from this: The first being that the original intention of the North American Junior event was to hold it towards the end of the season after JO’s. This year with USA Nationals scheduled mid-season there was a let-down for the older Juniors after the Nationals event. The second issue to discuss is at Junior Olympics that there should be a fun Combined Team Sprint put back in the event. People seemed to really miss this event - which is both a serious event and still fun for non-NC skiers to participate. All-in-all general agreement is that these new events are valuable in the overall development plan.
"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!
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Established in 1958, the trophy is retired only if a jumper wins the Eastern Championships three times. The only other jumper to retire the Magnus Satre Trophy is Jay Rand, also of Lake Placid who notched his third victory in 1975 after previous wins in 1966 and 1967. 
