Ben Wingfield, Murial Schomaker, Park City’s new Luge Youth National Champions

Luge Jr. National Championships at the Utah Olympic Park with Park City's Murial Schomaker on the top. Photo: Rhea Schomaker

PARK CITY, Utah — Park City sliders Murial Schomaker and Ben Wingfield claimed victory at the USA Luge Junior and Youth National Championships, held March 7-8 at the Utah Olympic Park, earning national titles in their respective categories.

Wingfield, a student at Silver Summit Academy, won the Youth A Mens category. The National C Team member’s combined two-run time, from the top, was 1 minute and 30.959 seconds as luge is the only Winter Olympic sport measured to the thousands of a second. Thats in the 45 second range per run and he hit a top speed of 70.3 miles per hour.

Schomaker won the Youth B Womens category hitting a top speed of 62.4 mph with a finish time combined from her two runs of 1 minute 28.995, averaging 44 seconds per run, from the lower down Womens Start on the track. She’s a student at Ecker Hill Middle School.

Youth A is 14-18-year-olds and Youth B is everyone under 14. Both athletes compete on the Wasatch Luge Club Team and got their start in the sport via the afterschool program Youth Sports Alliance (YSA).

General Manager of the UOP Jamie Kimball told TownLift, “We thrilled to be able to host all the most talented young luge athletes from around the country on our track during these Jr. National Championships. It’s a fun event for our employees as well as for the dedicated families traveling from out of town to enjoy all that Park City has to offer.”

Schomaker’s dad, Kevin  served as a Jury Chair with the officials and her mom, Rhea didn’t officiate this time, instead volunteering to coordinate all the off-track activity like Parent Night, bowling gathering, and the all important Race Afterparty. 

Murial’s sister Macey, on the USA Luge Jr. National Team, wrote on social media, “Couldn’t be prouder of my little sister, Jr. National Champion.”

Mom wrote, “Soooo proud of my Miriel for winning this weekend. She is #1 in the USA for her age! We are unbelievably proud of her hard work this season! And similarly, I am incredibly proud of Molly, who made the very difficult decision to retire from luge this year, but then proudly supported her little sister and cheered for her trackside. It must have been so hard to watch her friends and sister compete without her. I love all of these luge athletes…the small community allows us to know and love each one. They’re all so dedicated, work hard, push through hard days , and all deserve recognition. Congrats!!”

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Gallery photos courtesy of USA Luge.

Of the 11 total luge athletes from Utah who qualified to participate in the event, Liam Pearl from Provo won his Jr. Development Mens category. Additionally, representing Utah were Parkites Greta Hayes and Axton Zahniser from Ecker Hill middle School who placed sixth and seventh, respectively. Quatro McDonald, who attends Treasure Mountain Jr. High School, finished in sixth place.