Freestyle team leaves a mark at Junior Nationals

The Killington Mountain School Freestyle team traveled to Sun Valley, Idaho last week for the US Junior National Championships. The top 60 US athletes under the age of 19 are invited to compete in Moguls and Dual Moguls events. The entire KMS Freestyle Team qualified for the event as well as one KMS BOOST athlete and one Development Program athlete.

There first day of competition was Ladies moguls. KMS Freestyle had three ladies competing, two of whom (Taylor Getz and Sabrina Cass) were competing in their very first Junior National Championships.

Freestyle Program Director Kris Pepe commented, "The level was really high in the Ladies competition. Our girls were well focused and composed and put up good performances."

Day two was Men's moguls. The KMS team put on a strong showing, with six KMS athletes qualifying for the 40-man final, with four in the top ten and Kalman Heims qualifying first in the round. In the final, the boys put it all on the line. Kalman led the KMS crew with a second place finish overall (1st in U17). Alex Lewis was best placed behind Kalman with a seventh place finish, while Ian Beauregard dropped to 11th overall in the final round.

The KMS team had another successful day in the Dual Moguls competition. Kalman Heims led the way again with the overall victory. His teammates again followed closely with Alex Lewis in seventh again while Collin Campbell and Adam Stiefel both finished in the top 15 overall.

"I am really proud of the way the athletes performed this week," Coach Pepe shared, "I'm sure a few of them would have liked to finish higher, but they all took risks and really pushed themselves. They should all be really satisfied with what they did out there."

Next up for the Mogul team is the US National Championship in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Every KMS student has qualified the top 55 in the country event.

Good luck to everyone!