CBMST holds it down at Junior Nationals

Two podiums, two top 10s

by Will Dujardin/westelkproject.com

The IFSA National Series rolled into town this weekend at Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) and the talent just keeps getting stronger and stronger. After a strong showing at the regional race a month ago in February, the Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team (CBMST) was ready to take on all challengers on the Hawk’s Nest and Sock-It-To-Me venues.

The competition tends to step it up at the national events, where more points are on the line and athletes come from Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado and even one from Alaska. When all was said and done, Crested Butte would have two athletes taking the victories in 12-14 ski and snowboard divisions and a couple of top 10s in the older 15-18 ski men division.

The action started off on the often-used Hawk’s Nest venue during Friday and Saturday’s day one action. The 12-14 year-olds and 15-18 women skied on Friday, while the 15-18 men skied Saturday. In a smaller field of three athletes, CBMST’s Dagan Schwartz opened up the action by taking a commanding seven-point lead in the 12-14 snowboard division.

Unfortunately, Ella Haverkampf, the CBMST’s lone female in competition, took a fall after a strong top section, leaving the regional favorite from Vail, Austin Obourn, a clear path to the lead in the 12-14 skier girls’ division.

Three local boys, Kye Matlock, Brooks Hudson, and Carson Hildebrandt, showed their knowledge of the home field terrain by just absolutely lacing runs down Hawk’s Nest and Old Pro, finishing in first, second, and third, respectively, going into the finals out of 32 athletes.

The older guys came into Saturday on Hawk’s Nest ready to fire it up. Grifen Moller, the regional winner from Team Summit, threw down a line that probably would have won the recent adult event on Hawk’s Nest when he floated a three over all of Slipper into the finish corral, taking top score of the day. Vail’s Kevin Nichols got super creative with switch one off of the top rock in Old Pro, following it up with a three by the tree island and clearing all of the Slipper, the biggest of the day for third behind the super strong skiing of Aiden Pruett of Altabird Freeride in second.

The CBMST athletes, Jon Clay Patterson and Turner Petersen, both laid down impressive, solid runs to finish in fifth and ninth, respectively, looking to make moves in the finals.

On the women’s side, Morgan Westfall of Winter Park was in the lead with Elsa Smith of Jackson, Wyo. close on her heels in second. In men’s snowboarding, Mikey Tuck and Noah Hagan were leading in first and second, respectively, going into finals.

The Sock-It-To-Me venue might be a little shorter, but it offers some very technical options and big moves with the steep skiing and riding through Cesspool and the mandatory air in Little Hourglass. The 12-14 skiers and riders were limited to Cesspool but that didn’t hold them back from skiing like they live here.

Aaron Cook of Vail threw a quick three in the upper section of Cesspool before greasing the choke, good enough for third place overall. Unfortunately, Kye Matlock, fresh off his trip to Japan, wasn’t able to hold on to first after he smoked through Cesspool but high-sided in his run out, taking a fall that would finish him in 14th. That left a battle for the top spot between Carson Hildebrandt and Brooks Hudson, the local shredders.

Carson had a slightly stronger line with his double through Cesspool while Brooks had an extra feature up in the top of his line and showcased his powerful skiing through Cesspool. In the end, Brooks edged Carson by .04 points in their scores in the finals and took the overall victory by .45 points.

Austin Obourn of Vail was able to continue her regional domination by taking the victory ahead of Maya Ordonez in second and top finals scorer Alexandra Carey in third.

Dagan Schwartz just had to stay on his feet to wrap up the victory and his second national win and he did just that, winning the finals day by another six points over London Albrecht and Seth Mossman.

Mia Farley, the lone 12-14 snowboard girl, kept it together to walk away with the victory.

The older athletes were ready to rip it up with the addition of Little Hourglass to the venue. The ladies threw down through Cesspool and Elsa Smith was able to catch up to Morgan Westfall to take the overall victory. Morgan held on to second place and Vail’s Jordan Glendining almost caught her for third place.

On the snowboard side, Stacy Gaskill had two solid runs over the competition to win over Jenna Paller in second and Meredith Kemp in third. The 15-18 snowboard men did a little shuffle up top, with Noah Hagan throwing down the cleanest line through Cesspool to edge out Mikey Tuck in second with Lucas Stanfield in third.

The 15-18 skier men did not hold back as a majority of the top skiers made Little Hourglass look like child’s play and would have held their own against the adults who competed there a couple of weeks ago.

Turner Petersen moved up from ninth to sixth with a clean double through Little Hourglass and Jon Clay Patterson moved up a spot to fourth place, making it down the venue the fastest of the day through Little Hourglass, finishing .2 points behind Aiden Pruett, who was able to hold on to third place.

Kevin Nichols did his standard thing and sent the skier’s left of Little Hourglass for a big air to stomp and moved up to second place. Meanwhile, Grifen Moller, who has already committed to Western State Colorado University for next year, getting the locals excited, kept up his strong skiing and won the day again by over two points. He singled the big pillow stack on the skier’s right of Little Hourglass for 30 to 35 feet. Finn Andresson kept up the strong Vail presence by rounding out the top five. Matthew Harper-Johnston of the CBMST took home one of his strongest national performances, moving up from a tie in 32nd to 24th.

Overall, this event showcased just how technical and strong the skiing and riding has become in the IFSA series, especially in the steep venues of Crested Butte Mountain Resort. There are still a couple of regionals left around Colorado, a few nationals around the country as well, but athletes are starting to look forward to North American Championships, which will take place in Whistler, B.C., the week after CBMR closes, April 7-10.