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Show " i ' " i Stephanie Palmer in action in last year's Junior Olympics. photo by Bandy Hanskat Palmer, Tebbs move up to JII ranks, but enjoy same success by Randy Hanskat Those of you who follow local alpine ski racing probably know the names of Stephanie Palmer, Tyler Tebbs, Bret Johnson, and Jeremy Nobis. You know them from last season as hot JOT (ages 12-13) racers. But that group has grown out of the JIIIs and into the JIIs (ages 14 and 15) this year. Such a move into a higher bracket can be difficult because the younger racers go up against others who are in their second year of competing in the bracket. And that can make it difficult for the first year kids to have the results they were used to making in the lower age bracket. To every rule there are exceptions, however. And Palmer, Tebbs, Johnson and Nobis are exceptions. In the season opening races for the Park City Ski Team JIIs and JIIIs at Grand Targhee, Wyoming Saturday and Sunday, Palmer and Tebbs led the way, winning both of their giant slalom races. Palmer picked up right where she left off in the JUI ranks last year. She crushed the 40-girl field on Saturday with a time of 1:58.23, over three seconds faster than Sun Valley's Rebecca Dolsot in second place at 2:01.77. Park City's Cammy Potter was in third at 2:03.34. Sunday was more of the same, although the margin was slimmer. Palmer finished first (1:51.06), and Dolsot second (1:51.70). However, this day Potter was seventh. The victories should erase any fears that Palmer will not return to top form after knee surgery this summer. Ray Dicius, the new head coach of the JIIs on the Park City Ski Team, said Palmer's knee is back to about 90 percent. She's been training very hard, Dicius said, and working with weights to bring the knee back. Still, on Saturday he said she experienced some pain and tightness in the knee. He said she seemed to ease up a little bit on Sunday and that may have made the race closer than it could have been. Tebbs had no trouble in his first two JII races, either. On Saturday Tyler beat fellow P.C.S.T. member Bret Johnson by almost a second and a half. Tebbs' time was 1:53.84, Johnson's was 1:55.21. Jeremy Nobis was fourth at 1:55.67. Other Park City finishers were Matt Golden in 12 th, Erik Johnson in 15 th, Jere Calmes in 21st, and Nord Sandstrom in 34th. There were approximately 100 in the field. Sunday was more of the same for Tebbs, winning with a time of 1:52.59 over John Van Vleet of Ogden Valley at 1:53.52. Nobis was third at 1:53.55, with Bret Johnson in fifth at 1:53.75. Dicius wasn't surprised by the performances of the JII kids. "We crushed 'em," he said proudly. He attributed some of their success to last week's training on Men's GS at the Park City Ski Area. Men's GS is the run on which two World Cup slalom races will be held in March of next year, and has a steep pitch. Dicius said the pitch was similar to that encountered at Grand Targhee. In the JIII ranks the local kids didn't have the same success as in the JIIs, but they were right in there. Picabo Streit of Hailey won both races for the girls, and her teammate . Mark Norton grabbed both the boys' races. ,..-..; ....... w: Overall, Park City's Shannon Nobis was Streit's closest rival. But on Saturday that meant a gap of over eight seconds as Nobis finished . third. On Sunday Nobis trimmed the gap, and finished second, a little more than three seconds back. Jill Maasberg led the other locals in the JIIIs, nabbing a fourth and a fifth place. Essie Doilney had a fifth and a sixth, and Hilary Felton had a 10 th and a seventh. For the boys' JIIIs the local top dog was Danny Tebbs, who is in his first year as a JIII. Tebbs was over a second off Norton's pace on both days, finishing second. Other Park City racers Jason Parkin, Carter Gregory, and C.J. Baltz finished in the teens. The next action for the JIIs and JIIIs will not be until Jan. 5 and 6 at Sun Valley. This weekend, however, there will be other action in Park City on Clementine Run at the Park City Ski Area. The 'A's' (over 18) and JIs (16-18) will be running two slalom races starting at 10 a.m. both days. ' ' : ; - -? ; : " - " j r . v-A . I icO..:V;:.::;..--; A v, f Tyler Tebbs training on Clementine. photo by Randy Hanskat |