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Ski & Snowboard Club Vail athletes in Sun Valley Valley Nationals in Sun Valley

Several of Ski & Snowboard Club Vail's Freeski Team members and coaches enjoy a moment at USSA Freeski Freestyle Junior Nationals in Sun Valley, Idaho,recently.

Sun Valley, Idaho, played host to the this year’s U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association Freestyle and Freeskiing Junior National Championships.

This event brought together the top junior competitors, ages 11-18, from each division across the nation to compete in moguls and dual moguls on the freestyle side and slopestyle, halfpipe and big air on the freeski side.

Taryn Baker, Lindsey Eckhoff, Tegan Large, Hannah Miles, Kai Owens and Emma Reeder represented Ski & Snowboard Club Vail for the women and Jesse Andringa, Teddy Kust, John Leseur and Trevor Wahl represented Ski & Snowboard Club Vail for the men in moguls and dual moguls at Junior Nationals.



Junior Nationals

Ski & Snowboard Club Vail also sent eleven freeski athletes to Junior Nationals in Sun Valley: Pearson Black, Dylan Boyes, Felix Coudouy, Jack Ganley, Noah Gionfriddo, Izak Little, Aaron Milligan, Sammy Schuiling, Rory Swimm, Ari-Diamond Toppleson and Regan Wallis

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Notable results posted by Ski & Snowboard Club Vail athletes in the freeski competitions included Sammy Schuiling qualifying for finals and finishing first in his U17 age class and fifth overall in the men’s slopestyle. In the boys halfpipe, both Sammy Schuling and Felix Coudouy qualified for finals with Schuling finishing second in his U17 age class and fifth overall and Coudouy finishing first in his U17 age class and second overall. In the boys’ big air, Pearson Black qualified for finals and finished first in his U17 age class and seventh overall with a new trick rodeo 720 Bow-Arrow.

In the boys’ moguls competition, Ski & Snowboard Club Vail’s Jesse Andringa took third; Trevor Wahl finished in 12th; John Leseur finished fourth among U15s and Teddy Kust finished 57th. In girls moguls, Hannah Miles finished fifth overall, Taryn Baker was seventh and Lindsey Eckhoff 10th. Emma Reeder took fourth overall in the U13s with Kai Owens and Tegan Large sixth and seventh, respectively.

Andringa skied strong with the highest turn marks of the first round for the boys moguls and seemed on his way to a win. An error in the middle of his second run derailed his effort and he settled for third. Wahl also featured strong skiing and was poised for a top 10, but, like Andringa, suffered foibles in the bottom half of the run. Hannah Miles’ fifth place in girls’ moguls signaled a return to competition form after two years out due to injury. Baker skied fast with the second best time of the day. Eckhoff finished strong despite dropping a pole in the middle of the course. Reeder, Owens and Large all skied solid top to bottom competition runs

Andringa took silver in the boys dual moguls. The final came down to an 18/17 split with Killington’s Abe Studler erring the close call. Andringa advanced through a tough bracket and held off challenges from Winter Park’s Tanner Lyle and Telluride’s George McQuinn. In the final both Andringa and Studler skied strong runs. Adringa took the speed, but Studler edged Andringa out in turns. The difference seemed to come down to a couple of heavy pole plants just before the bottom air.

In the girls’ dual moguls competition, Baker took fifth. In the round of eight, Baker lost a close split against eventual winner Hallee Ray, of Winter Park. In that dual, Baker was slow out of the gate against the speedy Ray. Baker then rallied to pick up wins against Telluride’s Trudy Mickel and mogul champ Olivia Giaccio.


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