The winners of Peak Performers, a project honoring top Summit County skiing and snowboarding athletes, were decided with input from a public poll and votes from seven judges. The judging panel includes a collection of the county’s most respected sporting figures, including operators of esteemed local sporting events, state-championship coaches and founders of entrenched local winter sports clubs.

Karl Barth

Karl Barth is a teacher and legend at Summit High School, most recently coaching the Tigers Alpine girls ski team to a slalom state championship. The longtime Summit County local also is one of the most respected and successful rugby coaches in the country, coaching the Summit girls to 11-straight state championships.

Jaime Brede

A highly respected Breckenridge local, Jaime Brede has had an accomplished athletic career from mountain bikes to Alpine-touring skis, including representing the U.S. at the 2019 International Ski Mountaineering Federation World Championships. She also coaches the Summit High School mountain bike team, Summit Endurance Academy ski mountaineers and U.S. Master’s swimmers.

Olof Hedberg

Olof Hedberg has been the head coach of the successful Summit Nordic Ski Club for seven seasons. In his free time, he likes adventure racing. He placed third in the World Championships in 2017 and was ranked top three in the world in 2017 and 2018. His newest adventure is being to father an 11-month-old son.

Katie Merrion

A Colorado native and avid skier, Katie Merrion is the executive officer of the Team Breckenridge Sports Club, the esteemed winter and summer sports club based in the town of Breckenridge that has produced many elite athletes, including several Olympians, through the years.

Don Sather

A resident of Summit County since the ’70s, Don Sather was the co-founder of Team Summit Snowboarders in 1989. A driving force in the sport of snowboarding’s formative years, he also served as president of the United States of America Snowboard Association, on the Board of Directors for the International Snowboard Federation, as a representative of the USASA and ISF in pursuing Olympic status for snowboarding and on the selection committee of the first U.S. Olympic snowboard team

Jeff Westcott

A resident of Breckenridge since 1984, Jeff “Westy” Westcott, was a full-time Team Breckenridge Alpine coach for many years and still coaches part-time when the club needs help. His experience with Team Breckenridge gave birth to Maverick Sports Promotions, which produces the acclaimed Summit Mountain Challenge Series, the Firecracker 50, the Imperial Challenge, the Breck Crest and much more.

Antonio Olivero

Antonio Olivero is the sports and outdoors editor of the Summit Daily News and the creator of the Peak Performers project. A native of New York who moved to Summit County from the Adirondack mountains, he is an avid skier and hiker who has interacted with Summit County’s sports community on a daily basis for nearly three years.