The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Leaving this event, our athletes were more motivated than ever to come back next season and work even harder”
By Than Acuff
The Junior Freeride National Championships at Kirkwood April 9-13 brought an official end to the season for all Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team (CBMST) athletes with 11 competing in the big event from the u12 age class up to the u19 age class, both skiers and snowboarders. In the end u19 snowboarder Teagan Turner had the top result among the CBMST finishing second in the overall points series and second at the National Championships while u15 skier Sol Hausdoerffer took fifth at Nationals and finished the season third overall. For Turner, it was her final ride as a CBMST athlete.
“It was bittersweet seeing her on the podium knowing that it’s probably the last time I’ll coach her,” says CBMST snowboard coach Tyler Adams. “We’re super proud of her and we’re looking forward to her future in freeride.”
Coaches Montana Wiggins, Emma Latta headed up the u19 ski contingent while Joe Komatz was in charge of the u12 skiers and Adams led the snowboarders. While it’s easy to point to results as success, the CBMST coaches and program have something else in mind for their athletes.
“Our number one goal is to always have fun,” says Wiggins. “We wanted each athlete to showcase their training and abilities we worked on all season and have the most fun doing it. We make competing really fun and the results are a byproduct of that.”
Conditions were tricky on the famed Cirque venue at Kirkwood with each day starting with one surface and finishing with a completely different type of snow to manage.
“The snow was a hard crust to a deep sticky slush,” says Wiggins. “Athletes would inspect the venue while it was a sheet of ice but compete on sticky wet slush. Temps at the base of the venue were 60-70°F all week. Felt like a warm August day on Elk. Or warmer.”
While the pressure of National Championships and the changing conditions can make for a nervy situation for young athletes, Wiggins and the CBMST coaches made sure to keep it as light as they could for the skiers and snowboarders.
“Sure, there’s pressure to compete hard at the Nationals event, but they’re mostly just happy to have the chance to be there and ski a line that they’ll be proud of,” says Wiggins.
“At the end of the day, they ski/compete to have fun and we try to remind them that. We had them all wear cropped microwave puffy vests during inspection to lighten the mood.”
When it came down to it, in addition to Turner’s and Hausdoerffer’s results, several other CBMST athletes rose to the occasion gaining additional experience in their young careers.
“Both Autumn (Evanko) and Phoebe (Cahir) had phenomenal competition experience and growth as u15 athletes,” says Wiggins. “Brooks (Miller) and Tucker (Pritchett) showed they were mentally ready and prepared to give it their best. Both skied smart and continued to push their competition experience.”
“This was Dylan’s (Treadwell) and Lily’s (McElyea) first time doing a full season of competition and making it all the way to champs so we’re all super proud of them,” adds Adams. “They’ve both made so much progress this season.”
Given the positive experiences had by all of the CBMST crew, they are all looking ahead to next year and looking to get back to the big show and seeing friends throughout the season on the competition circuit.
“A big highlight is seeing the level these kids are riding at,” says Adams. “I’m blown away at the things these kids are trying and the conditions they’re willing to try them in. I also love seeing the camaraderie of all of the athletes from all over. You can tell they love hanging out and riding together.”
“It was a great way to close out the season for both athletes and coaches,” says Wiggins. “Leaving this event, our athletes were more motivated than ever to come back next season and work even harder. As coaches we are very proud of all the athletes, especially ours. We know the athletes are hungry for more next season.”
