Snoqualmie youth skis to a second-place finish
April 2, 2009
By Laura Geggel
For Anna Mounsey, second is the best. The Snoqualmie Middle School eighth-grader placed second in her age group on the slalom at the 2009 Western Region Junior Olympics March 20-22.
She timed 1 minute, 31 seconds and 32 hundredths of a second, only 20 hundredths of a second behind the first-place winner.
“I like skiing because it’s a way to get away for me,” Mounsey said. “I don’t have to worry about school drama. I just get to clear my mind when I ski.”
Snoqualmie Middle School student Anna Mounsey makes her way down a hill.
Twin Falls Middle School eighth-grader Linnea Baysinger skied at the Junior Olympics, as well. This was Baysinger’s second trip to the Junior Olympics.
“I like going fast and I love the competition,” Baysinger said. “I have learned to never give up, and I am so dedicated to this sport, it’s crazy.”
The two 13-year-olds ski up to six days a week at Alpental and Snoqualmie West. After a busy day at school, they speed to the Summit at Snoqualmie and ski until 7 p.m., when they come home to do their homework, eat and collapse into bed.
Between skiing at the summit and studying at school, Mounsey dreams of racing in the Sochi, Russia 2014 Winter Olympics.
Until then, she will train on local mountains, including Crystal Mountain and Stevens Pass.
“I like how they’re really steep and fast and good powder skiing,” Mounsey said.
Were it not for skiing, Mounsey and her brother Matthew might not exist. Their parents met while working at Alpental in the 1980s and later married.
“My husband and I are not ski racers, but we are skiers,” Jane Mounsey said.
The Mounseys started their children skiing young — as soon as Anna and Matthew could walk, they learned how to ski.
“They pretty much grew up skiing,” Jane said.
Now, the siblings ski for Team Alpental Snoqualmie — Matthew racing with the younger buddy program and Anna skiing with the Junior 3 program, a group for children ages 13 to 14.
Many of the youngsters on Team Alpental Snoqualmie are training for the U.S. Ski Team, which takes skiers to championships all over the world, including the World Cup and the Olympics.
Team Alpental Snoqualmie’s Head Coach Jacques Berther skied professionally, before a skiing accident. Under Berther’s guidance and hours of practice, Mounsey and Baysinger found themselves at the Pacific Northwest Ski Association’s Junior 3 qualifiers at Mt. Spokane in January and the Mt. Hood qualifiers in February. Their good results qualified them for the 2009 Western Region Junior Olympics.
Skiers from all over Western America flocked to the Junior Olympics at Brundage Mountain Resort in McCall, Idaho. Only 19 girls in the Pacific Northwest Ski Association qualified for the event.
Three events awaited Mounsey and Baysinger at the Junior Olympics: the super giant slalom, giant slalom and slalom. A slalom is a zigzag, downhill race marked with poles or gates. The courses varied in steepness and amount of required turns.
Mounsey’s family drove to Idaho to watch her compete and promptly screamed themselves hoarse as Mounsey skied better and better.
For her first race, Mounsey remembered feeling nervous.
“I had butterflies at the top,” she said. “I was just getting myself pumped and relaxed because I always ski better relaxed.”
She placed eighth on the super giant slalom and 21st on the giant slalom. When she whizzed down the mountain for the slalom, Mounsey couldn’t believe her time.
“When I got to the bottom, I didn’t know what to do with myself,” she said. “It felt really awesome and I was really happy and I went around hugging people.”
Baysinger also placed well, despite suffering a concussion after a fall in the parking lot. Because of her injury, she is taking a short break from racing.
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