BY HEATHER FOSTER

The Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s Alpine FIS Women’s and Men’s teams hit the road last week for the annual Western Region Wrangler Cup Devo Tech Series held Jan. 14-17 at Mt. Bachelor, near Bend, Ore.

SVSEF men stepped onto the U18 podium at every race and teammates raced their way to multiple personal bests across the series.

To kick things off In Giant Slalom on Tuesday, Cole Sanford took the win for U18’s and Owen Lancaster landed just behind in second place. Paxton Sammis followed up the U18 podium trend finishing third in Wednesday’s Giant Slalom.

In the first Slalom on Thursday, Owen Lancaster took first and Declan White placed third. Paxton Sammis raced to third in the second Slalom race on Friday. 

On Tuesday, Samantha Milne was the top SVSEF athlete in the Slalom with fourth place overall and third place in the U18's. Autumn Carpenter was the next SVSEF athlete coming in 17th.

In Wednesday's Slalom race, Milne repeated third place in the U18's while Zoe Stern-Pre came in 13th for the day.

On Thursday, the women switched to Giant Slalom where Milne placed fourth and Ava Murphy was the next SVSEF athlete, placing 12th in the U18's.

The SVSEF women continued to improve daily with the last race having great placings on Friday. Milne was second in the U18's (third overall) with Stern-Pre placing 10th and Carpenter 14th.

"The girls that raced in this series had their best results of the year so far,” said Assistant Women's FIS coach Pat Savaria. “It was so great to see them shine and gain confidence with each race."

Up next for the SVSEF Alpine Men’s and Women’s FIS Teams: The FIS Schweitzer Speed Series at Schweitzer Mountain Resort through Feb. 1 in Sandpoint, Idaho. The event is part of the Western Region Speed Series and will host men’s and women’s downhill and super G races.

SVSEF Athlete Results / U18 Podium:

FIS Men GS Jan 14

1st Cole Sanford

2nd Owen Lancaster

FIS Men SG Jan 15

3rd Paxton Sammis

FIS Men SL Jan 16

1st Owen Lancaster

3rd Declan White

FIS Men SL Jan 17

3rd Paxton Sammis

FIS Women SL Jan 14

3rd Samantha Milne

17th Autumn Carpenter

FIS Women SL Jan 15

3rd Samantha Milne

13th Zoe Stern-Pre

FIS Women GS Jan 16

4th Samantha Milne

12th Ava Murphy

FIS Women GS Jan 17

2nd Samantha Milne

10th Zoe Stern-Pre

14th Autumn Carpenter

For complete FIS Wrangler Devo Tech Series race results, click on https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/event-details.html?sectorcode=AL&eventid=56751&seasoncode=2025.