Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Local skier Cliff Field jumped to the top of the pack Saturday at Howelsen Hill, and teammate Michael Ward topped the Nordic combined event as Steamboat Springs hosted the first of three Junior Olympic qualifiers Saturday.

A half-point was all that separated Field and Ward in the special jumping competition on the HS 100 jump hill in the J1 men’s division. Another Steamboat skier, Erik Lynch, also was in the hunt on the big jump, finishing just 5 points back.

“Cliff, Michael and Erik are all skiing quite well — on any given day, one can beat the other,” said Todd Wilson, director of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club’s Nordic program. “It’s just a matter of who brings the best game on any given day, and on Saturday, Cliff did it with a little better style.”

Field combined jumps of 95 and 94 meters to finish with 240 points. Ward placed second with jumps of 94 and 95.5 meters. Ward, an Aspen native who moved to town to join the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club last winter, didn’t score as many points with the judges, however. He finished in second with 239.5 points, and Lynch was third with 235 points.

Field also won a separate event on the HS 75. He netted 245.2 points on that hill to finish in front of Ward, who had 232.2 points, and Hyrum Bailey, who had 199.3 points.

Sarah Hendrickson dominated the women’s events on the HS100 hill and HS75 hill in the J1 class. She scored 241 points on the bigger hill to finish in front of Mary O’Connell, who was the next closest jumper with 115.5 points. She also won on the HS75 with a score of 243.4 points. Hendrickson is a U.S. Ski Team member from Park City, Utah.

Mary O’Connell was second with 158.4 points.

Other winners Saturday were Ly­­­nch, who won the J2 boys class; Nicho­­las Madden, who won the J3 boys class; Koby Vargas, who won the J4 boys class; Teague Burger, who won the J5 boys class; and Bode Flanigan, who topped the J6 boys class.

Hendrickson also won the J2 girls class, Natalie Bohlmann won the J3 girls class, Kathleen O’Connell won the J4 girls class and Maggie Morton won the J5 girls class. Ben Belinski and Esther DelliQuadri won the open classes.

The results from the HS75 were used to seed Saturday afternoon’s cross-country races, which ranged from 5 kilometers for the older skiers to a single kilometer for the younger skiers.

Ward raced to first place in the J1 class, finishing ahead of National Sports Fed­­eration skier Bailey, who was second. Michael Odern­­heimer was third.

Other class winners Saturday were Lynch in the boys J2 class, Spencer Petersen in the boys J3 class, Finn O’Connell in the boys J4 class and Burger in the boys J5 class. In the girls classes, it was Mary O’Connell in the J2 class, Bohlmann in the J3 class, Kathleen O’Connell in the J4 class and Morton in the J5 class. DelliQuadri topped the open class.

“For any athlete hoping to qualify for the Junior Olympics, which in our sport is the national championships for these two age groups, these are very important events,” Wilson said. “Athletes must ski within 80 percent of the best skiers in their division in two of the three to qualify.”

The next Junior Olympic qualifier is scheduled for Jan. 23 in Park City. The final qualifier is scheduled to take place Feb. 13 in Steamboat, and Howel­­sen Hill will host this year’s Junior Olympic Championships from March 2 to 6.