Sugar Bowl Academy has had a lot to celebrate in athletics lately, with podiums coming regularly from both the Alpine and Nordic skiing communities.

This week, Sugar Bowl Academy celebrates the academic accomplishments of junior Conner Evans, who learned late last week that he is one of only 30 students nationwide to be awarded a U.S. Department of State-sponsored scholarship to represent the United States this summer in Cambodia.

"It is such incredible news that I got selected to be included in this great program and it is truly surreal," said Evans. "I look forward to my travels to Asia and to sharing my experiences with the community!"

According to Evans, the American Youth Leadership Program with Cambodia is sponsored by the United States Department of State and managed by not-for-profit Global Explorers. Fewer than 20% of the program's applicants were awarded scholarships, which covers all airfare and program fees.

The mission of Global Explorers, said Evans, "is to inspire responsible global citizenship by sharing life-changing, immersing travel opportunities with students of all abilities and backgrounds."

"The application process was very rigorous and included an interview round where I talked one-on-one with the program director."

"This program is meant to immerse students in a completely different culture and to learn about global issues. One of the main themes that we will be focusing on this trip is the environment, climate change, conservation, and sustainable development." Throughout the trip, I will be traveling to multiple regions in Cambodia, from the capital of Phnom Penh to the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat. Some of the activities that I will be involved in will be leadership and service activities, community site visits, and visits to high schools and local cultural activities."

"There are also pre and post-travel activities involved in the trip. Before I leave in June, I will participate in five video teleconferencing meetings learning about the country of Cambodia and responsible tourism."

"After the trip, I will be involved in a service project in my community (Truckee) to share what I have learned about Cambodia and the environment."

Sugar Bowl Academy’s limited, but consistent on-snow training paid off huge dividends with a dominate performance in Snow King earlier this month.

An early departure for the race series allowed SBA’s men’s and women’s FIS teams the opportunity to train on the race hill prior to the start of racing. Said Men’s Head Coach Guenther Birgmann, "We put a lot of effort into coming here early to prepare for these peak races thanks to the parents and the school. I think we got rewarded for that today." And by rewarded he meant witnessing a dominating performance by the SBA men’s team.

On day one, the men started their race knowing their teammate Julia Bjorkman was sitting in 3rd place after the first run and gained confidence after each racer crossed the finish line. After the first run, SBA occupied the top 3 positions in the race, along with the better half of the 30 athletes in the flip. Just moments after the men’s 1st run concluded, Julia laid down a great 2nd run to finish in 3rd place on the women’s side. As the 2nd run began, the SBA men’s team was sitting in a great position to have a very successful race, and they were podium hungry. A sweep of both the J1 and J2 podium was in order for SBA men. Ty Sprock (6th overall) took the J2 win followed by Riley Plant and Marc Talbott. With the J2 podium secured, PG athletes, Adam Barwood, Derek Strand, and Dylan Brooks, took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively.

Student-athletes and coaches knew that matching the first day’s performance would be difficult. But once again the men’s team posted some strong performances by team members of all ages. A second sweep of the overall podium was solidified by Derek Strand, Adam Barwood, and Finley Neeson in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively and Riley Plant continued his solid beginning to the year by putting in another 2nd place on the J2 podium. In a SBA TV "Podium Talk" interview later on that evening SBA Men’s FIS Coach Jeff Kai said, "Guys are skiing well… basic stuff helps athletes be successful, everybody is working on it, and right now we are seeing some success."

The entire SBA team felt confident moving into the slalom races on Saturday given the great training conditionings in the Sugar Bowl race arena. After one solid GS result in place, sophomore Julia Bjorkman was the top SBA women’s finisher at 7th place. Once again the men’s team took home 9 of the top 20 positions. SBA second year J2 athletes Chuck Klein, Brian Francis, and Marc Talbott took 16th, 17th, and 18th respectively. Former SBA athlete and current Middlebury Ski Team member, James Clifford put forth a solid 15th place finish with the second fastest time on the second run. Ty Sprock again took the top spot on the J2 podium with a 9th place finish; just ahead of him was Finley Neeson in 7th place. 2010 SBA graduate Dylan Brooks finished in 4th place, Derek Strand was 2nd, and Adam Barwood took home his second victory of the trip.

The second day of slalom featured once again some great skiing from SBA athletes. Julia Bjorkman put in her third top ten finish with an 8th place result and the SBA men secured ten of the top 20 spots in the final race of the series. SBA senior Dylan Murtha jumped on the board with a 16th place result. Just ahead of him were Brian Francis, Riley Plant, Scott Cooper, and Ty Sprock in 14th, 13th, 12th, and 11th respectively. In the top seven places, other teams were able to sneak in just two who weren’t rocking the SBA blue jackets. Dylan Brooks finished 7th, Finley Neeson continued his success with a 6th place finish and former UNR NCAA athlete and current SBA Men’s FIS coach, Aldo Ballabio, was just off the podium in 4th place. Derek Strand continued his solid start as an SBA athlete with a 3rd place finish and Adam Barwood was SBA’s top athlete on the day throwing down a 2nd place finish.

With many athletes and groups on different travel and race schedules throughout the competition season, it is rare for the entire FIS team to be in one place. "Everyone can take something from this race, the young guys can see how the older guys perform, and the older guys can see how close the younger men are getting to them at a series like this," said Birgmann.

The team atmosphere was on display from everyone who attended Snow King. Women’s FIS coach, Katharina Golik, concluded, "With excellent snow and surface conditions during the races it was a great race series for all the girls to gain more experience and confidence for the following FIS races."

Congratulations to Drew Hartley for being selected by the International Freeskiers Association (IFSA) as "The Unofficial Pick of the Week" for this week. Check it out!

The snow was only 4 inches deep on the trails of Auburn Ski Club on December 28 for the first Junior National Qualifier (JNQ) race of the 2011-2012 season, but this did not stop the SBA Nordic team from turning in some remarkable performances in the classic sprint race. Every SBA J1 and J2 had a qualifying time in the 1.2K preliminary round. There are three more JN qualifiers and these athletes who qualified in this first race only need to qualify in one more of the qualifiers to make the Far West Team for the 2012 Junior National Championships which will be held in Soldier Hollow Utah, March 5-12th.

The format for the JNQ race included a 1.2-kilometer preliminary loop with each athlete racing against the clock. Next, athletes were ranked by their preliminary race times and the top 20 women and the top 20 men raced in 4-person head to head heats. The top 2 from each heat advanced to a semifinal heat of six racers and then the top two from each semifinal advanced to the final. Junior National qualifying was based on the preliminary round only and the Fighting Marmots came out fast. Bria Riggs had the fastest time of all the women followed closely by Katrin Larusson, Cassidy Cichowicz, Laurel Fiddler, Joelle Romo, Savannah Blide, Danielle Nivinski, and Camille Hartley for an SBA sweep of the top 8 places! SBA senior Kelly Habibi qualified in 11th place and J3 racer Olivia Jeffrey was outside the qualifying cut off but skied strong in 19th place.

In the men’s qualifying round, Joe Piercy had a breakout race with the 8th fastest overall and second fastest junior time. Joe was followed by Sam Zabell in 13th with the fastest J2 time and by Peter Carroll in 20th; all three of these guys easily made the JN qualifying standard. J3s Skyler Mullings and Trent Hommeyer raced strong against the field of older racers placing 28th and 37th respectively.

In the women’s heats it was again SBA dominating the field again, with the overall win going to Katrin Larusson, with Laurel Fiddler in second, and Cassidy Cichowicz in third. Bria Riggs finished 4th and was the top J2 while Joelle Romo, Danielle Nivinski, and Camille Hartley swept the top spots of the "B" final for places 7-9.

The men’s heats were highly competitive with several strong college racers and a member of the US ski team and the Canadian Development team on hand to mix it up with the Far West juniors. SBA graduate Austin Meng had one of the best sprint races of his life, taking 3rd while Sam Zabell placed 9th and Joe Piercy 11th.

Head Coach, Jeff Schloss, concluded, "All in all it was an extremely strong day for SBA and sets the stage for what looks to be an awesome year for the Nordic squad. Now if it would just start snowing…"

Solving complex global issues might seem relatively manageable from the comfort of the classroom setting during normal waking hours. But being awakened at 2 a.m. to react in concert with other countries to an emerging global crisis can be quite another matter altogether.

Eighteen Sugar Bowl Academy student-athletes who recently returned from the International Model United Nations Conference in San Francisco learned how unreachable consensus might seem when all the world's stakeholders - each with its own competing interests and political agendas - gather to weigh matters that potentially impact all of the planet’s inhabitants.

"I learned a lot about what politicians go through, particularly in solving international crises," said SBA student-athlete Taylor Elicegui. "Being woken up at 2 am to solve a hostage crisis in the Philippines provided me with great insight to real international affairs."

Hosted by the Parc 55 at San Francisco’s Union Square, the Regional High School Model United Nations conference ran from December 1-3.

According to International Model United Nations Association’s Web site (imuna.org), the goal of such RHSMUN conferences is simple: "Education through Simulation."

For SBA students, simulation took a variety of forms, even pre conference. In preparation, students were required to write position papers – in SBA Model U.N. Club Founder Conner Evans’ case, 7 pages long! - regarding the issues central to their respective committees.

"Through research, discussions and lecture with the SBA History Department faculty and group meetings, Model U.N. members worked to understand complex global issues ranging from human rights of displaced persons to threats of bioterrorism," said Andy Knox, SBA Social Studies Department Chair and one of three SBA faculty members including Corbin Prychun and Kelly Farrell to travel to the event.

During conference proceedings, SBA students represented the South African and Ugandan delegation in one of seven United Nations committees.

Fall News Items