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Show - ' - " iv-. O I f t' . : f 'V ' . . Dhotobv Jeff Jensen ECairen comes that close to' sixth mogul title Karen Huntoon Miller became the World Professional Profession-al Skiing Hall of Fame's first member after the championship on Sunday. by Jeff Jensen and David Hampshire One judge. That's all that separated Park City's Karen Huntoon Miller from her sixth World Professional Mogul Skiing Championship Sunday Sun-day at Snowbird. The decision of one judge. Miller, 35, won her first world title in 1973 and her last 1981. She had announced before the race that this would be her last attempt to regain the trophy. So a lot of people were pulling for her, including race organizer Al Johnson. "She has retired four or five times but this time I believe her," Johnson said. Miller slashed her way through four preliminary rounds to qualify for the finals against Jan Schwartz of Squaw Valley, California. Five judges watched as they charged through the course, matching turn for turn. The votes of the first four judges were split: two for Miller, two for Schwartz. The fifth judge hestitated slightly, then cast his vote for... Schwartz. Huntoon was awarded second prize and third went to the defending champion, Lisa Downing, who now lives in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. But the afternoon did not end there for Miller. She was later named the first member of the American Pro Skiing Hall of Fame. Meanwhile, the top prize ($3,500) in the men's division went to Joey Cordeau of Sun Valley, Idaho. It was his third consecutive world title. He defeated Chris Jensen, an amateur ama-teur from Ogden in the final round while Dean "the Machine" Murphy, also from Steamboat Springs, finished third. Sunday's championship drew a large crowd of spectators who completely encircled the race course. They were very vocal in both cheering for the racers and disagreeing with the judges. Dean Murphy, a crowd favorite and one of the top seeded contenders, was the choice of the spectators but not the judges in the fourth round of competition. His defeat caused the loudest reaction from the crowd as they voiced their disapproval of the judges' decision. The competition was open to both amateurs and professionals. The qualifying rounds were held on Saturday. On Sunday morning the finalists warmed up for the last five rounds. When asked if he was ready for the competition, one racer summed it up by saying, "It's do or die." When the races got underway at noon, the weather seemed promising. The clouds were breaking up and the sun was shining intermittently. By the time the final races were run, heavy cloud cover had moved in and snow was falling. The constantly-changing light made the course a little more challenging challeng-ing because it never looked the same from one run to another. The race was run on Snowbird's Snow-bird's Silver Fox run in the dual format. Two racers went head to head down the steep, bumpy course with the loser being instantly eliminated and the winner moving on to the next round. In a field of 32 men and 28 women, the top four finishers in each division had to make five runs down the course. The racers were judged on their jumps, turns, speed and overall performance. per-formance. Each of the five judges announced his decision independently indep-endently after each run was completed. The skier with the best three out of five votes continued in the competition. For the mogul skiing fans who could not attend, KSL television will air a half-hour special on the championship next Saturday April 27, at 6:30 p.m. t xf'i "r-r' mmmi xm, W ; ':T'-::::i':':y;:'y' 'itr:-:: ':V!T:'':-'::' '-vf 'TfiyX1: :::U :'':'':::' ::-r: y:iAhi:: v::?:::- ' photo by Jeff Jensen photo by David Hampshire v Karen negotiates the bumps for the last time as a pro on her way to second place in the women's division. |