The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Breckenridge success punches ticket to big show for some
[ by Than Acuff ]
Once the snow settled from a frantic five days of competing at regional and national IFSA freeride stops at Breckenridge last week, 10 Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team (CBMST) athletes made the cut and eight are headed to the IFSA North American (NorAm) Junior Championships at Big Sky, Montana April 6-9.
“We became Breck locals while we were there,” jokes CBMST coach Mark Robbins.
Some CBMST athletes had already qualified for the big show prior to Breckenridge while the results of others opened the door for them to head there.
“A few kids were already in but a bunch still needed results and several of them executed,” says Robbins.
The venue coupled with a below average winter for Breckenridge suited the Crested Butte contingent well and a couple inches of new snow only made things better.
“It’s low tide over there so it was more technical,” says Robbins. “It was CB type skiing, steep and techy, so the kids were comfortable with the terrain.”
Marin Gardner will be representing the team in the 15-18-year-old skier group in Montana while the 12-14-year-old CBMST skiers will be in force in Montana after an exceptional showing in the national event in Breckenridge. Due to the weather, organizers cut the field headed into the finals down to 14. Of those 14 that advanced to that final day in Breckenridge, five were from the CBMST.
“That was really awesome,” says Robbins.
Following the competition week, points from their results throughout the season were then calculated and in the end Wyatt Cook, Sam Anderson, Fraser Birnie, Liam Hadley, Devin Lindenmeyr and Brooks Miller all qualified for NorAms in skiing.
On the CBMST snowboarding side of things Teagan Turner, Nolan Gardiner, Wyatt Osmundson and Temple Robertson also made the cut to the championships in the 12-14 age class with Turner and Gardiner making the trip while Osmundson and Robertson are opting to compete in another event that same weekend.
“It’ll be techy, techy but we’re used to rocks,” says Robbins.
