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Show Stephanie, Shannon share the spotlight by Dave Adler Stephanie Palmer continued hei recent tear on the Intermountain Division ski racing circuit and Shannon Nobis turned in her best performance of the season last weekend at Nordic Valley as each garnered a first and second place finish in two days of slalom competition. The week before, the 14-year-old Palmer had captured the overall combined title in the Eric Hays Memorial at Park City and she showed no signs of slowing down at Nordic Valley. On Saturday, Stephanie finished in second place, in the Junior II (ages 14-15) girls competition, just seventeen seven-teen one hundreths of a second behind Laura Flood of Snow Valley. Stephanie turned in the fastest second run in the division but it wasn't enough to overcome the lead that the Idaho skier had forged. Dani Allred of Jackson Hole finished third, while Cammy Potter of Park City came in sixth. In Sunday's JIJ action, Palmer marshaled a blazing first run, fully two seconds faster than her competitors, then coasted to victory. "The course was to her liking and she just let it all go," said Park City Ski Team coach Kim Vletas of Stephanie's run. "She just smoked it." Palmer's effort bested Allred, who finished second, and Flood, who finished third. Cammy Potter gained a fifth-place finish and, according to Vletas, "is really getting her slalom technique down. Cammy turned in a very consistent, strong showing." In the JIII (ages 12-13) girls' category. Shannon Nobis and her arch-rival. Picabo Street of Hailey, renewed their season-long duel for first place by sharing top honors. On Saturday, Picabo ran away and hid with the first-place trophy, beating Shannon by nearly six seconds. Park City teammate Essie Doilney cracked the trophy circle for the first time this season with a third-place finish. "That is a real feather in her cap," said Vletas. Jill Maasberg and Hilary Felton, both of Park City, captured fifth and sixth place respectively. On Sunday, Shannon returned the favor by burning a two-run total which was five and one-half seconds faster than second place finisher, Johanna Belson of Sun Valley. Picabo was third. Jill Maasberg, whom Vletas said "is coming along as well as any of the girls," earned fourth, while Doilney iinished fifth. Ali Salomon, Kerry Lewis and Hilary Felton were seventh. 11th and 12th respectively. . The Park City boys turned , in another strong showing, competing with each other for places in the trophy circle. In the JIII boys division, Danny Tebbs continued his season-long hold on the top spots by earning a victory by about one and one-half seconds. Eric Baughman of Snowbird and Ian Tubbs of Jackson Hole were second and third respectively. Jason Parkin of Park City, who as an 11-year old was racing against older competition, nevertheless earned a sixth place finish to couple with a fifth on Saturday. "That was a big accomplishment accom-plishment for Jason," said Vletas. Teammates Carter Gregory and C.J. Baltz turned in their best showings of the year as they finished 11th and 13 th respectively. In Sunday's JTI boys competition, Scott 'Martin of Snowbird came away with first place, but he was hard-pressed to hold off Jere Calmes and Jeremy Nobis of Park City, who finished second and third respectively. respec-tively. Tyler Tebbs and Bret Johnson, also of Park City, were next in fifth and sixth. ' ' It was a good race for Jere, " said Vletas. "He's coming off a back injury and this was his first race in two weeks." And the race might have been a breakthrough of sorts for Johnson who, according to Vletas, "has had doubts about his ability to ski the slalom." Other Park ' City finishers included Erik Johnson, Matt Golden and Chris Nelson, who were ninth, 12th, and 27th respectively. respec-tively. In Saturday's JII boys racing, Dean Ryan of Sun Valley and Scott Martin of Snowbird finished one-two. one-two. Bret Johnson earned third place for Park City, and was joined by teammates Jacob Doilney, Calmes and Tyler Tebbs in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Chris Nelson and Rob Dunlap were 29 th and 34 th in the final standings. The Park City JIII boys were locked out of the first three places on Saturday, although Parkin, Baltz, and Gregory finished fifth, seventh and eighth. Dan Tebbs and Jason Maasberg fell on the first run and finished 14 th and 19 th respectively. Fritz Wood of Snowbird, and Ian Tubbs and Scott Auld of Jackson Hole, finished one-two-three. The Park City skiers travel to . different sites for this weekend's Competition. The JIII skiers will race at Sundance, while the JII racers compete in a downhill at Jackson Hole. |