Megan Bacharach and Josiah Powell competed in the J3 Rocky-Central Junior Olympics in Winter Park, Colo., this past week. Bacharach was clocked at 62 mph as she negotiated the 1,300 vertical-foot drop over .84 miles of terrain in the opening Downhill (DH) to become the only Central athlete to reach the podium in a speed event. Powell finished 42nd out of 99 male racers in the DH. Misfortune struck for both Powder Ridge racers in the Super G and Giant Slalom. Bachararch carried too much speed off the top to negotiate the tight turns in the Meadows section while Powell got caught low in a turn and lost a ski. Nearly the same was true for the Giant Slalom, but they both came back with strong finishes in Slalom on the last day of racing. Powell, starting 98th, moved all the way up to 44th position after the two runs were completed. Bacharach having a first-seed start, scored her second top-10 finish by placing sixth in the Slalom. Her combined points were enough to give her sixth place overall and the top racer from Minnesota. Jamie Horness from Buck Hill finished eighth in Giant Slalom and third in Slalom for sixth overall and the only other Minnesota racer to make the top 10 for women or men.
