Devo Freestylers Up the Ante at Telluride
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| by Alan Cole |
February 16, 2009
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Coach Lynn Merriam is so excited about her Devo Freestyle skiers, she's learned a new language. Merriam explained her team's results at the USSA Devo Slopestyle event in Telluride on February 7-8 with terms like "super steezy", "sweet disaster" (apparently a good thing), "flaired-out," and "stomped." The gist was that the team fared well against some talented rivals from Telluride and Durango.
J3 skier Thomas Hooker shined in Saturday's competition, finishing second place for a run that included a "disaster" (or jumping and landing flat on top of the box feature instead of using ramp). "It was a clean, fluid run," Merriam said. Mak Baudin-Grandy also scored well and ended up 5th for the J3s.
Many J4s showed up to compete but AVSC skiers Lawson Pisani, Jake Gentry and Cody Banc were a cut above, finishing second, third and fourth respectively for their age class and third, fourth and fifth overall. According to Merriam, Pisani's run featured a "super flaired-out, floating 360 iron-cross tail grab and some huge amplitude for his 720." Gentry followed by "stomping the landing of his first-ever competition 720," said Merriam. Cody Banc showed his "steez" (style + ease) on the box feature with a 270 on 270 off (3/4 rotation onto the box, 3/4 rotation off). Gage Carr's huge 720 earned him eighth place for the J4s and ninth overall. Also cracking the top-ten was Brooks Gorsuch, who had a run showcasing a nice 360 grab good for 10th place for the J4s and 11th overall.
The young J5 skiers (9-10 years-old) weren't content for the standard airs and dug into their bags of tricks instead. "Our guys threw down some switch hits (landing backwards) and other elements that pushed the competition into new territory," said Merriam. Leading the way was Andrew Tierney who took third place with a run that had his first -ever competition 540 and back-to-back jumps described as "natural and unnatural" (rotating in opposite directions). Davis Henschel's high amplitude run was good for sixth place for the J5s and Ryan Hooker stomped some familiar jumps with good air for eighth place. This was Soren Lindholm's first event of the year and according to Merriam, "he stepped up huge with great amplitude and a super-clean 360" and finished ninth. Joey Lang and Ethan Burkley rounded out the top finishers for AVSC in 11th and 12th place respectively.
8 year-old phenom Simon Wiviott threw down a run with a spread eagle, 50/50 on the box (parallel slide instead of perpendicular) and a nice 180 off the final hit for eighth place for the J6 (7-8 year-old) age class.
Newcomer Jordan Banc attacked Sunday's moguls course despite a fever and finished second for the J6 girls. "She skied really well, stayed in her line and stuck her spread jump," said Merriam.
Mak Baudin-Grandy and Thomas Hooker finished 6th and 7th for their J3 age class on the boys' side.
Lawson Pisani showed the moguls judges some "beautiful skiing," according to Merriam. "It's the first run he's stuck top-to-bottom all year." The result was a third place finish for the J4s and fourth overall. Gage Carr might be one of the younger J4s at 11 years of age, but he still cracked the top-ten with a ninth place run. "He listened well and trained well and put it all together when the moment came," said Merriam.
J5 competitor Andrew Tierney worked his way through a tight field of talented Telluride and Durango skiers and finished 11th out of 25 kids.
All in all, Merriam said that "AVSC represented in their fullest capacity."
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For details, contact
Alan Cole
AVSC
(970) 205-5104
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