ETMM Division Champs	Evan Thacker	Evan Thacker	Mark Dison 3rd place, flt 4	Mark Mabry GS
Mark Mabry	Michael M	Michael Slalom	Parker 2nd place Mens pt champion	Payten

ETMM finishes 3^rd in Crescent Cup Finals at Snowshoe…

The East Tennessee Mogul Masher Ski Club (ETMM) followed up its Western Division Championship by placing 3^rd out of 14 teams in the Crescent Cup held at Silvercreek / Snowshoe last weekend.   ETMM had 8 different racers making it to the podium at Silvercreek; they are shown below along with the overall team standings for the Crescent Cup Championship. 

Racer                                    Slalom finish          Giant Slalom finish                    Team Standings

Mark Dison (flt 4)                           3^rd place                              2^nd place                  1^st Winston-Salem     70 pts

Evan Thacker (flt 5)                      3^rd place                              2^nd place                  2^nd Ashville, NC           69 pts

Christine Tober (flt11)                 3^rd place                              3^rd place                   3^rd ETMM, TN            69 pts

Mark Mabry (flt 6)                         3^rd place                              4^th place                  4^th Greensboro, NC    67 pts

Parker Brown (flt 6)                     1^st place                                  ---                             5^th Palmetto, SC           67 pts

Katie Potter (flt 6)                                 ---                                    2^nd place                  6^th Raleigh, NC             63 pts

Rick Bates (flt 12)                          2^nd place                                 ---                            7^th Knoxville, TN        61 pts  

Lisa Beregi (flt12)                          3rd place                                 ---                            8^th Charlotte, NC          53 pts

Dale Strother (flt 4)                       4^th place                                  ---                            9^th Augusta, GA             52 pts

                                                                                                                                                  10^th Chattanooga, TN 46 pts

                                                                                                                                                  11^th  Kanawha, WV       33 pts

                                                                                                                                                  12^th Spartanburg, SC     31 pts                                                                                                                                                    13^th Nashville, TN           29 pts

                                                                                                                                                  14^th Catawba Valley     27 pts

ETMM also had 2 of the top racers in all of Crescent (15 teams) for overall point’s championship with Parker Brown placing 2^nd in the Men’s Division and Lisa Beregi placing 2^nd in the Women’s division.  Great Job!!

ETMM had 4 new racers qualify to race this season; let’s all welcome them to the team-

Evan Thacker, JR Thacker, Sig Holcomb and Payten Hollen.

The ETMM Race awards ceremony will be held at the April meeting, make sure you come and support your 07-08 team.  We have a first time Club Champion this season.  The ETMM stats for the season can be found within this edition of the lift line.

You can check out other racing news, racing pictures, and the race schedule on our club website at www.etmm.net  or at the Crescent website www.crescentskicouncil.org. 

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The weekend trip to Silver Creek/Snowshoe, West Virginia March 7-9 was just about the end of ski season for most southeast skiers, but out west the snow is still deep. So a few of us went to Steamboat Springs, Colorado the following weekend (March 13-17) for the Nastar National Championships. Several Crescent Ski Council members attended, along with three from our club.

 ETMM members traveling to the Colorado race weekend were J.R. Thacker, his son Evan, and Mark Dison. Those of you who have been to the Nastar National Championships know what I mean when I say it was a good time. The folks representing both Steamboat Springs and Nastar treated us as if we were VIPs. They gave us all manner of trinkets and souvenirs to commemorate the occasion and served up music, food, and good memories. There were door prize type drawings daily and that's how J.R. took home a new pair of skis.

 The snow was good (on Thursday night during the reception it began to snow and continued for most of the night) and the racing was very competitive. After racing on Friday J.R, Evan, and I went to the trees to enjoy the fresh powder. We all did pretty well on Friday as JR finished 2nd, Evan 4th, and I was 5th. Friday evening awards included meeting the US ski team members as well as several former members who were there acting as pacesetters and awards presenters.

 Saturday we raced again and again Evan Thacker placed 4th, just missing a podium finish. I crashed on one run and didn't bring home the bacon on the second run while J.R. Thacker had a good day, climbing to 1st place in his division, winning a beautiful Nastar National Championship medal, new ski poles, and a new Descente race suit. After awards we rode the gondola to mid-mountain for food, music, and mingling with the US Ski Team folks and the other racers. We all collected some autographs on our commemorative race bibs and had a nice evening.

 On Sunday Evan and I hung out near the race of champions’ course to watch the action and wait for J.R. He did well, holding second place overall for quite a time, until being bumped to third and then, off the podium. However, he finished in 7th place in the men's division during the Race of Champions and represented ETMM and Crescent very well.

 By the way, sharing a chairlift with former ski team member A.J. Kitt was quite enjoyable. Turns out him, his wife, and Chad Fleischer are all NASCAR fans. What about that?  

 We finished the weekend by free skiing in Christmas Tree Bowl and then I called it a day and headed in to begin packing while Evan and J.R. hit the chutes for a few more runs to end the season. All in all, I have to say it was quite an experience attending the Nastar event and we all agreed that we may do it again next time, if possible. If you haven't been to one of these Nastar Nationals competitions, I highly recommend that you give it a go. It was very much an enjoyable experience.

 When you see J.R. Thacker at a club meeting be sure to congratulate him on his great division championship win and overall placing. And watch for his son Evan next time!