Jitloff Wins National GS Title

Click to Enlarge Browse and Buy Summit Daily Photos Tim Jitloff reacts to winning the men's giant slalom Tuesday, March 25, 2008, during the U.S. Alpine Ski Championships at Sugarloaf USA in Carrabassett Valley, Maine. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach) Get Sports Feeds

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March 25, 2008

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SUGARLOAF, Maine - The U.S. Ski Team's Tim Jitloff (Reno, NV) grabbed his first national title Tuesday as he won the men's giant slalom at the 2008 Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships at Sugarloaf ski resort in Maine.

"I needed that [win]. I'm totally satisfied. I had a great game plan and I executed it," Jitloff said. "I got the two podiums already, and now today it was nice to get the actual win. I've had an extremely rough year but I decided the best thing to do was to crawl my way up out of the barrel. And now here we are. I had a good end of the year."

Jitloff, who finished second in the combined and third in the slalom, laid down the fastest times during both runs for a combined time of 2:04.67 under picture perfect blue bird skies.

"At the start of the first run, I had to attack right out of the gate. It was clean and good. Then, there was going to be no beating around the bush on this second run because I had about five guys who were right on my tail," Jitloff said.

The gold medal win in GS complements the silver in combined and the bronze in SL from earlier in the Nature Valley Championships.

Tommy Ford (Bend, OR), who was named Ski Racing's Junior of the Year during the annual athlete banquet held on Sunday night, finished second only one tenth behind Jitloff at 2:04.77. Ford also clinched the junior division title.

"It's a fun course. I thought my first run was pretty solid," said Ford, a U.S. Development Team athlete and member of the Mount Bachelor Ski Education Foundation. "I've raced this course twice before - two years ago at nationals and junior nationals - and I think I only broke top 30. I thought I did pretty well today, though."

Colby College's Warner Nickerson (Gilford, NH), a local to the Sugarloaf ski area from years spent skiing during college, finished third at 2:06.22.

"All in all, it was a solid run. Sugarloaf is awesome. It hasn't been this nice all week, but as long as we get it I'm happy," Nickerson said. "Skiing on this hill for four years in college definitely gives you an advantage, but these guys are all great skiers and anyone could put together a good run."