The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Junior freeriders dropping into CBMR February 17-19
[ by Than Acuff ]Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team (CBMST) freeriders kicked into high gear last weekend with four athletes competing at a 3* National event in Grand Targhee, Wyoming Thursday through Saturday, February 2-4 while 12 team members were dropping into regional events in Telluride. And there is no sign of slowing down as nine CBMST freeriders are currently competing in National and Regional events at Copper Mountain and the junior freeride tour then comes to Crested Butte for three days of regional events February 17-19.
“I feel like we have twice as many events now since travel was limited during COVID,” says CBMST head coach Mark Robbins.
Robbins was the coach on hand in Grand Targhee and the athletes were treated to great conditions, albeit a bit thick, as the resort received as much as three feet of snow the week prior and resort officials kept the venue closed to the public leading up to the national event.
In addition, the slate of athletes was top notch as national events require pre-qualification based on results from last year with a few spots open to coach recommendations.
Lilah Young and Rowen Downum represented the CBMST at Grand Targhee in the 15–18-year-old age class. Young was the first female to ski the venue, a tough spot for sure, and linked together three great features in her run but a hip check at the bottom cost her. Downum worked the “style and energy” judging category with grabs when launching two airs on the venue but a missed feature at the top of his run cost him leaving him out of the finals as well.
“The National events tend to be higher level,” says Robbins. “The bar is a little higher and you gotta put down a clean and exciting run.”
The young guns for CBMST Gage Goodnough and Brooks Miller punched their ticket to the final day with their effort in qualifiers and then upped their games on their final run. Goodnough moved all the way from 22nd place to ninth place on his final run and Miller moved from sixth onto the podium to finish in second place with the highest scoring run of the day.
Meanwhile in Telluride, Alyssa Lodivico carried the CBMST colors to the podium in the female 15-18-year-old ski category to place fifth in just her first year in the older group. Teagan Turner was the lone CBMST female 15-18-year-old snowboarder and slid her way into first place.
“We’ve got a deep field of girls which is awesome,” says Robbins.
Marin Gardner had the top result among the CBMST male skiers in the 15-18-year-old age class coming in seventh place.
The younger CBMST athletes had solid showings as well led by a second place finish by Liam Hadley and a fourth place finish from Brie Polster on the first day of the two-day regional competition.
The CBMST athletes are now training and competing as they prepare to defend their home hill when the Junior Freeride competition circuit lands in Crested Butte Friday through Sunday, February 17-19. The three-day shredfest starts with u12 athletes on Thursday and then the 12-14-year-olds and 15-18-year-olds will be sending it both Saturday and Sunday in two separate regional events. Venues for the competitions have yet to be announced.
