CARRABASSETT VALLEY – Ben Morse knew it wouldn’t last, but he couldn’t help but relish each time he heard it announced that he was leading the men’s slalom Saturday.

The Farmington native and Carrabassett Valley Academy student was the first skier down the mountain in the second run of the slalom at Sugarloaf Saturday afternoon. His combined time of 1:33.52 had him in the lead for a few minutes until the veteran skiers began to overtake him.

“The scoreboard said No. 1 for a little while at least,” said Morse, jubilant after his first-ever U.S. National race. “It’s surreal.”

The 15-year old Morse finished 17th overall. Not bad considering he didn’t get into the competititon at Sugarloaf this week until a podium finish in Aspen, Colorado earned him a spot over a week ago.

“It’s been a great experience,” said Morse. “Jimmy Cochran and some of the other U.S. Ski Team guys, they’re just charging. They’re fun to watch.”

Morse was 66th when starting in the morning’s first run. While many skiers failed to finish, including Auburn’s Bump Heldman, Morse was able to ski a solid first try.

“I went from 66th to 30th,” said Morse. “I was happy to finish. There were a lot of DNF’s in the first run. I was psyched to be running first in the second run.”

After his 47.45 time in the first run, he bettered that with a 46.07 in the second run, breaking in the course for everyone else.

“The course is awesome and the track is impeccable when you’re first,” said Morse.

Ready To Race

After doing nothing but monitoring weather reports the last few days, the skiers were thrilled to finally get into action Saturday. The long-awaited start to the U.S. Alpine Ski Championships got underway in full with the men’s and women’s slalom Saturday.

“After two days of cancellations, we were really ready to go, especially since we couldn’t even ski because the mountain was shut down” said Cody Marshall, who finished second in the men’s slalom.

Training sessions were halted because of rain and snow Wednesday and Thursday. After replacing the FIS downhill with hopes of getting the slalom in Friday, it was postponed because of high wind.

Of course, some skiers didn’t have it so bad. Jenny Lathrop, a former Colby College student, lives in North Conway, New Hampshire. So she was able to relax at home.

“I had a little more of a relaxed program than the rest of them,” said Lathrop. “I was rested up and even more race ready.”

Friday’s off day wasn’t such a bad thing for Lindsey Vonn. The winner of Saturday’s women’s slalom had a hectic week. After securing her World Cup titles, she had press committments in New York early in the week. She was supposed to fly out of there to Maine Saturday but her flights were cancelled, numerous times.

“I ended up driving up here with my Mother,” said Vonn. “It was a pretty long trip driving from LaGuardia to here, but we made it.”

Having Friday off allowed her to finally get some much-needed down time.

“(Friday) was the only day I’ve really had off, which was really nice,” said Vonn. “I watched a lot of TV in my room. It was quality time watching TV and hanging out with my Mom.”

Off to Europe

Vonn is supposed to fly to Europe March 28 for training there. She hopes to get home briefly before that. The delay of the downhill put her apperance in jeopardy, but Vonn expects to compete.

The Super G is expected to be held Sunday while the downhill will follow Monday.

“Last time I was here at Sugarloaf, I was so fried,” said Vonn. “I couldn’t go on any longer. I had to go home. Right now, I feel pretty good. I’m going to play it day-by-day and see how it goes. I want to stay through the whole thing if I can, if my body is holding up.”

New Coach

The U.S. Ski Team named Sasha Rearick as its new Men’s Head Alpine Coach. Alpine Director Jesse Hunt made the announcement Friday evening. Rearick was promoted from his position as men’s slalom and giant slalom head coach.

“Sasha has demonstrated great leadership skills at all levels since joining our staff six years ago,” said Hunt. “I’m excited and confident in naming him to head our men’s program.”

Rearick’s 2006-07 season was highlighted by Olympic champion Ted Ligety’s World Cup title. Ligety won the final two giant slaloms of the year to take the season-long GS title.

“It’s a great honor to take on this role,” said Rearick. “Phil’s done a fantastic job and the team is in a great place. We have incredible athletes and an extremely talented and passionate staff. We definitely have our challenges, but that’s something I’m looking forward to working through for continued success.”

Rearick came to the Team after the 2002 Olympics to work as a conditioning and on-hill coach at the Europa Cup level. He was promoted to take over the Europa Cup team for the 2005-06 season. A year later, he moved up to head the men’s World Cup technical team.

A New York City native, Rearick grew up in Lakeville, Conn., and graduated from Maine’s Gould Academy and later Colorado’s Western State. He coached at Monarch Ski Area in college and instructed in Tignes, France. He coached at Green Mountain Valley School for three seasons before joining the U.S. Ski Team.

– Kevin Mills
Wipeout

Three days of weather-related delays had 135 slalom skiers starving to hit the competition hill under crystal blue skies Saturday morning.

Well, maybe a little too hungry.

Wily veteran and eventual champion Jimmy Cochran was first out of the gate, clocking a blistering time of 42.34 seconds at the bottom of the wind-whipped course. Little did he know that getting there would turn out to be a praiseworthy accomplishment.

Nine of the first 20 men’s skiers either crashed or veered too far off course to hike up the hill and catch the missed gates. Among the victims: Cochran’s cousin, Tim Kelley; Colby College product Warner Nickerson; and U.S. Ski Team ‘B’ squad members Will Brandenburg, Jake Zamansky and T.J. Lanning.

Bump Heldman of Auburn also was caught up in the early attrition rate.

“I felt with this course it would have been easy to find some speed and end up paying,” Cochran said.

Twenty-one men in all failed to complete the first run, along with 13 women.

‘G’ Force

Championship officials shuffled the schedule after Wednesday and Thursday’s snow and Friday’s hurricane-force winds, putting the more technical slalom event first instead of opening the championships with a speed challenge on untested Narrow Gauge.

Speed demons, rejoice: Sunday’s revised schedule will be headlined by the super-G, as was the plan all along.

There was talk of moving one of the giant slalom races ahead from Tuesday or Wednesday to the Easter holiday, which would have allowed for at least some limited practice time on the lower course. In the end, however, coaches and captains conceded to the travel plans of competitors who only planned to be here Saturday and Sunday.

“We have some skiers who are only entered in the speed events,” said U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association press officer Doug Haney. “We’ve got to give them something.”

– Kalle Oakes

Slightly calmer conditions might have been outweighed by the ruts resulting from ski tracks during the second run. Three of the top 10 seeds in the women’s race fell only a few gates from the finish, tumbling off the leader board in the process.