ASPEN, Colo. – Racing against the country’s top 80 15-and 16-year-olds, Ben Morse of Carrabassett Valley, Maine earned top finishes in downhill and slalom, two of the four events at the J2 Olympics from March 9-13.

A senior at Carrabassett Valley Academy, Morse returned to J2 Olympics with the momentum from a third-place podium in last year’s slalom. In the opening event of the race series on Monday, Morse posted the fastest downhill time on Aspen’s World Cup course.

After the first slalom run on Wednesday, Morse was about nine-tenths of a second out of the hunt. Always the poised competitor, Morse turned up the volume in the second run.

“It was a difficult set, and conditions with 15 inches of new snow the day before were challenging,” Morse said. “Some of the turns got a little dished out, but I managed to squeak through.”

He did a bit more than that. Morse was 1.28 seconds ahead of the field in the second run and won by about three-tenths.

“Everybody was kind of scrambling,” Morse said, adding that some of the course scraped down “to the hard stuff,” and parts of it didn’t. “I felt I was wild and all over the place, but I guess it was fast.”

He said having two gold medals in two races was “surreal. The downhill hasn’t really sunk in yet.”

Results at the Aspen race series gained Morse an automatic invitation to the U.S. National Alpine Championships in Alyeska, Alaska, later this month.

“That’s going to be a thrill,” said Morse. “It’s the best skiers in the country.” He said he’d be pleased to break into the top 15, or to earn a junior’s podium.

Breaking into the top 15 at U.S. National Alpine Championships is a real possibility for Morse.

He placed 17th last year in Slalom when the race was at Sugarloaf.

Also qualifying for the 2009 J2 Olympics were Maine residents and CVA student-athletes Craig Marshall of Carrabassett Valley, Casey Myrick of Auburn, and Kelly Waddle of Harpswell. Myrick posted a ninth-place finish in Super G.

Qualification to the J2 Olympics requires that athletes be in the top 5 to 10 percent of the 15-16 year olds in the country.