CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine ??” Sugarloaf/USA and Carrabassett Valley Academy were well represented at the finish line of the men’s and women’s national downhill at the 2006 TD Banknorth US Alpine Championships on Saturday. CVA alumni Bode Miller and Kirsten Clark each won their respective downhill event on Saturday. The two champions had home slope advantage, having trained and raced on this mountain and downhill course during their high school years.

Clocked at 75.83 mph, Miller finished ahead of US Ski Team veteran Daron Rahlves, 32, of Sugar Bowl, Calif. Miller’s time was 1 minute, 15.27 seconds, while Rahlves was 1:15.88. Justin Johnson of Park City, Utah, was third with a time of 1:16.14 after winning the Sugarloaf Schuss, an FIS downhill race on Friday. Miller was 22nd in that race.

Scott Macartney and Steven Nyman rounded out the top five Saturday, followed by Erik Fisher in sixth and 2006 Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety in seventh. Samuel Sweetser, a CVA grad originally from Cumberland was 13th.

Later, in the women’s event, Clark of Raymond, Maine, won with a time of 1:19.65 and was clocked at 69.5 mph. She improved on Friday’s time of 1:19.86, which won the 53rd Annual Sugarloaf Schuss.

Olympic gold medalist Julia Mancuso of Olympic Valley, Calif., placed second on Saturday with a time of 1:20.14, and Stacey Cook (1.20.22) of Truckee, Calif., was third after she bumped Resi Stiegler (1:20.68) of Jackson Hole, Wyo., into fourth.

The US Alpine Championships will continue through March 29 with the super G on Sunday, slalom on Monday, men’s GS on Tuesday and women’s GS Wednesday. All races take place on Sugarloaf’s fabled Narrow Gauge trail, which is the only trail in New England certified to host all four alpine disciplines at the FIS World Cup level. Sugarloaf last hosted the U.S. Championships in 1996 and ’97.

Men’s National Downhill Results
1. MILLER, Bode 1’15.27
2. RAHLVES, Daron 1’15.88
3. JOHNSON, Justin J 1’16.14
4. MACARTNEY, Scott 1’16.40
5. NYMAN, Steven 1’16.43
6. FISHER, Erik 1’16.73
7. LIGETY, Ted 1’16.79
8. SULLIVAN, Marco 1’16.89
9. FRANCIS, Kevin 1’17.09
10. NICKERSON, Warner C 1’17.15
11. BAKER, Nicholas 1’17.16
12. BECKMANN, Christopher 1’17.17
13. SWEETSER, Samuel 1’17.18
14. LANNING, Thomas (tj) 1’17.26
15. ZAMANSKY, Jake 1’17.32

Women’s National Downhill Results
1. CLARK, Kirsten L 1’19.65
2. MANCUSO, Julia 1’20.14
3. COOK, Stacey J 1’20.22
4. STIEGLER, Resi 1’20.68
5. MCJAMES, Megan 1’20.74
6. LITTMAN, Julia 1’20.77
7. CHAROVA, Tereza 1’20.82
8. MCCARTY, Bryna 1’20.91
9. MARSHALL, Chelsea 1’21.09
10.MENDES, Jonna 1’21.24
11. CICCONE, Caitlin 1’21.81
12.SMITH, Leanne 1’21.89
13.HAMMOND, Courtney 1’22.10
14.ROSS, Laurenne 1’22.20
15. NJEIM, Chirine 1’22.38