Park City, UT (Tuesday, May 25, 2004) - Olympians Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA) and Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, CO) were honored Saturday night with the highest athletic awards bestowed by the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association while former USSA President and CEO Howard Peterson was given the Julius Blegen Award, the organization's highest award. The Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club (SSWSC) was named USSA Club of the Year.

In addition, Liz McIntyre of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team was honored as USSA Coach of the Year while Chris Grover, U.S. cross country development coach, was named Development Coach of the Year.

USSA is the national governing body for the Olympic sports of skiing and snowboarding with a mission to make the United States the best in the world by the 2006 Olympics. USSA's 2004 Congress at the Yarrow Resort and Conference Hotel began Thursday and included about 200 delegates attending committee, subcommittee and working group sessions which address the rules and progression of all sports (alpine, cross country, disabled alpine and cross country, freestyle, ski jumping, nordic combined and snowboarding) across the country. The Chairman's Awards Dinner Saturday evening was a culmination of event during Congress, honoring volunteers, coaches, athletes and clubs for their outstanding contributions during the past season.

Rahlves, a two-time Olympian, won four races during the 2004 season, including two downhills and two super Gs. He became the first non-Austrian to win the super G during Kitzbuehel's renowned Hahnenkamm Weekend en route to earning the Beck International Award. With eight victories, including six in downhill and two super G, plus the 2001 super G world championships, Rahlves is the most successful U.S. men's speed skier. The Beck International is the highest athlete award from USSA, given annually to an athlete for "outstanding" international results.

Lodwick, who has been to three Olympics and is the nation's alltime best nordic combined athlete, not only won the sixth World Cup event of his career but was champion of the midseason German Grand Prix, which included three World Cup competitions. He had 13 consecutive top-10 World Cup results during the season and finished seventh in World Cup standings, his seventh consecutive season in the top 10. Lodwick concluded his season by sweeping all three gold medals at the Chevrolet U.S. Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping championships, giving him 12 in his career. He received the Buddy Werner Award, which goes to the USSA athlete "who demonstrated leadership and good sportsmanship in national and international competition."

The Blegen Award honors an individual's "outstanding service" to skiing and snowboarding in the United States. Peterson, a president of Cross Country Ski Areas of America while at Bretton Woods (N.H.) Nordic Center before coming to USSA in 1978, was CEO of then-U.S. Skiing until 1994. He was instrumental in the organization playing a greater role within the International Ski Federation and helped bring about several major reforms, including increased prize money for athletes and improved television exposure. He helped bring freestyle skiing into the organization, was team leader in 1988 as freestyle made its debut as an Olympic sport with demonstration events. He is head of the Olympic legacy program at Soldier Hollow, the 2002 Olympic cross country and biathlon venue.

McIntyre, a Dartmouth graduate who was a three-time Olympian and moguls silver medalist at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, turned to coaching following her retirement in 1998. She is U.S. moguls technical coach; U.S. moguls skiers won nine World Cup contests this past season and had 36 podium (i.e., top-3) finishes. Grover, also a Dartmouth grad, joined the U.S. staff for the 1999 season.

SSWSC, celebrating 92 years as a ski club, is the keeper of the "Ski Town USA" legacy for Steamboat Springs. The club boasts 875 athletes ages 3-85 and more than 110 coaches. During the 2003-04 season, SSWSC hosted 90 event days. The club includes programs for alpine, nordic, snowboard and freestykle disciplines, providing a full complement of winter and summer needs, and it just completed a water ramp facility for both freestyle and snowboard athletes to use for training.

Among other top honors announced Saturday night:

• The Westhaven Award for outstanding service as a technical delegate, given to Dr. Robert C. Calderwood of Florence, WI.
  
  
• The Paul Bacon Award for event organization: Wendall "Chummy" Broomhall, the two-time Olympic cross country skier who was cited as the heart and backbone of the Chisholm Ski Club in Rumford, Maine, which hosted the U.S. Cross Country Championships for the last two seasons, four times since 1993.
  
  
• John J. Clair Award for "outstanding service" to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team to former Alpine Director Dennis Agee of California's Mammoth Mountain.
  
  
• Bud & Mary Little Award for longtime service to the International Ski Federation or Olympic community: Hank Tauber (Park City, UT), veteran FIS representative and former alpine director and Olympic coach.
  
  
• Russell Wilder Award for "outstanding effort" to focus the attention of the nation's young on skiing or snowboarding: Billy Kidd (Steamboat Springs, CO), 1964 Olympic medalist and 1970 world champion who had been involved in youth programs for three decades.
  
  
• West Family Cup for outstanding service as a USSA official: Pat Miller, Denver, CO.
  
  
• Alpine Club of the Year: Mammoth Mountain Ski Club (CA)
  
  
• Freestyle Club of the Year: Waterville Valley BBTS Ski Club (NH)
  
  
• Cross Country Club of the Year: SSWSC
  
  
• Jumping/Nordic Combined Club of the Year: Norge Ski Club and Junior Training Center (Fox River Grove, IL)
  
  
• Snowboard Club of the Year: SSWSC
  
  
• In addition to McIntyre and Grover, USSA's sport-by-sport Coach of the Year award recipients include: Alpine International, Alex Hoedlmoser (U.S. Women's Team); Alpine Domestic, Randy Pelkey (Western Region coach); Cross Country International, Trond Nystad and Pete Vordenberg (U.S. Ski Team); Cross Country Domestic, Chris Grover (U.S. Ski Team); Disabled, Jessica Tidswell (U.S. Disabled Alpine Team); Freestyle International, Liz McIntyre (U.S. Moguls Coach); Freestyle Domestic, Steve Kenney (Stratton Mtn., VT); Ski Jumping Domestic, Scott Smith (Norge Ski Club); Snowboard Domestic, Thedo Remmelink (SSWSC).