Coaches take top honors at challenge

Sisters High School alpine ski coaches Todd Williver and Ken Yopp won the unofficial Central Oregon Ski League Coaches Challenge for the fifth straight year, dominating the Bend, Summit, Mtn. View and Redmond High School coaches through the best-of-four event series.

In the first event, competitors had to throw a breakaway slalom gate as far as possible. Yopp and Williver both out-threw the competition with Yopp’s throw winning the event for the Sisters team by several meters.

The second event was the gate bundle where a pile of slalom gates are randomly dropped on the ground and the coaches must collect, bundle and bungee the gates together in the timed event. A loose gate in the bundle created trouble for Williver in the bungee process and the Sisters team finished third behind the event-winning Bend High School coaches.

The third event was the “gate-set-and-place” where coaches are timed as they drill a hole in the snow, then screw the threaded base of a slalom gate into the hole. It is a relay team event.

Williver and Yopp finished the relay several seconds ahead of the other teams, but officials ruled the gate placement to be inadequate, as the gate was too easily removed from the snow after placement. The disqualification left the championship in jeopardy for the Sisters team, with only one event remaining.

“We just hit a soft spot,” said Coach Williver. “It could happen to anyone. I think I may have over-drilled, we’ll have to review the video to see what went wrong.”

The final event was the Javelin Throw, an accuracy event where coaches must heave a slalom gate 15 meters to a target — closest to the pin wins. Williver opted to throw first, leaving the cleanup for Yopp, last year’s accuracy winner.

Williver’s throw landed just outside the center ring, less than a foot from the bulls-eye.

One by one the entire field took their attempts but none bested Williver’s opening throw.

Yopp’s cleanup was never needed.

The two event victories combined with the third-place gate bundle were enough to elevate the Sisters team to the podium for the fifth straight year.

“Ken has told me this is his last year coaching,” said Williver. “We’re going out on top, undefeated.”