European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 7, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday january 7, 1993 sports the stars and stripes Page 25 snows . By Chris Dufresne the lbs Angeles times with the Christmas break ending the usual preseason optimism has been replaced by the usual dose of reality at the  ski team s Park City Utah Headquarters. A Quot. Quot a 1 a a As the season resumed tuesday the . Women were still dinging to Julie Parisien a opening slalom vie tory at Hometown Park City. The men lets put it this Way should a Kitt Ever go Down the . Team would effectively disappear from the face of the Earth. 1 so far . Hopes have been going downhill a lot faster than most of its skiers. The women steam is deep As expected. Fourteen . Women have scored world cup Points which requires a finish in the top 30. But Parisien remains the Only . Woman with a podium a top three a finish. Maybe expectations were too great. Down Hiller Hillary Lindh won the Silver medal last february in Albertville at the Winter olympics. She has been solid so far but not spectacular boast in top finishes of sixth and eighth place. Diann Roffe Stein Rotter tied for a Silver medal in giant slalom at Albertville but has yet to get her skis uncrossed this season. Her Best finish was a seventh in giant slalom at Steamboat Springs. Parisien began the season As the worlds no. 1-ranked slalom skier and opened the world cup season with a spectacular slalom Victory. But she failed to qualify for both slalom and giant. Slalom at Steamboat the following week and did not competent Lake Louise Alberta in mid december after being told of her brother a death in an automobile Accident. Parisien returned to the . Team for tuesdays giant slalom at Maibor Slovenia but failed to finish. She tied for fourth in wednesday s slalom. Lake Louise ended the season for Eva Tward Okens who Tore or left Anterior cruciate knee ligament and will miss Thorest of the season. Dennis Agee the . Alpine director is hoping the teams Luck will change now that the world cup has moved to Europe. A a we think one of things that happened was that there was a lot of pressure from starting in the ., and the older girls did no to handle the pressure As Well As they should have Agee said a and they admit that too. They re ready to go Over to Europe and get Back to work. A the most pleasant Surprise has been the emergence of Megan Gerety who finished ninth in a super giant Sla Lorn at Vail and then pulled off a shocking fifth place finish at Lake Louise after starting 52nd. Gerety is returning after two injury plagued seasons Low lighted by her appearance at the 1992 olympic games where she injured her knee running into a coach on a training run. Agee thinks there is time to turn things around. 1 a a we re not in the panic Mode Quot he said. A we have a Battle plan we re still not going away from. We re less than a Quarter of the Way through the season. We re not Goingco Gonaway from the game plan this  All dreams for the men Are pinned to Down Hiller Kitty a bib but even his season got off to a Rocky Start. He sprained an ankle in november playing pickup basketball leaving doubt whether he would recover in time for the world cup opener at Valdy Sere France. Kitt did return for the opener and was leading after Blair. Morales i \ f a. S. Is Cit v a it \ i Alec v Kos Vav  Pafik Julie Parsi Cne a bib number in the seasons first race also reflects . Ski teams total podium finishes. Remaining world cup ski schedule do downhill so super giant slalom is giant slalom so slalom cd combined. Women saturday sunday Cortina Italy do sgt Jan. So slab 15-17 Garmisch Germany do Jan. 23-24 Haus Austria do do slab feb. 3-14 Morioka Japan world championships feb. 27-2b Rigels Switzerland do so March 6-7 Moraine France do so March 13-14 Lillehammer Norway do slab March 15 Haf Ieti Norway is March 20-21 Klo Sjo Verdalen Sweden is so March 24-26 Are Sweden do eggs so men saturday sunday Garmisch Germany do slab tuesday Anton Austria so Jan. 16-17 kit Buhel Austria do slab Jan. 18 Adel Boden Switzerland is Jan. 23-24 Wengen Switzerland do slab feb. 3-14 Morioka Japan world championships feb. 27-28 it. Whistler British Columbia do so a Farch 6-7 Aspen Colo. Do so m Arch 13-14 Sierra Nevada Spain do so March 20-21 Lillehammer Norway do so March 23 Opp Al Norway is March 25-28 Are Sweden do eggs so the Early starters had skied Only to have the race cancelled later because of bad weather. Kilt finished third in a recent downhill at Val Gardena Italy but the Only other american to so much As get a whiff the top 10 was Tommy Moe who placed 12th in the same downhill even ton the technical Side the . Men have failed to finish a slalom or giant slalom this season. Agee was hoping this would be a breakthrough year for top slalom Prospect Matt Grosjean who finished 10th at Albertville. 1 but Grosjean has been a disappointment. A the step he has to make now from being in the top 20 in the world to being the top five is the hardest step a Agee said. Quot that a where Oil lose 90 percent of the athletes. 1 think he went in in Abc a Little overconfident. Then when it did no to happen right away personally 1 think he put too much pressure on  the american men have been faring better in Europa cup races but have not been Able to mix it up with the big boys on the world cup. And Grosjean is the Hope for the . In slalom. A a we re not Down on the menus team a Agee said. A this next step Matt has to make might take him All year to make it. He a running against people who have been around a longtime. A maybe we were a hair optimistic on menus Side and we be been Given a Little taste of  top . Nipped by 3 votes ions Pablo Morales Apt Colorado Springs Colo. Apr swimmer Pablo Morales and Speed skater Bonnie Blair a pair of double Gold medal olympians in 1992, were named sportsman and sportswoman of the year by the . Olympic committee on tuesday. Morales came out of retirement to win Gold medals in the 100-meter Butterfly and As part of the menus 400-meter Medley relay team at the summer games in Barcelona. Blair became the first american woman to win the same event at two consecutive Winter games when she took the 500 meters at Albertville then added the Gold in the 1,000. Blair won the 500-meter Gold at the 1988 Calgary olympics. In balloting by a National panel of journalists and usic officials Morales 28, from Santa Clara calif., received 1,191 Points to 1,060 for runner up Kevin Young who won the menus 400-meter hurdles in Barcelona. Bruce Baumgartner Gold medallist in 130-kilogram freestyle wrestling was third with 981 Points. Morales had 36 first place votes with Baumgartner getting one More first place ballot than Young 35-34. In the women a voting Blair 28, from Champaign 111., edged figure skating Gold medallist Kristi Yamaguchi in the closest voting since the award began in 1974. Yamaguchi had three More first place votes 48-45, but Blair had More Overall Points 1,2571,254. Gail Devers the women a 100-meter Gold medallist in track at the Barcelona games was third with 1,083 Points and 31 first place votes. A Bonnie Blair