By USSA

PARK CITY — The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) has named seven men and six women to the Alpine World Junior Championship Team to compete in the Mont-Blanc region of France Jan. 30-Feb. 6. The athletes, ages 15-19, qualified for the team based on NorAm Cup results this season.

The World Junior Championships are an important international event in the development pipeline, matching the best ski racers in the world together. The events in the Mont-Blanc region will be held in Chamonix, Megeve and Les Houches.

Among the veterans are returning athletes Will Gregorak (Longmont, CO) from Ski and Snowboard Club Vail, who was fourth in downhill at last year’s Championships. He’ll be joined by Holderness School’s Julia Ford (Plymouth, NH), who was fourth in combined. Both are now on the U.S. Ski Team. Ford is current second in the NorAm Cup standings, while Gregorak is fifth.

Evans will serve as team leader for the group, with Randy Pelkey heading the men and John Hale the women.

The men open with the giant slalom in Les Houches on Jan. 31, with the women kicking it off with super G in Megeve.

Two athletes qualified for the team but will miss the Championships due to injury including Kara Shaw (Norwich, VT/Burke Mountain Academy) and Keith Moffat (Berkeley, CA/Squaw Valley Ski Team).

2010 U.S. Alpine World Junior Championship Team

(name, birthdate, hometown, USSA club)

Men

Michael Ankeny, 1/17/91, Wayzata, MN (Buck Hill Ski Club) *

Kieffer Christianson, 8/11/92, Anchorage (Burke Mountain Academy)

Nick Daniels, 4/5/91, Tahoe City, CA (Squaw Valley Ski Team) *

Jared Goldberg, 6/17/91, Salt Lake City (Team Flow)

Colby Granstrom, 9/21/90, Lake Stevens, WA (Mission Ridge Ski Team) *

Will Gregorak, 9/30/09, Longmont, CO (Ski and Snowboard Club Vail) *

Wiley Maple, 5/22/90, Aspen, CO (Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club) *

Women

Vanessa Berther, 2/11/92, Sammamish, WA (Team Alpental Snoqualmie) *

Greta Byrne, 5/12/93, Vail, CO (Ski and Snowboard Club Vail) *

Devin Delaney, 2/24/91, North Conway, NH (Green Mountain Valley School) *

Julia Ford, 3/30/90, Plymouth, NH (Holderness School) *

Abigail Fucigna, 1/9/91, Hopkinton, MA (Burke Mountain Academy)

Brooke Wales, 8/28/90, Sammamish, WA (Mission Ridge Ski Team)