PARK CITY, Utah - Moderate snowfall accompanied by strong blowing winds reduced the second day of luge events at the Norton National Youth Championships and Seeding Races to a one-heat affair for Youth A and B athletes in Park City, Utah.

Nevertheless, the shortened competition still brought Friday’s winners back to the top rung of the podium as Tucker West, Theresa Buckley, Liam Chaskey and Brittney Arndt dominated once again in their respective divisions.

The weather in this tony resort was in marked contrast to Friday’s Chamber of Commerce conditions that presented clear blue skies in the Wasatch Mountains.

The racing format called for separate seeding races Friday and Saturday, but a combination of all three runs over the two days determined the Norton National Youth Champions in all divisions.

Together with discretionary considerations, the USA Luge coaching staff will incorporate the results of the past two days into their team selections for the 2012 fall campaign. Those announcements will occur in the spring.

L to R: Underwood, West and Stohr

West, of Ridgefield, Conn., won the second seeding race as well as the Norton Youth A (ages 15-17) National Championship. A member of the Youth Olympic Games gold medal relay team last month, West captured the abbreviated competition with a run of 44.945 seconds down the 2002 Olympic track. He turned back Riley Stohr, of Whitehall, Mich., by 0.44 of a second. Stohr’s time was 45.388, with Levi Underwood, of Skandia, Mich., third, in 45.869.

The 16 year old winner, with a consistently fast start, posted Friday’s two best times for a three-heat total of two minutes, 14.914 seconds over the two days. In moving up to the junior bracket next year, he does not qualify for points through the Youth A seeding series. As a result, Stohr, second both days to West, gained the maximum 100 points for each race. Stohr’s 200 points is followed by Massena, N.Y.’s Jonny Gustafson at 155. Gustafson was fourth Saturday. Justin Krewson, of Eastport, N.Y., is next at 145.

L to R: Germaine, Buckley and Coblentz

Buckley, of Allentown, Pa., turned back the challenge of Raychel Germaine, of Roswell, Ga., by merely 0.07 of a second.

In sweeping the pair of events and securing the Norton Youth A Women’s National Championship, Buckley, an age group winner of two Junior World Cups on this course in December, put down a heat of 43.588. Her national championship total, racing from a lower start, was 2:09.159.

Germaine, who also competed in the Youth Olympic Games, was second in the seeding race in 43.664. Gracie Weinberg, of Middlebury, Vt., took third in 43.768.

Buckley will remain in the age group next year and maxed out with 200 seeding points. Germaine will move up to the junior ranks and was not awarded points. Deborah Coblentz, of Grapevine, Texas, is next with 155, with Weinberg third at 131.

L to R: Taylor, Chaskey and Biles

Chaskey, of Plattsburgh, N.Y., had the fastest run in the Youth B (ages 13-14) men’s category to take the seeding race in 46.662. A winner also on Friday, Chaskey’s three-heat aggregate time was 2:16.655 giving him the national crown. The silver medal in the seeding competition was taken by Duncan Biles, of Herriman, Utah, in 47.364, with Justin Taylor, of Newark, Del., getting the bronze medal in 48.619.

L to R: Caitlin Bubel, Brittney Arndt and MacKenzie Rice

Youth B women’s winner Arndt, of Park City, grabbed the seeding race in 46.214 and the Norton title in 2:14.542 on her home track. Twelve year old Sydney Axton, a 2012 Empire State Winter Games gold medalist from Port Byron, N.Y., was the silver medalist in 46.359. Caitlin Bubel, also of Park City, got the bronze in 46.502.

Two major domestic events remain prior to the conclusion of the current season. The Norton Junior National Championships are set for the same Park City course on March 2-3, followed by the Norton National Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y. March 12-13.

Both events will be presented live via the USA Luge website (www.usaluge.org) in partnership with West World Media.

complete results