Freestyle Junior Olympics begin today
Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club coach Timmy Meagher, left, Ryan Dyer and coach Nate Bird show off Dyer's Rocky Mountain Division overall dual moguls trophy last weekend in Telluride. Dyer will be one of 24 Steamboat athletes competing in this year's Freestyle Junior Olympics at the Steamboat Ski Area.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Freestyle moguls
Champ Moguls
Girls
12. Kara Johnson
18. Alison Crowe
22. Shelby Dyer
25. Camille Bucci
Boys
4. Ryan Dyer
5. Ryan Riley
9. Lars Johnson
12. Luke Kamieniecki
13. Michael Degrandis
18. Dalton Lee
23. Colton Harding
Junior Moguls
Girls
13. Shelby Dyer
17. Alison Crowe
21. Camille Bucci
Boys
3. Luke Kamieniecki
4. Ryan Dyer
6. Michael Degrandis
7. Dalton Lee
11. Colton Harding
12. Lars Johnson
28. Tyler Saxe
29. Taylor Miller
32. Bradley Hoefer
35. Matt Binsfeld
Dual Moguls
Girls
9. Alison Crowe
17. Shelby Dyer
17. Camille Bucci
17. Kara Johnson
Boys
3. Ryan Dyer
8. Ryan Riley
9. Lars Johnson
9. Bradley Hoefer
2008 schedule
10 a.m. today - halfpipe Bashor Terrain Park
10 a.m. Thursday - slopestyle Bashor Terrain Park
10 a.m. Friday - moguls VooDoo
10 a.m. Saturday - aerials VooDoo Air Hill
10 a.m. Sunday - dual moguls VooDoo
Steamboat Springs — Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club freestyle coach Nate Bird compared last weekend's season-ending Rocky Mountain Division event in Telluride to swinging two baseball bats before stepping into the batter's box.
Bird said the difficult Telluride course was the perfect precursor to the highly competitive 2008 Freestyle Junior Olympics, which begin today at Steamboat Ski Area.
"You really had to be in that technical form," Bird said of the Telluride mogul course, which is 10 meters longer and two degrees steeper than Steamboat's VooDoo run, where the Junior Olympic moguls events will take place. "You had to be in that right position. It proved itself over and over again."
Today's events begin with the halfpipe competition, followed by slopestyle Thursday, moguls Friday, aerials Saturday and dual moguls Sunday.
The halfpipe and slopestyle events will take place in the Bashor Terrain Park, while moguls and aerial competitors will bounce through bumps on VooDoo.
With more than 300 competitors from the all across the country competing, Bird said this week's Junior Olympics will feature some of the best young freestyle competitors in the nation. Although the competition will be tougher than the traditional Rocky Mountain Division events, Bird said the goals for the Steamboat athletes remain the same.
"Our goal is to have several podiums," Bird said. "It can happen. We have all the talent, it's just a matter of taking that talent to the competition. : This is our home territory, so we're hoping to bring home some medals."
The Junior Olympics feature the top 50 J1 through J5 mogul and aerial skiers and top 60 slopestyle and halfpipe skiers.
Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club freestyle skiing program director Erik Skinner said the event will have the best of the best skiers and snowboarders from seven divisions throughout the country.
"It's a heck of an event," Skinner said. "It's a higher level of competition than the usual divisionals. It should be spectacular skiing."
Steamboat accounts for 24 participants.
