Olympic hopefuls take flight at Norge Ski Club

It was a beautiful day to fly Saturday at the Norge Ski Club in Fox River Grove.

Athlete after athlete took flight during the U.S. Nationals Ski Jumping Championships for small hill and Nordic combined.

The club proudly hosted the contest, for only the second time in its 105 years. The last was about 50 years ago.

Especially exciting was the appearance of four of the five women on the Visa Women’s Ski Jumping USA team — who are vying for spots on the United States team for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, the first that will allow women to jump.

Sarah Hendrickson showed what they are capable of, with a 71.5-meter practice jump, one of the longest of the day for men, women or children. The crowd gasped in wonderment as she took flight.

“What a jump for her!” proclaimed announcer Charlie Sedivec, publicity chairman for Norge Ski Club.

The 17-year-old was “throwing down the gauntlet for the guys. That’s right,” he said.

That pleased a gaggle of elementary-school-age girls, decked out in pink T-shirts that said “Flying Like a Girl!”

Skiers from clubs throughout the United States and Canada participated, including members of the Norge club.

Olympic hopeful Ben Berend of the Steamboat Springs, Colo., team, said he has been jumping since he was 7. The 16-year-old was competing Saturday in the Nordic combined, which featured jumping and a cross-country roller-skiing race.

What’s it like at the top of the 70-meter hill, having climbed the last, steep 150 feet of scaffolding while carrying your skis? What does Berend think about as he crouches behind the starting gate way up there, at a point so high you can see Wilmot Mountain in Wisconsin?

“You don’t think about anything. You just go. You try to stay relaxed,” he said.

Berend said he hoped to attain a 60-meter jump, and he did.

Today the club hosts its own tournament, from noon to 4 p.m.