Hunter's Ripnick sisters represent New York in skiing (05/06/01)

Hunter's Ripnick sisters represent New York in skiing

by Lucy Jones

HUNTER, N.Y. - The Ripnick sisters, Olena, 15, and Tania, 13, have skied from the time they were babies. Their parents settled on the Hunter-Windham Mountaintop so that their children would grow up and thrive amongst the natural elements of the mountain. It was a conscious choice to move away from all the "advantages" of suburban life. It was as their grandmother, "Boosia," always told them: "Your mother loves living amongst nature so much because as a little girl she was a member of Plast. She fell in love with the natural world, and never left it again."

The Ripnick girls grew up with a ski slope right in their own backyard. Their mom worked at the ski school in order for the children to have all the ski learning and ski playing time they wanted. Many times their father would be skiing down the hill behind one girl or the other as they began to ski their first NASTAR races. Races were little more than a fun game at the time for the 3-year-old Olena. Her sister soon joined in. Before long, both girls were winning top 10 state rankings, at ages 3 and 4, for their age group in NASTAR races.

Their first real competitions came at a very early age. Their grandfather, Severin Palydowycz, now president of the Carpathian Ski Club (KLK), was quite involved with his granddaughters' earliest races. The first races were held at Hunter Mountain, the Ripnicks' then home mountain. Olena, the older sister, was only 3 at the time of her first KLK race. Two years later, sister Tania broke into ski race fever, also at the age of 3.

The girls developed a more serious interest in alpine ski racing and became United States Ski Association (USSA) and New York State Ski Racing Association (NYSSRA) junior members. Their ages divided the sisters into different categories as well as different alpine disciplines. It didn't matter. The driving force to their ski racing for the next 10 years would become the skiing and training they would do together at both Hunter and Windham mountains.

Olena and Tania were both on their high school ski team, of which Olena is now captain. This allowed the girls to train Monday through Friday at Hunter, and compete statewide within the public high school system. Both girls were chosen to represent their district for state competitions. Last year Tania became the youngest state-level competitor ever chosen from Hunter Tannersville School.

Further race development came from 20-year veteran and Head Coach Jere Jeager at Windham Mountain. Mr. Jeager put together a team of coaches that would develop the ski racer beginning at the youngest, Junior 5, level. The continuity of his program created an atmosphere found only in ski academies. The Ripnick sisters had the advantage of ski academy-level training while living at home.

To further support their endeavors (the sisters have missed most of their third semester due to race scheduling), the high school and middle school teachers and administrators worked with the girls in order to make sure that academics would not suffer. While studying and learning on the road is not the easiest, the girls learned a lot about self-discipline. Indeed, both girls have maintained a scholar-athlete status, earning academic averages above 95. Olena has just been inducted into the National Honor Society.

The 2001 Alpine Ski Racing season has been grueling. Both mother and father travel with each girl to races. Olena and Tania speak to each other every morning before a race, and remind one another what the coach's focuses and goals for each sister are. They call between runs to work out technical challenges on their respective courses. They are the supporting link to each other's success. On the rare occasion that one girl has a weekend off, the entire family travels to lend support to the competing athlete. The extended family - grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts and uncles - lend their support from home, via phone calls, prayers, and more prayers. Both Ripnick girls are faithful, and cross themselves at each race start, a practice they began from the time they were still little babies running gates for fun.

Olena competed this year as a first-year Junior 2. At 15, she is in the youngest age group and competes with women in the Junior 1 category as well. Her competition age group starts at age 15 and goes on up through college. It is not unusual for women from different college teams with USSA rankings to be in her competitions. At this level, all four disciplines of skiing: slalom, giant slalom, super G, and downhill are raced. Olena finished eighth in the state for the speed event of downhill in order to qualify for the Empire State Games at Lake Placid, the largest state competition, with the finest competitors from six states, in the entire United States.

While Tania could not be there to support her sister - she was involved in her own State Championships - the girls maintained constant contact by phone, even after each run.

During the Empires, the Olympic Development Committee changed the race from a downhill to a super G race at the last moment. This would unnerve most competitors. Super G is the most dangerous and inconsistent of the four alpine disciplines. Unlike downhill, there are no training runs, only one inspection and then one run, at speeds as fast as downhill. Olena finished with flying colors towards the front of the Junior-2 pack.

Her first year at this intense level of competition was a complete success. To celebrate, she was one of a few Mountaintop girls to march in the now world famous Parade of Athletes at the opening ceremonies of the Empire State Games.

Her point standings are good, and she has already begun her training for the following year.

Tania was a first-year Junior-3 this year. Her competition was with the 13- to 14-year-old range. Because she was a "young" 13 - according to birthdate selections, she is up to 21 months and about 16 pounds behind some of her fellow competitors - Tania had to train and ski harder and longer to attain many of the same results other young women in her category could easily attain.

Like a true competitor, she rose to the challenge, and quickly gave many of the second year J-3's a reason to worry. Her focus is incomparable, and her determination unstoppable. She finished in the top five for every race, with eighth in her first ever super G.

Tania was also invited to a few invitational super G races in Vermont, which served as the experience needed to strengthen her in this event. The strategy worked, as she won a sixth place in the Super G event at New York state competitions. She qualified for New York State Championships by her second race in the regular series. She secured the first seed for state-level competitions by her third. Tania remained consistent throughout States Competitions, and won a position to represent New York state in the Junior Olympics, a fete rarely pulled off by a first year Junior-3.

Tania stayed and trained with the New York State Team at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid. While there, Tania met members of the U.S. bobsled and ski jumping teams, who also were at the Olympic Center to train for competition.

Afterwards, when most of the other competitors continued on to Sunday River, Maine, the site of the J-3 Junior Olympics, Tania's choice was to go back home for a few days, and spend time recharging; at home she is intrinsically in tune and from there she draws her winning energy. When it came time to make the trip to Sunday River for the Junior Olympic Competitions, Tania insisted that her sister take the trip along with her parents.

For most teenagers, competing against the best athletes chosen from a pool of 1,200 competitors can be intimidating. For others, the Olympic-level race courses can break concentration. Not for Tania. She studied the courses, took in the competition and, in the end, like always, raced for herself. Again, she was the youngest, and the smallest, competitor there, something that never bothers her. These variables only serve to teach her where she needs to go in her personal development. She, too, is already training for the next ski season.

Both Ripnick girl are champions in their own right. It is their attitude, their self-discipline, their dedication, their deep faith and their strong support for one another that carries them through an incredibly intense and fast-paced ski racing lifestyle that others cannot even imagine living. It is their prayers and the prayers of their family that carry their sometimes tired spirits through, from race to race all across the Northeast.

When asked, "Would you change your skiing lifestyle for anything in the world?" the answer from both of the "Rip-it-up-nick sisters" is resounding: "Not a chance!" It is yet another confirmation of the attitude that makes up their champion spirit.

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