Special Olympians. Back: Grace Kirpan, Ben Townley, Josh Bartold,
Christopher Riley. Front: Lelia Volmer, Gabriel Teran, Phillip Kellum,
Felicia Stefani. (Missing: Tommy Johnson.)
The Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports/Sugarbush alpine race team competed at the Special Olympic Winter Games March 10 and 11 at Suicide Six.
Nine athletes competed in the Slalom, GS Slalom and Super G events: Phillip Kellum, Christopher Riley and Grace Kirpan of Moretown, Tommy Johnson of Warren, Bennett Townley of Williston, Gabriel Teran of Montpelier, Josh Bartold of East Montpelier, Felicia Stefani of Plainfield and Lelia Volmer of Craftsbury.
This year, three athletes (Kellum, Townley, and Stefani) were moved up to the advanced division the first day of the races. With no chance to practice the course, they exemplified the SO Athletes Pledge and were “brave in the attempt to win.” Stefani took gold in Slalom, silver in GS, and gold in Super G. Kellum received ribbons in Slalom and GS and bronze in Super G. Townley received a ribbon in Slalom, fourth in GS and bronze in Super G.
Competing in the intermediate division, Bartold received gold in Slalom. Johnson received ribbons in Slalom and GS and bronze in Super G. Kirpan won gold in Slalom and bronze in GS and Super G. Teran took silver in Slalom, gold in GS and a ribbon in Super G. Riley received fourth in Slalom and ribbons in GS and Super G. Volmer took home ribbons in Slalom and GS and won silver in Super G.
The athletes thanked their head coach Henry Erikson, course coach Norm Staunton and the volunteers at Vermont Adaptive who helped coach. The team is assisted by Sugarbush, Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports and Julie Smith, Vermont Adaptive’s program coordinator at Sugarbush. For more information on how to become involved with Vermont Adaptive at Sugarbush, contact Julie Smith at 583-4283 or visit the website: www.vermontadaptive.org.
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