Freestyle Development Program update
KMS Freestyle Development Director/Events Coordinator Nori Pepe checked in with an update from a fantastic weekend of Freestyle skiing for the KSC/KMS Development Program: "We had another great weekend! There was a small, but dedicated crew in Killington. They had a blast skiing all over the mountain and enjoying the abundance of fresh snow!
Meanwhile in Sunday River, we had over 30 athletes attend the East Coast Championships! Over three days of competition in both the Junior and Young Gun Division, the athletes brought home an impressive amount of medals and awards. We even clinched the Team Award and the Regional Cup! Congratulations to all of our athletes including East Coast Champions Megan Ciaglo, Carmen DiPietro and Grace Marinella! Check out the coaches comments and the long list of top finishes below."
Coach Kevin shared, “We had a great weekend skiing Killington. Sunday morning we got into the remaining pow stashes in woods and sent it on the wind lip at the top of ovation. We found untracked snow in the woods on lower ovation, the line was steep and deep. We spent Sunday afternoon ripping the course and dialing the jumps on the bottom air. The bumps were soft and the line was perfect, the kids loved it!”
Coach Mike commented, “We had a great day on Saturday skiing pow bumps and trees. Nori joined us for the morning showing us her stuff. We had a new skier Keira who skied with us her father told me she had a great time and will be joining us next season. Focus of the day: FUN!!!”
Coach Bob added, “We had an incredible weekend skiing the powder at home. I don't even know where to start...the Light, Cable Trail (open parts) to Roundabout Woods, Stash to Skyepeak Liftline to OL, Superstar Woods...you name it...we skied it. I can't believe it's almost the end of skiing with the Team this season :( but I will never forget this incredible year or the incredible athletes, thank you to the parents for letting me throw your most precious assets...off cliffs...a lot. They are so very strong and weather resistance. I would take them to the North pole on foot and when I woke up in the hospital would find out they dragged me the rest of the way...while singing.”
Coach Marissa recalled, “This weekend we had a ton of fun ripping up the woods with all the fresh snow we got. The athletes really enjoyed making tight tree turns all over the mountain. We also spent time continuing to develop park skills on Bear Mountain and Ramshead.”
Coach Colby shared, “We had another great weekend at Killington. It's amazing the weather has been excellent so late into the season. We spent most of our time skiing the woods which were excellent after all the new snow, and the rest of our time was spent lapping the course.”
Coach Peter added, “There were so many highlights from this weekend at Eastern Finals that I don’t know where to begin and can’t possibly mention them all in this recap, but to start, KMS took home the First Place Team Award and carried the Central Division by winning the Regional Cup for the first time in over 6 years! All of the athletes and coaches did an amazing job in making this happen with their hard work, focus and dedication all season. It was clear all weekend long that KMS stood out as by far, the BEST program on the East Coast. Special shout out to Trae for throwing down the best run of his life to lock in the 2nd place Junior overall title in moguls, beating out an undefeated athlete and many others just as talented. And then Grace, winning Young Guns mogul at 8 years old, unbelievable! And of course, Megan, our combined Junior Champion! Many more outstanding overall results by Carmen (1stplace air), Josh (2nd place air), Owen (1st place slope), Gabe (4th place moguls), Sydney (4th place air)…. this list goes on and on. Great job everyone and thank you for making this season such a huge success!”
Coach Young rounded out the updates, “Our hard work and focus all season culminated this past weekend at Sunday River. Training on the airbag, repetitions on Highline course, drills, and duels honed our skills for high performance. After a very competitive season within our central division, Team Killington’s skiing ability and mental toughness was on full display for the whole east coast division. There are way too many names and awards to mention individually. We even had a few podium sweeps. Killington took the team award by a very large margin. And we took home the East Coast Regional Cup!!! Everyone should be very proud of their individual and team achievements. The parents deserve a huge shout out! As 2018 competition season comes to an end, it’s time to start preparing for 2019. KMS Airbag camps and PSI summer mogul camps are a great way to take it to the next level.”
Juniors
Friday Slopestyle
F13 1st Megan Ciaglo, 1st Overall
M13 4th Trae DaMore, 10th Overall
Saturday Moguls
F13 1st Megan Ciaglo, 3rd Overall
3rd Maddy Byrnes, 10th Overall
M13 1st Trae DaMore, 2nd Overall
Sunday Aerials
F13 1st Megan Ciaglo, 3rd Overall
2nd Sydney Grogean, 4th Overall
M13 Trae DaMore 9th Overall
Young Guns
Friday Aerials
F9 1st Lilly Byrne, 5th Overall
2nd Grace Marinella, 6th Overall
3rd Victoria Johnson, 8th Overall
4th Reese Petersen, 9th Overall
M9 1st Owen Ciaglo, 5th Overall
2nd Spencer Claffey
3rd Elliot Namkung
F11 1st Carmen Diepietro, 1st Overall
M11 2nd Josh Jamieson, 2nd Overall
Saturday Slopestyle
F7 1st Kayla Petersen
F9 1st Grace Marinella, 3rd Overall
2nd Victoria Johnson, 6th Overall
3rd Lilly Byrnes, 7th Overall
4th Reese Petersen, 10th Overall
M9 1st Owen Ciaglo, 1st Overall
3rd Spencer Claffey
4th Elliot Namkung
F11 4th Allison Byrnes, 5th Overall
5th Carmen DiPietro, 8th Overall
M11 5th Josh Jamieson, 6th Overall
Parker Sweeney, 8th Overall
Liam Claffey, 10th Overall
Sunday Moguls
F9 1st Grace Marinella, 1st Overall
3rd Victoria Johnson, 5th Overall
5th Lilly Byrnes
M9 1st Owen Ciaglo, 10th Overall
4th Spencer Claffey
F11 2nd Carmen DiPietro, 3rd Overall
5th Ally Byrnes, 9th Overall
M11 4th Gabe Johnson, 4th Overall
Dex Namkung, 6th Overall
Josh Jamieson, 7th Overall
