The 102nd Harris Hill Ski Jumping competition came to a close on Feb. 18 with the Fred Harris Memorial Tournament.
The jumper who wins the Fred Harris Memorial Tournament three times retires the famed Winged Trophy, unique to Harris Hill Ski Jumping. The winner in the Men's Open class was Uhr Rosar of Slovenia, with a jump of 98 meters. On the women's side, the Open class was won by Nejka Zupančič of Slovenia.
Additional winners of the day included Americans Max Fey in the Men's U16 division, Jack Kroll in the Men's U20 division, and Ole Henning Holt of Norway for the Masters division.
"I was so impressed with the overall caliber of jumpers this weekend, including how many jumps exceeded 90 meters," said Todd Einig, Harris Hill Ski Jump director of competition, in a news release. "With Ozbej [Kotnik's] second place finish today, he didn't win another step towards the Winged Trophy yet, but his teammate Uhr [Rosar] did, and hopefully both will return to compete here next year."
The weekend's competition included a Nordic Combined event, with the cross-country ski component run on the nearby Marlboro Nordic Ski Club trails. Participants from the Nordic Combined used their Feb. 18 jumps as part of that event.
It was a sweep for the Americans, with U.S. Cup women's winner Kai McKinnon, U.S. Cup men's winner Caleb Zuckerman, and senior men's winner Tim Leuxe.
Athletes who competed on Feb. 17 in the U20 division also generated points for the U.S. Cup, part of the USA Ski Jumping circuit. The U20 women's was won by McKinnon (USA); Henry Loher (USA) won the men's.
Loher also won both Target Jump competitions. The Open class competed for the Pepsi Challenge, which was won by Kotnik in the men's event and Zupančič for the women's event for another Slovenia sweep.
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