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Show U.S. Ski Team: the ones to watch C Four-c ent racer Marco Sullivan, 20, Ski Racing's slam-dunk choice as U.S. Junior Skier of the Year the last tw o seasons, will ski his way hack this winter after springtime knee surgery sur-gery and outpatient heart surgery in midsummer. After a January crash that separated his left shoulder, tweaked his left knee and caused a concussion, Sullivan, of Tahoe City, Calif., won die bronze medal in slalom at the World Junior Championships in February. However, the day after his slalom medal, Sullian reinjured the knee and underwent surgery. During dryland workouts in late July, his heart-rate heart-rate shot way up twice; an EKG revealed an extra pathway to his heart, forcing outpatient surgery to correct things. , Surely but not so slow ly, all-rounder Caroline Lalivt. 2 1, is marching her way to more success on the World Cup circuit At the 1998 Olympics, she was seventh in combined, in 198-99 she scored World Cup points in all four individual disciplines and won the World Junior Championship m combined, in 1999-2000 she scored in all five disciplines, finishing second in a World Cup combined at Santa Catenna. Italv. Last winter she also won her first two national titles, m slalom and combined. Caroline's rather is Swiss; she was skiing at 2 in Switzerland. She balanced soccer excellence with skiing but chose skiing when the family moved to Steamboat Springs, Colo., in 1995. A year ago, giant slalom whiz Thomas Vonn, 24, picked up his first World Cup top-20, finishing 1 7Pi at Alta Badia, Italy. This season, tlie rangy Vbnn of Newburgh, N.Y., is after a couple of top-15s plus his first World Cup points in super G. If that happens, he figures he'll be in a good position for a good giant slalom start spot for the 2001-02 season. "Vonneraror" started skiing w hen he was 3 at Hunter Mountain, N.Y, and was racing at 12. In 1998-99 he posted the first three World Cup top-30s of his career, including a 27th in Park City , ; 1 .'V' -. ISf UH.IUIUHIIIIN.LJ.U.1..HUI imui m Kirsten Clark, 23, won titles in both downhill (her third straight) and super G at the Chevy Truck U.S. Alpine Champioaships last season. She now has five national titles in three diLer-ent diLer-ent events. But more importantly she earned her first World Cup top-10 top-10 result last season, a ninth in downhill down-hill at Santa Caterina, Italy. With two years of solid World Cup racing, "Clarky" is chasing greater consistency consisten-cy and more top-10s. Clark hails from Raymond, Maine. She skied at Sugarloaf at 3, raced at 7, went to nearby Carrabassett Valley Academy and won the 1994 national Junior 1 downhill title at Sugarloaf. After injury erased most of her 1998-99 1998-99 season, Sarah Schleper, 21, made up for some lost time last season, fun-neling fun-neling her energy and motivation into the best results of her career (1 1 World Cup top-20s) She had die fastest second sec-ond run in slalom and finished seventh in Manbor, Slovenia. Schleper began skiing after getting skis as a birthday gift when she turned 2; racing started at age 1 1 . She made her World Cup debut at 1 6 near her hometown of Vail, Colo. a slalom at Beaver Creek in November 1995. She won the silver medal in slalom at the 1997 World Junior Championships and wxm the national title in giant slalom in 1998. She was 16th in giant slalom in Park City in 1998. Coming off the bet season of her career in 1998-99, Alex Shaffer, 24, planned to attack from the start last season. But then she injured her left knee in the season opener. Now she's anxious to cover lost ground mis w inter and maybe do some downhill' super G racing, "Hit slalom and GS are still my focus." Shaffer grew up on a small ranch in Aspen, but chucked equestrian competition for skiing; she skied at 2, raced at 8. She attended Rowmark Ski Academy and iktv lives in Park City. In 1998 she finished ninth in combined at the Olympics in Japan. In 1999 she won two national titles (in slalom and giant slalom) and finished 1 5 in slalom at the World Championships in Vail. i vsorhlcitp |