Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The Rocky Mountain Division awarded two skiers the title of Colorado Ski Country U.S.A. Athlete of the Year and both of them call Steamboat Springs home.

Alpine skier David Lamb took top honors for the male contingent and freestyle skier Emiko Torito was named the top female athlete of the year within the division. Both skiers graduated from Steamboat's Lowell Whiteman High School last spring and were members of the Steamboat Winter Sports Club.

"It was very exciting," Steamboat executive director Rick DeVos said of the honors. "Steamboat as a whole was very well represented."

In addition to the athlete of the year honors, Steamboat collected 11 individual awards. The most prestigious may have been the Halstead Memorial Award, which went to Esther DelliQuadri. Each year, the RMD recognizes an individual who has unselfishly contributed service for the sport of skiing in the Rocky Mountain Division it is the highest award given in the division each year.

Steamboat also had 67 Winter Sports Club athletes named to the Colorado Ski Country U.S.A. All-Star teams.

DeVos said Lamb and Torito are both great examples of the type of skier the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club produces. He also said he was proud that both will go on to represent the Winter Sports Club at the national level in the future.

"Both of these individuals are truly great athletes and they both possess a great deal of character. They are wonderful role models for the club," DeVos said.

Torito, who has been nominated for the recognition in the past, said she was surprised when her name was called at the annual RMD awards luncheon on Monday at the Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge.

"It's nice that people think that I'm good enough to earn this type of honor," Torito said. "It's nice to be recognized by your peers, but when it is all said and done, it's the skiing that really counts."

While this honor will hold a special place in Torito's accomplishments, she said that she doesn't want to spend too much time celebrating.

"I guess right now, I really don't know what I'm going to do with the plaque," Torito said. "I'm just trying to focus on skiing."

With the ski season is just around the corner, she is hoping to make the most of her first year as a member of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team. She is already preparing for her first-ever World Cup start in Tandadalen, Sweden, from Nov. 25 to 26.

Lamb, an alpine specialist, was also very honored by the recognition. He, too, is very focused on the upcoming season and making a run at the 2002 Olympic Games.

"This is one of the biggest awards I've ever won," Lamb said. "It;s a great honor and it feels good to get it."

The award came at a good time for the Steamboat skier. He said it helped ease some of the sting of narrowly missing the Sprint U.S. Junior Skier of the Year Award, which was handed out this summer.

Lamb was the runner up, but the honor went to a fellow U.S. Ski Team member, Marco Sullivan of Squaw Valley, Utah, who has won the honor two years in a row.

"It was great to get this honor," lamb said. It's the first time I've been nominated. It's nice because it takes other things into consideration in addition to skiing. it's also nice that the awards went to two kids from Whiteman."

Other Steamboat Springs award winners included cross-country skier Mark Iverson, special jumper Clint Jones and nordic combined skier Alex Glueck. All of the skiers were awarded the Bookstrom award for their divisions. The Bookstrom Award is given to the top cross-country skier, ski jumping and nordic combined athlete in the division

William Boyle and Torito were both given the Andy Wise award. This honor is given to the top RMD mogul skier not on the U.S. Ski Team during the 1999-2000 season. Dmitry Chase earned the Mary McGill award, which is given to the top age class racers, and Mike Wommack was named the RMD Coach of the Year.

Lisa Perricone was honored as the top racer in the Powerbar/Bula racer series and Larry Stevenson was handed the MasBruch Award for his efforts as the outstanding alpine volunteer for last season.

The club as a whole earned the Lange Trophy, which was given to the ski club that sponsored the best organized race last season.