Nationals

Brad and I are now nationally ranked skeleton athletes!!!!

Brad is ranked 13th in the nation for men, and I am ranked 14th for women.

Technically, we're on the National Team, but since there are no more America's Cup races and only one Europa Cup race that is filled, it's just a technicality. Still, we'll take it!

Anyway, the races went well, with me taking 13th on Thursday, in the race that included 3 of the World Cup women, and 10th on Saturday, in the race without the World Cup athletes. Brad did even better, in both races finishing ahead of a guy he's been chasing all season!

I was racing with a bruised/cracked/separated/something rib (from slamming into the wall in practice, on the exit of turn 11, bouncing up off my sled for a moment and then landing on my saddle right as the G-load for turn 12 hit, oops), so that wasn't much fun. It hurt to push up off my sled, so at the finish I instead rolled off the sled then stood up. Seeing the rolled dismount, the Tower announced to everyone that medics were on their way. Just great. I frantically gestured to the camera that it wasn't necessary, so they announced that I was fine. Still, an EMT chased me up to the top and tracked me down. Embarassing. Again. I need to stop getting the medics sent after me!!! Anyway, I'm taking this week off from sliding to let the rib heal. (Speaking of which, it's amazing how much time I have when not sliding! This sport just sucks away time. Shrug. Still love it though.)

In bigger news, the USBSF (United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation) told us on Thursday that the top ten total, including the World Cup athletes, would qualify for Team Trials, not the top fourteen. This pissed me off, since all along we (and our local USBSF representatives) believed it was the top ten NOT including World Cup athletes.

So, I went and pulled up the USBSF Criteria, and submitted a three page grievance explaining:

• that there were two "official" Criteria, and we didn't know which one was valid, and
• that both versions of the Criteria contradicted themselves, both saying that it would be ten, and both saying that it would be 14, and
• that the USBSF was failing to meet the Criteria in several other ways, and
• that they needed more athletes, not less to participate in Team Trials, to allow more people to receive a rank so they could fill races
• i.e. the America's Cup race at Park City had vacant slots, since there weren't enough ranked US athletes to fill the US's allotment. On a US track, it's embarassing, and
  
• that the USBSF failed to provide adequate notice for changing the race format last week, and
• quite a few other things.

So, now my grievance is in the hands of the USOC (United Stated Olympic Committee), and the decision on how many people to qualify for Team Trials is out of the USBSF's control. The good thing is that, even though I was very angry, my grievance is written in neutral tones, and is very factual. The USBSF representative even mentioned that at our post-race meeting. So, hopefully it will get appropriate respect and consideration, rather than being thrown out as an angry rant like so many other grievances in the past. Cross your fingers for us! Ideally, the USOC will see the validity and determine that we qualified. Otherwise, we have to race in February in the Regional qualifier series. Which isn't terrible, but it would be nice to have room for more people to qualify, and to know for sure that we will make it to Team Trials next fall.

The grievance was also emailed to all of the athletes, and I got a lot of positive feedback from them. They (we) are all frustrated up with way the USBSF has been running things. But that's another story, for another day, which would require a lot of writing and a lot of information. Not for today.

Anyway, that's all I know. Cheers!