Saturday Update: Jo's are now complete, with Far West achieving one more medal in the Saturday Relays at McCall. The J2 Girls team of Kara LaPoint, Sarah Armstrong, and Natalie Joffe took fourth place. This made it a clean sweep for Natalie, with a medal in each of the 4 races this week.

Other Results for the Far West Racers include:
J2 Boys (Joaquin, Matt, Dominic) 9th (only one tenth of a second from 8th);
J1 Boys (Phillip, Andrew, Nick) 16th
OJ Boys (Zach, Tony, Scott) 9th (5 seconds from 8th)
J2 Girls (Maisha, Jennifer, Steffi) 19th
J1 Girls (Lindsay, Whitney, Jenna) 21st

Other racers with mixed teams included:
OJ Girls (Jessica with Kayla (and Sara Joerg) 11th
Nick Grimmer skied with PNSA (16th OJ Boys)
Dana Mosman skied with Midwest (18th OJ Boys)
Garrett Reid skied with Great Lakes (16th J2 Boys)
Kati Clark and Cindy Apodaca did not have results shown.

FAR WEST ATHLETES FIND TOUGH COMPETITION IN THE SKATE RACE ON THURSDAY
Medals were tough to come by on the third day of racing in McCall. The skate race was held in cold weather, with light snow and an air temperature of 24 degrees (F). Our single medal of the day went to Natalie Joffe, 8th in the J2 Girls skate race. That's three for three, with the relay coming up. Zach Violett narrowly missed getting his second medal, taking 11th in OJ boys, just seconds out of 10th place.

J2 Boys: Dominic Henriques (21) ; Matt Gelso (26); Joaquin Goodpaster (36); Garrett Reid (39)

J1 Boys:Phillip Violett (14) ; Nick Sterling (20); Andrew VanBlarigan (65)

OJ Boys: Zach Violett (11); Tony Bozzio (14); Scott Hill (18), Nick Grimmer (33)

J2 Girls: Natalie Joffe (8); Kara Lapoint (19); Sarah Armstrong (25); Maisha Goodpaster (37); Steffi Christiana (54): Jennifer Myers (59); Kati Clark (65); Cindy Apodaca (67)

J1 Girls:: Jenna Harlow (62); Lindsay Collin (68); Kayla Evans (74); Whitney Prosor (76)

OJ Girls:: Jessica Ford (20)

FAR WEST ATHLETES ON A ROLL!

Incredible races from a number of athletes:

Girls Medals:
Kara LaPoint: 3rd
Natalie Joffe: 4th

Boys Medals:
Zach Violett: 2nd (just 10 seconds out of first place!!)
Joaquin Goodpaster: 4th
Phil Violett: 8th

Some other notable results include Jessica Ford: 12th, Matt Gelso: 12th, Maisha Goodpaster: 13th, Dominic Henriques: 13th, Sarah Armstrong: 15th, Nick Sterling: 18th. (Matt and Maisha almost medaled, and they're not even J2's yet!). All totalled, 11 skiers in the top 20!

Extra special mention goes to the whole FAR WEST WAX & SUPPORT CREW, who hit the wax (it's a secret!) and have VERY TIRED ARMS tonight. Way to go!

Other Results:
OJ:
Dana Mosman (19); Tony Bozzio (24); Scott Hill (29); Nick Grimmer (36);
J1:
Andrew Van Blarigan (23); Lindsay Collin (63); Whitney Prosor (73); Jenna Harlow (75); Kayla Evans (76)
J2:
Garrett Reid (41); Jennifer Myers (36); Cindy Apodaca (42); Kati Clark (43); Steffi Christiana (57);

Monday Evening Update:

FAR WEST's BEST FIRST DAY AT JO's - EVER!

Head JO Coach Jeff Schloss states that "All around, this was a remarkably great day for Far West Nordic. Our kids skied great in the qualifying round, and, with a little luck, they could have brought home even more hardware today than they did."

Far West scored its first 2 medals of the competition today in the Sprints!
Nick Sterling received a BRONZE medal for 3rd place in the J1 Boys division.
Natalie Joffe placed 7th in the J2 Girls division.
Even more importantly, 9 skiers qualified for the elimination rounds today, in contrast to only two qualifying last year.

Other notable results included Kara LaPoint (12th J2 Girl); Dominic Henriques (12th J2 Boy); Joaquin Goodpaster (13th J2 Boy); Sarah Armstrong (13th J2 Girl); Tony Bozzio (13th OJ Boy); and Jennifer Myers (15th J2 Girl). Scott Hill (15 OJ Boy) had some bad luck and broke a pole in one of the qualifying races, and otherwise would have qualified for the elimination heats. Dom and Joaquin had some additional bad luck when, in the "B" final, they thought they were racing for the last two spots to qualify. The race organizers then decided to take 10 people into the "A" final, and only allowed the top 8 from the "B's."

Other Far West finishes (based on qualifying times)...

J2 Boys: Matt Gelso (33); Garrett Reid (47)
J2 Girls: Katie Clark (40); Maisha Goodpaster (45); Cindy Apodaca (54); Steffi Christiana (60)
J1 Boys: Phillip Violett (40); Andrew Van Blarigan (59)
J1 Girls: Lindsay Collin (46); Whitney Prosor (67); Jenna Harlow (71); Kayla Evans (75)
OJ Boys: Zach Violett (25); Dana Mosman (28); Nick Grimmer (30)
OJ Girls: Jessica Ford (26)

Wax was Start Green in the morning, warming to Cera-F 200 in the later races.

Wednesday's race is the Classic event, and of course the weather is looking cloudy and warm with a rain/snow mix predicted - Perfect weather for the Far West skiers and waxers! Stay tuned for more updates.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2002 JUNIOR OLYMPIC TEAM!

OJ Men: Tony Bozzio, Zach Violett, Scott Hill, Dana Mosman, Nicholas Grimmer
OJ Wonen: Jessica Ford
J1 Men: Nick Sterling, Andrew Van Blarigan, Phillip Violett.
J1 Women: Lindsay Collin, Jenna Harlow, Kayla Evans, Whitney Prosor
J2 Men: Dominic Henriques, Joaquin Goodpaster, Garrett Reid*
J2 Women: Natalie Joffe, Kara LaPoint, Jennifer Myers, Cindy Apodaca, Sarah Armstrong, Katie Clark, Steffi Christiana
J3 Men: Matt Gelso (Competes in J2 division)
J3 Women: Maisha Goodpaster (Competes in J2 division)