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Pittsfield’s Mazie Hayden Crowned USASA National Champion in Girls 10-12 Skiercross at Championships Held at Copper Mountain, Colorado
KILLINGTON, Vt. (April 13, 2012)— Mazie Hayden, an 11-year-old from Pittsfield, Vt., and a member of the Killington Mountain School Competition Program, took the USASA National Championship title for skiercross in the Skier Girls (Age 10-12) division at Copper Mountain in Colorado last week. Hayden competed against the best 34 girls in her age group from across the country. (more…)
KMS and KSC/KMS skicross racers led the charge at USASA Nationals; Mazie Hayden took the win in the Girls 10-12 division, while Taylor Doxsee '11 took the win in the Men's 18+ event. BOOST student-athlete Chloe Pultar took first in Girls 10-12 slopestyle as well as fourth in halfpipe and second amongst girls 13 and younger in the rail jam. Jack Sylvester added another podium to the tally with a second-place finish in Skier Men 13-15, while Tec Calcagni just missed the top 30 in that event and then took 10th in the halfpipe competition. Charlie Gnoza claimed a pair of podium finishes, taking third in both slopestyle and halfpipe competition for the nine-and-under crowd. In the Open Men's class, Ari Schneider took 13th in the halfpipe and 23rd in slopestyle, while KSC/KMS alum Matt Crowe took 15th in the halfpipe and 28th in slopestyle. Max Tarricone added two more top-30 results with a 16th-place finish in halfpipe and a 24th-place finish in slopestyle for the Boys 10-12 division.
On the snowboard side, Logan Farmer took the top KMS result with a consolation-final win in the Youth Men division for boardercross, adding a fifth-place finish in that event to a 13th-place finish in giant slalom and a 15th-place finish in slalom. BOOST student-athlete Sophie Anderson took seventh in slopestyle for Youth Women; KSC/KMS competitor Maggie Leon also rode into the top 30 with a 28th-place finish in the same division. Kamran Gossieaux took top-twenty finishes in both slalom and giant slalom in the Junior Men category, while BOOST student-athlete Shane Smith rode strong to move up 30 spots from his ranking in Breaker Boys slopestyle and then qualified for brackets in boardercross. Nikki Sardelli crashed in the Breaker Girls boardercross quarterfinals, finishing the day in 16th position.
The freeride team had its last Vermont events of the 2011-12 season over the past few weeks, with the Rev Tour and Carinthia Open at Mt. Snow before the final K-Town Showdown of the season. Many of the freeride athletes will be headed to USASA National Championships at Colorado's Copper Mountain, where they will be competing for halfpipe, slopestyle and rail jam titles against competitors from throughout the country.
The season's last Rev Tour stop began on March 15 with slopestyle competition in which KSC/KMS alum Matt Crowe took 23rd and several KMS athletes—Sam Gnoza (31), Cooper Babbitt (33), Tec Calcagni (34), Ari Schneider (38) and Eric Unterberger (41)—stacked up just outside the top 30. Competition moved to the halfpipe the following day as Matt took sixth and Cooper seventh; Tec and Ari rounded out the top 20 in 15th and 18th. The Carinthia Open kicked into gear the following day as Devon Savino qualified for finals in the Pro division and Jack Sylvester took third in the Amateur division.
Despite the summer weather that threatened to derail the event, the Killington Terrain Parks crew worked hard and hosted the final competition in the K-Town Showdown series. KMS and KSC/KMS skiers and riders made the best of the rail jam format as Joey Leon and Robbie Ettori took first and third in the snowboard grom division while Josh Tarricone and Sam Gnoza took second and third for skier groms. In the open division, Maggie Leon took a bunch of swings at two big tricks—a frontside lip on the downbar and gap to 50-50 on the down-flat-down rail—to grab third place in the women's open category. For a full report on the KSC/KMS snowboarders at the event, including video, check out the KSC/KMS Snowboard Team blog.
With a strong season of USASA Southern Vermont Series competition behind them, freeride competitors are ready for USASA National Championships at Colorado's Copper Mountain. Ari Schneider, Tec Calcagni, Sam Gnoza, Eric Unterberger, Jack Sylvester, Josh Tarricone, Max Tarricone, Charlie Gnoza and Carter Gordon—nine athletes in total—qualified to represent Vermont at Copper. Josh skied well enough throughout the series not only to qualify for nationals but also took the Southern Vermont Series halfpipe title in the Skier Men (13-15) age group.
"Everyone skied great this winter, and I'm really looking forward to everyone showing off their skills on a national level," said Coach DJ Montigny.
The 2012 Eastern Qualifying Series for freestyle skiing concluded Sunday as Waterville Valley hosted the East Coast Junior Championships and East Coast Young Guns Championships. KMS and KSC/KMS skiers took nearly 40 top-10 finishes across the six competitions, with the young guns putting on a particularly impressive showing as they took six out of 13 possible mogul podiums and 10 out of 24 possible freeride podiums.
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East Coast Young Guns Championships |
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Moguls |
Air |
Slopestyle |
F5
1. Madison Hogg
11. Cassie Cavallo
13. Dani Heims
F6
1. Kasey Hogg
2. Delphine Esformes
5. Kaia Schmid
7. Juilanna Cavallo
10. Brinley Johnson
11. Ally Grobman
F7
1. Kassidy Lynch
M5
2. Frankie Giaccio
8. Jack T. Preschern
13. Cole D. Ward
16. Thomas A. Autiello
19. Devin Johnston
21. Christopher Imbarrato
23. Conan Green
26. Clay W. Lynch
27. Keenan Green
28. Matthew Dispenza
M6
1. Charlie Gnoza
4. Anthony Autiello
5. Cameron Solomon
6. Daktoa Stuart
7. Tyler T. Damore |
F5
7. Cassie Cavallo
F6
2. Julianna Cavallo
6. Ally Grobman
M5
13. Conan Green
19. Carter Gordon
M6
1. Tyler T. Damore
2. Dakota Stuart
3. Matthew Labaugh
M7
1. Trae R. Damore
2. Marcus Cavallo |
F5
6. Cassie Cavallo
F6
4. Julianna Cavallo
M5
17. Frankie Giaccio
21. Carter Gordon
26. Lucas B. Alvarez
29. Conan Green
M6
1. Tyler T. Damore
3. Charlie Gnoza
5. Matthew Labaugh
7. Cameron Solomon
10. Dakota Stuart
M7
1. Trae R. Damore
2. Marcus Cavallo |
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East Coast Junior Championships |
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Moguls |
Air |
Slopestyle |
F3
10. Jia Hong
14. Emma L. Fischer
19. Rose O'Brien
F4
4. Olivia Giaccio
7. Mazie Hayden
8. Alexandra Lanka
M3
15. Ben Arquit
M4
4. Stewart Olson
5. Kalman Heims
7. Collin Campbell
8. Griffin K. Ward
9. Ben E. Mason
11. Mark Preschern
13. Zachy Noah Simpson
16. Luc Esformes
22. Blake Levitts
28. Kyle Rasmussen |
M4
29. Collin Campbell |
F4
7. Olivia Giaccio
M4
26. Ben E. Mason |
Congratulations to all the athletes on another strong EQS season!
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Nick Marino (left) skis to a fourth-place finish at Steamboat. (SkinDog SunShield photo) |
The combined efforts of the KMS and KSC/KMS mogul and freeskiing teams garnered a total of 15 top-30 finishes, including five top-10 results, at last week's U.S. Junior National Championships. Competition started with men's halfpipe on Wednesday, March 7, where Cooper Babbitt qualified for finals in 16th and then took 14th overall with a run that included a huge 7 into a switch 3. The freeride team moved over to the slope course on Thursday, where Sam Gnoza took 24th and Devon Savino 28th in their respective heats; they then moved on to aerials on Friday, where Devon just missed stepping onto the podium and took a fourth-place finish behind two U.S. Ski Team members and a U.S. Ski Team Development Group competitor. Ari Schenider took 18th overall, seventh in his age group, while Tec Calcagni was seventh in his age group and 23rd overall; Sam Gnoza took 28th on the day, 10th in the M3 category.
Mogul competition began on Friday, March 9, as Kayla Burcin led the team with a ninth-place overall finish and took second in her age group. Allison Benedict took 11th overall, while Hannah Soar— a first-year competitor at junior nationals—took 24th overall and the top spot in the F4 age group; Kat Spilman took 26th on the day, sixth in her age group. On the men's side, several KMS skiers had trouble putting together a top-to-bottom run, but Tyler Wadhams '11 was able to put one together and take 24th; Abe Studler, another first-year competitor at junior nationals, just missed the top 30 overall but took sixth in the M3 age class. Dual mogul competition on Sunday saw the strongest mogul skiing of the weekend for KMS and KSC/KMS as Megan Moores took seventh in the women's competition and Nick Marino skied consistently all day to take fourth for the men.
Sam Gnoza also took third overall in the combined standings on the basis of all-around finishes. For photos and videos from the event, check out the KMS Mogul Team Facebook page.
The Hole Shot Tour came to Killington this past week, with racing on Wednesday and Thursday. With three stops during the 2012 season, the Hole Shot Tour is designed to bridge the gap between the Revolution Tour and World Cup events; many of the racers in last week's event had multiple FIS starts under their belts, including a number of top-30 World Cup results and one World Cup podium earlier this year. The two race days were preceded by training on Tuesday, when firm snow, fast rollers and uneven berm surfaces made for conditions that challenged riders' nerves as well as their technical skills. Temperatures warmed under strong March sunshine on Wednesday, causing the track to slow throughout the day as it softened.
After 11-year-old KSC/KMS skier Mazie Hayden opened the course as the day's lone forerunner, skiers took their single qualification run. Taylor Doxsee '11 finished ninth, narrowly missing the eight-skier finals.
In snowboarder time trials, BOOST student-athlete Sophie Anderson took the 15th spot into finals, while Logan Farmer and Matt St. Denis ended the day in 50th and 51st. After a rough start in her first head-to-head heat, Sophie passed one of the other riders to take third in the heat and end her first-ever FIS boardercross in 12th place.
Warm weather continued on Thursday, and the team came out ready to improve on the previous day's finishes. Taylor did just that by taking seventh in the skier time trials and earning a berth in finals, and Sophie also picked up the pace, riding to 14th and again qualifying for women's snowboard finals. She went on to work her way ahead of the second-place rider in her heat before crashing and ending the day in 11th. Logan had a slower-than-expected first run and went all out in the second run, riding at a pace that Coach KC Gandee said would have placed him in the finals, until he was interrupted by a crash. Despite that setback, Logan still finished one position better than the previous day.
"Considering the field, we are VERY proud of our racers and excited to see them improve their results next time," said KC.
BOOST teacher Heather House also joined the fray, riding her way into 27th place on Thursday after having trouble putting together a clean top-to-bottom run on Wednesday.
With slopestyle and halfpipe events at Mt. Snow to conclude the Southern Vermont Series, KMS and KSC/KMS skiers collected 14 top-20 finishes to wrap up regular-season competition. Eric Unterberger took second and Ari Schneider third in open skier slopestyle competition, while Jack Sylvester won the class and led four skiers in the top 20 of the skier 13-15 group; he was joined by Tec Calcagni (5), Sam Gnoza (13) and Josh Edward Tarricone (19). Max Tarricone took seventh in his class, while Tin Skoric (5) and Christopher Oko (6) made the top 10 in theirs; Ryan Sihler (9) and Joey Leon (13) represented the team in Breaker Boys. In Sunday's halfpipe competition, Max Tarricone took third in the 10-12 age group, while John Edward Tarricone and Sam Gnoza went 2-3 in the 13-15 age group.
With the Southern Vermont Series boardercross season at an end, the team travelled to New Hampshire's Ragged Mountain. Logan Farmer won his class in both of the day's races, while Ethan Farmer was first in the morning's race but fell to fifth in the afternoon. Mazie Hayden was second in both races while Jesse Kunkowski had fourth-place and fifth-place finishes; Kamran Gossieaux stepped up from the morning's fourth-place finish to take second in the afternoon's race.
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Jia Hong skis to a second-place finish in the Vermont State Championships, the regional final for EQS mogul competition. For more mogul photos, visit the KMS Mogul Team on Facebook. |
KMS and KSC/KMS skiers in the Eastern Qualifying Series ("B" series) wrapped up regular-season events this weekend with the Vermont State Chapmionships at Killington. 26 KMS and KSC/KMS skiers finished in the top 30 after Saturday's two-run competition on Conclusion, led by a trio of podium finishes—Griffen Ward bounced back from a first-run crash to take the boys' win in the two-run event while Jia Hong took second and Olivia Giaccio tied for third in the girls' standings. KSC/KMS skiers took another 23 top-30 finishes in Sunday's freeride competitions.
With weather that remained better than forecast—the predicted showers materialized only in the form of light and mostly frozen precipitation in the morning before the sun came out and the sky turned blue—both spectators and competitors were able to enjoy a full day of competition. Despite the shorter course and softer bumps than those seen on the venue during the ECS and Nor Am competitions this season, Conclusion still proved a serious challenge for the younger skiers. KMS and KSC/KMS athletes met that challenge while taking those 26 top-30 finishes.
Joining Jia and Olivia in the girls' top 30 were Madison Hogg (7), Mazie Hayden (11), Emma Fischer (14), Kasey Hogg (16), Rose O'Brien (20), Delphine Esformes (22), Alexandra Lanka (23), Kaia Schmid (28) and Dani Heims (30). On the boys' side, Luc Esformes (7), Stewart Olson (9) and Mark Preschern (10) joined Griffin in the top 10; Ben Arquit (15), Matthew Dispenza (17), Ben Mason (18), Blake Levitts (20), Devin Johsnton (22), Carson Fischer (23), Jack Preschern (25), Christopher Imbarrato (27), Kyle Rasmussen (28), Cole Ward (29) and Charlie Gnoza (30) rounded out the top 30. Olivia, Madison, Kasey and Charlie were also the top finishers in their respective age groups.
In Sunday's air and slopestyle competitions, the girls led the way with eight top-10 finishes. Cassie Cavallo took fifth, Juliana Cavallo seventh, and Ally Grobman eighth in the air competition, while Olivia Giaccio took third, Cassie Cavallo eighth, Julianna Cavallo ninth, Ally Grobman 10th and Elise Sharrock 11th in the slopestyle. Julianna led her age group in both events. On the boys' side, Collin Campbell took 10th in the air event and was joined in the top 30 by Conan Green (14), Dylan Damore (19), Carter Gorden (20), Jack Petrone (22), Tyler Damore (23), Trae Damore (25), Matthew Labaugh (26), Marcus Cavallo (27), Dakota Stuart (28) and Brendan Konigsberg (29). In slopestyle, Charlie Gnoza took 20th and was joined in the top 30 by Ben Mason (23), Jack Petrone (27) and Matthew Labaugh (29). Jack was the top competitor in his age group in both competitions, while Dylan was the top M6 competitor in the air event and Charlie the top M6 competitor in slopestyle.
The USASA Southern Vermont Series regular season wrapped up with slopestyle and halfpipe competitions this past weekend, and KMS competitors took 10 top-10 spots in the snowboard and freeskiing competitions. In Saturday's slope competition, Maggie Leon, Charlie Gnoza and Tec Calcagni took second in their respective age groups, while KSC/KMS alum Matt Crowe won, Eric Unterberger took third and Ari Schneider fourth in the open men category. Tin Skoric took fourth in his grouping, while Max and Josh Tarricone took sixth in theirs. Sam Gnoza took eighth in Skier Men 13-15 while Ryan Sihler hit that mark in Breaker Boys, followed by Joey Leon (11) and Jake Fournier (13).
Sunday's competition moved to the halfpipe, where Ari took first and Matt second in the open skier class; Tec took the win in Skier Men 13-15 ahead of BOOST alum Will Halper (2), Sam (3) and Josh (4). Abigail Lancour also took third in her class.
Meanwhile, USASA boardercross racing continued in Massachusetts as Ski Ward hosted a pair of races on Sunday. BOOST student-athlete Sophie Anderson won her group in both races, while Jessie Kunkowski took third- and fourth-place finishes; Kamran Gossieaux had a pair of fifth-place finishes.
Also last week, Devon Savino traveled to the Aspen Open, where he advanced from qualifiers into finals and ended up 25th in a field that included X Games and Dew Tour competitors.
With extra time on their hands over February break, some of the KMS skiers put together a short park-and-pipe edit. Check it out:
February Break, 2012 from Ari Schneider on Vimeo.
Congratulations to Kyle Burcin, James Ferri and Wyatt Queirolo, who have qualified to J2 Nationals, which brings together competitors from the top ski academies and race programs throughout the country.
Vermont Cup Finals are this weekend at Killington and Middlebury Snow Bowl, while J3 State Championships wrap up with another pair of slalom and giant slalom races; boys will race at Sugarbush, while girls will race at Burke. Volunteer opportunities are still open for Saturday's Vermont Cup slalom on Needles Eye; contact Nicole Kondziela—nkondziela@killingtonmountainschool.org—for more information.
Eastern Cup racing is ongoing with Super-G racing wrapping up yesterday and turning to giant slalom racing at Burke today and tomorrow.
The Hole Shot Tour comes to Killington March 6-8. This is one of three events in a tour that bridges the gap between the Revolution Tour and World Cup boardercross and skicross events, from which the top athletes can qualify for World Cup and Junior World Championship starts. Logan Farmer will be representing the KMS snowboard team in the event.
Mogul and freeride competitors will be headed to U.S. Junior Nationals at Steamboat, Colo., next week. Congratulations to Cooper Babbitt, Darius Baradaran, Allison Benedict, Kayla Burcin, Tec Calcagni, Sam Gnoza, Colin Lang, Nick Marino, Megan Moores, Thomas Rowley, Devon Savino, Ari Schneider, Hannah Soar, Kat Spillman, Abe Studler and Tyler Wadhams, who have earned start positions at the event.
J4 state championships will be held March 17-18 at Pico. Tessa Queirolo, Mikayla Stolar, Tory Dobyns, Colleen Byron, Felicia A. Ayer, Matt Price, Joseph Salisbury-Jennings and Dan Schwartz have qualified based on their regular-season results; Isabelle Jenne, Julia Martin, Macgregor Peterson, Drake Mead, Andrew Desino, John Bianchi and Matthew Zackin have qualified for the J4 Shootout, where they will each be gunning for one of 23 additional state championship quota spots.
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