Hunter Eid, Ashleigh Alexander and Finnigan Donley shine in Western Region slalom races at Alyeska

Hunter Eid, a UAA Seawolves freshman from Anchorage, finished third, behind Seawolves teammates Leon Nikic and Moro Bamber, in the first of two FIS Devo slaloms Wednesday at Alyeska, and was second in the second race. Nikic, a sophomore from Toronto, won both men’s races. The top U18 and finishing fourth in both races was Anchorage’s Finnigan Donley, now training with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation. (Photo by Bob Eastaugh)

UAA freshman and former Alyeska Ski Club competitor Hunter Eid finished with a pair of top-two finishes in U21 and fellow former Alyeska Ski Club racer Finnigan Donley won both of his U18 runs at the Western Region FIS Devo Series slalom races at Alyeska Resort this week.

UAA’s Ashleigh Alexander posted the fastest times in overall competition on both of her runs, with a time of 1 minute, 31.47 seconds in the first and 1:27.37 in the second. Fellow UAA skier Alyssa Hill, in the U21 age group, had the second-fastest times overall on both runs.

Competition started Wednesday. Inclement weather forced the giant slalom races originally scheduled for Thursday to be canceled and nixed Friday’s make-up day as well.

Over 80 athletes from a dozen ski clubs across North America were set to compete in total before the cancellation of the final day.

In the U21 age class, Eid finished second in his first run and followed it up with a win in his second run. In overall competition, his times were good enough for third place in the first run and second place in the second run.

Donley, who now races for Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, finished fourth overall in both slalom races.

Alyeska Ski Club’s Georgia Lantz finished fifth overall in both slalom races.

UAA's Ashleigh Alexander won both FIS Devo slaloms Wednesday at Alyeska, as snow flurries moved in and out, affecting vision and racing. She here skis past a shortened slalom pole, broken by the preceding racer, UAA teammate Alyssa Hill, who was second in both races. Both are freshmen from Calgary. A coach stands ready to replace the broken gate. (Photo by Bob Eastaugh)

Western Region FIS Tech Series

Alyeska Resort

Slalom No. 1

Women

U18: 1) Aten, Lindsey (PCSS), 1:36.06; 2) Lantz, Georgia (ASC) 1:36.96; 3) Platt, Hadley (PCSS) 1:37.93 4) Sawyer, Fiona (PCSS) 1:39.63; 5) Travis, Morrison (PCSS) 1:42.71

U21: 1) Hill, Alyssa (UAA) 1:31.86; 2) St. Cyr, Franci (BSSEF) 1:48.61; 3) Wahleithner, Ana Noelle (PHI) 2:03.34

SR: 1) Alexander, Ashleigh (UAA), 1:31.47; 2) Natalenko, Kristina (UAA), 1:36.15

Men

U18: 1) Donley, Finnigan (SVSEF) 1:27.21; 2) Horrigan, James (ASC) 1:31.07; 3) Brennwald, Stefan (PCSS) 1:32.92; 4) Johnsen, Max (ASC) 1:33.34; 5) Lackey, Jack (MMST) 1:38.55

U21: 1) Bamber, Moro (UAA) 1:25.25; 2) Eid, Hunter (UAA) 1:26.55; 3) Rogers, Jakob (PCSS) 1:31.63; 4) Snyder-Smith, Owen (CMAC) 1:35.14; 5) Polster, Tay (PCSS) 1:37.32

SR: 1) Nikic, Leon (UAA) 1:24.00; 2) Sanderberg, Olav Engelhardt (UAA) 1:30.43; 3) Nilsen, Didrik Langmoen (UAA) 1:49.46

Slalom No. 2

Women

U18: 1) Kelly, Ava (PCSS) 1:31.23; 2) Lantz, Georgia (ASC) 1:32.60; 2) Sawyer, Fiona (PCSS) 1:32.60; 4) Aten, Lindsey (PCSS) 1:33.20; 5) Platt, Hadley (PCSS) 1:35.42

U21: 1) Hill, Alyssa (UAA) 1:28.59; 2) St. Cyr, Franci (BSSEF) 1:42.44; 3) Wahleithner, Ana Noelle (PHI) 2:00.35

SR: 1) Alexander, Ashleigh (UAA) 1:27.37; 2) Natalenko, Kristina (UAA) 1:30.93

Men

U18: 1) Donley, Finnigan (SVSEF) 1:25.41; 2) Hart, Karsten (TPT) 1:25.54; 3) Galloway, Nils (SVSEF) 1:27.37; 4) Flaggert, Winthrop (CMAC) 1:28.12; 5) Hunt, Espen (PCSS) 1:29.06

U21: 1) Eid, Hunter (UAA) 1:22.45; 2) Rogers, Jakob (PCSS) 1:26.02; 3) Kjerland, Bastian (ASC) 1:39.38; 4) Bamber, Moro (UAA) 1:42.27; 5) Mummulla, Aditya (CMAC) 1:49.42

SR: 1) Nikic, Leon (UAA) 1:20.56; 2) Ronner, Jan (UAA) 1:22.46; 3) Sanderberg, Olav Engelhardt (UAA) 1:25.90; 4) Nilsen, Didrik Langmoen (UAA) 1:27.16