Lake Placid resident, 12 year old, Tate Frantz qualified for the US Ski Jumping Junior Nationals that took place Feb 22-28 in Anchorage, Alaska. Frantz competes for New York Ski Education Foundation (NYSEF) training at the Olympic Ski Jump facility in Lake Placid, NY and has been jumping for 5 years. Three NYSEF athletes including Frantz, Bryce Kloc (Clifton Park, N.Y.), 12 and Matt White (Lake Placid, N.Y.), 16 also qualified and participated at the Junior National Championships.

After a great first jump distance on the 65 meter hill, Frantz put down a distance of 64.5. During his second jump however, he caught a beautiful headwind and put down a hill record distance of 70.5. Distance is only one factor the judges look at in a jump. With a very close point spread in the top six, Frantz was able to come away with the National Ski Jumping title in the U16 category. This was the first National Title for a local NYSEF ski jumper since 2006 and young Frantz will have a subsequent three more years in this division at the National level with a promising future ahead.

Frantz’s teammates, Bryce Kloc finished 7th in U16 and Matt White finished in 4th in U20 division.

In the team event, NYSEF athletes were joined with other competitors from New Hampshire and Vermont to make up the Eastern division. The Eastern division is under the direction of NYSEF head coach and former NYSEF jumper, Colin Delaney.

2018 was a red banner year for the Eastern team. They earned the gold in U16 ski jumping – Tate Frantz, U16 Nordic combined – Evan Nichols, U20 Nordic combined — Henry Johnstone, and for the first time since 2006, team East won the overall team event over Central Division and the Rocky Mountain Division (RMD).  Frantz, Nichols, Johnstone and White made up this championship team.

Another team event, the 2 person team Nordic combined, Frantz and Nichols earned silver in jumping and nordic skiing skate relay for U16s.

Coach Delaney commented, “We couldn’t ask for more from these young athletes for having an incredible showing and putting Eastern ski jumping at top of the Nation. To take home so many medals and so many top performances was the highlight of the season for these dedicated jumpers. There is a lot of momentum behind our program and a lot of great athletes on the team right now. This is a great time in our sport for the US right now.”