Mountain Sports Team closes season at USASA Nationals

“Everybody stuck to it and we had great results”

The Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team (CBMST) put the finishing touches on the 2011-2012 season with a trip to the USA Snowboard Association (USASA) Nationals with three athletes competing in the skiercross. Two other local kids joined the CBMST force in Copper as well to add fuel to the local fires.
It’s been a strong season for the CBMST, particularly on the big mountain scene, but the skiercross athletes held their own at Copper to prove the mountain sports team can come at the competition from all disciplines.
Hannah Watt-Sax led the local charge racing in the highly competitive women’s open class, which attracted a cross section of alpine skiers from around the nation.
Head CBMST freeride coach Woody Lindenmeyr admitted that hopes were high for a strong showing from Watt-Sax.
“I had some pretty high expectations with Hannah,” says Lindenmeyr.
Watt-Sax met those expectations early, winning the time trial by over a second and setting her up for success the rest of the day.
“How you finish in the time trial determines your gate start for all of the heats,” explains Lindenmeyr.
Watt-Sax stepped into the starting gate for the finals bound for the title but a slow start left her in second place at the top of the course.
Nevertheless, things were shaping up as the two leaders continued down the course.
“Once she started gliding, she was much faster,” says Lindenmeyr.
Unfortunately, as Watt-Sax positioned for the pass, the leader came off a jump in the back seat and crashed, taking Watt-Sax down with her.
Watt-Sax checked herself and the other girl to make sure everyone was okay before turning her skis back downhill but it was too late to make a comeback for the win.
“The other two ladies had gone by and she just couldn’t catch them,” says Lindenmeyr.
Watt-Sax finished in third place overall to step on the podium and take home a check for $100.
Josie Byron posted a second place finish at the same event last year racing in the 13-15 year-old age group but moved up to race against the 16-18 year-olds this year.
Byron opened with a strong time trial as well and won her first heat but ran into trouble in the semifinals to miss the finals. Nevertheless, she lined up once more for the consolation race to win that and finish the day in fifth place overall.
Kai Sherman made a similar move this season to Byron. Sherman surprised the CBMST coaches as well as himself and won the National title last year among 10-12 year-olds. This year, Sherman was back but on the younger end of the 13-15 year-old age group.
Facing a field 46 strong, Sherman finished 18th in the time trial and advanced through the first heat but took third in his next heat to be bumped out of the quarterfinals finishing 17th overall.
“He’s such a good competitor and great athlete,” says Lindenmeyr.
Two other local kids joined forces with the CBMST in Copper, Brooks Hudson and Alden Watkins. Hudson came into Copper on a two-year winning streak in the local skiercross circuit to be the number-one ranked 9-year-old at Copper.
But the Copper course is an entirely different ball of wax from the one here at Crested Butte and it took awhile for Hudson to get his feet under him.
Nevertheless, Hudson recovered from his practice crashes to jump back into the starting gate on race day. He had a breakthrough in the semifinal race when he won and carried the momentum into the finals to take the silver medal falling to a ski racer from Maine by half of a ski length.
“He had a great attitude and good technique and was really fun to work with,” says Lindenmeyr. “It goes to show that even though we don’t have a lot of skiercross athletes in Crested Butte, we’re right in the mix.”
Watkins took it all in stride in his introduction to the big show. Despite suffering some big crashes in the 10-12 year-old age group he finished out the day.
“He was in deep but he hung in there,” says Lindenmeyr. “He kept coming back up to the start.”
The USASA Nationals wrapped up the season for the CBMST and they will have their end of the season banquet at the Lodge at Mountaineer Square on Thursday, April 19 at 6 p.m.
Overall, Lindenmeyr felt it was a pretty successful season across the board from big mountain to skiercross.
“I thought it was a great season despite the trying conditions,” says Lindenmeyr. “Everybody stuck to it and we had great results.”