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Crystal Mountain, WA — April 4, 2010, The Junior Freeskiing Championships presented by MSI, Crystal Mountain, and Crystal Mountain Hotels wrapped up their season today as the Crystal Mountain event concluded and brought the competition season to an end. Day two of the event saw these young guns skiing some of Washington’s premier terrain with ample amounts of new snow. Silver King provided a great backdrop to today’s action regardless of the high winds and poor visibility as more than 50 competitors from across North America were challenged by steep, technical conditions and rising to the test on one of the most difficult venues they have faced all season.
The 12-15 year old girls kicked the day off with three competitors making the cut from day one’s Elk Chute venue. Sally Steeves of Red Mountain, Canada came away with today’s victory skiing a smart, well executed line with a score of 33.33 added with yesterdays 35.43 for a first place score of 68.77. Crested Butte’s Djemilah Birnie placed second scoring a 28.07 today and a 26.63 from yesterday for a total score of 54.70. Jessica Sterrett out of Alta, Utah was right on her heels in 3rd place with a 45.07 for her final two run total.
For the 15-17 year old girls Whistler’s Camilla Loughlin walked away as the women’s champion taking a strong, aggressive line, and an impressive cliff hit at the bottom for a two run total of 62.10. Meagan Brown-Dahl of Red Mountain, Canada finished in 2nd place with the run of the day scoring a 33.13 and a 28.00 from yesterday giving her total of 61.13 less than one point out of first. Alta’s Tasha Heilweil rounded out the podium with a score of 30.33 added with her run 1 score of 30.07. Overall the women skied with a lot of poise and aggressiveness and certainly showcased their talent at an adult level of competition. The final results saw the field within 3 points of each others final score.
The 12-14 year old boys were next as a field of 19 moved on from day one. These young kids proved that their skiing skills were not to be out matched as some of these guys skied some of the best runs of the day. Local boy Austin Stromme skied a very aggressive line including several stomped airs, and a smooth polished line with great variety walking away with the first place trophy with a score of 35.57 combine with a 32.77 from yesterday giving him an impressive overall score of 68.33, the highest overall score awarded for the entire competition. Following Austin was teammate and Crystal local Nash Grimm aided by his local knowledge of Silver King. He skied a fluid clean run landing him in 2nd place with a run 2 score of 36.30 and a run 1 score of 31.67 giving him a 67.97. Kirkwood’s Matt Reuter closed out the podium facing high winds and low visibility but taking a challenging line that paid off for him landing him with a two run total of 67.80.
The highlight of the day was the 15-17 year old boys. Some of the top guns took chances yesterday on the Elk Chute’s venue and opened up the field in the overall standings. That led to some of the most aggressive skiing of the entire tour as competitor after competitor was challenged by the steep windy venue. Utah’s Sam Cohen, son of legendary ski photographer Lee Cohen took a strong aggressive line combining small airs with left-side 360s and aired out the last hit with no hesitation stomping the landing on his way to the top of the podium. His day two score of 36.97 combined with the Elk Chute’s score of 30.63 gave him a total score of 67.60, just one third of a point ahead of teammate Riley Rose. Rose took the air of the day award as he went speeding into the last hit flying over 50 feet. His aggressive line and smooth style kept him in second place with a day two score of 33.40 combine with a 33.87 for an overall total of 67.27. Whistler’s Conor MacDonald rounded out the podium with a third place total of 65.73.
With the final results tallied and points double checked the overall standings have been confirmed. This year’s overall champions all had to face the same challenges facing tough competition at every stop as well as facing the changing venues and choice of lines. Crested Butte’s Djemilah Birnie was crowned the 12-14 girls tour champion and Alta’s Casey Rose walked away with the boys honor as overall 12-14 boys champ. Utah kept the titles coming in as Alta’s Tasha Heilweil took the overall championship for the 15-17 year of girls and Snowbird’s John Collinson was awarded the overall champions title for the boys age 15-17.
Two other awards were also handed out today include the Bird Award and the Captain Jack award. The Sick Bird encompasses the most exciting run of the day and was given to Sam Cohen for his incredible style and line choice. His two 360s along with a stomped landing off the final air were enough to impress the judges and send him home with a tremendous award.
The Captain Jack award is given to those competitors that are the inspirational and spirited athletes that represented the soul and passion of the sport throughout the entire compitiion season in honor of Captain Jack Carey. This weeks most spirited athletes were Austin Stromme and Matt Reuter and the overall honor was given to brothers Casey and Riley Rose for their outstanding attitude.
Big thanks to MSI, IFSA, Crystal Mountain, and Crystal Mountain Hotels for making the Junior Freeskiing Championships a success.
Mountain Sport International will again be producing photos and stories posted on www.freeskiingworldtour.com .
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