USCSA Nationals Mid-Week Update

WSCU has been working hard out in Sun Valley, ID this week as over 20 student athletes compete in collegiate Nationals. The competition has been nothing short of tough, but WSCU is making their name known in all disciplines.

Mountain Sports teams are in full force in all categories of nordic, ski/board cross, and park & pipe events. After day 4 of competition, WSCU is standing tall with some amazing results.

Nordic

Competition began on Tuesday for our nordic athletes, Justin Barr and Chris Lange. Tuesday’s course was 1.5K and the race consisted of qualifiers with the top 20 men moving into a round quarter finals with the top two from each heat moving on to the semis. Both Justin Barr and Chris Lange put in a solid effort in the qualifying sprint. Chris moved on to the quarter finals, but did not make it to the semis. Coach Ansel Schimpff was out there testing wax, and supporting our two super star nordic guys.

Wednesday morning was also host to more races, including the 8.5k classic. Chris Lange stepped up to the plate despite the wet snow conditions and took the 5th place spot in a field of 29 men. Shoutouts go to Nordic coach, Ansel Schimpff for dialing in the perfect wax combo for the morning weather change.

Nordic has a short break from competition until Friday’s 15k skate race and Saturday’s team relay.

Half Pipe

After a great day of training at Dollar Mountain on Monday, our snowboard and ski teams hit the pipe early Tuesday morning. The half pipe was 620ft long with 22ft sides (huge!) and with a very big field of competitors, only the top 15 from each field moved on to a second, and final, run. Hunter Knoll, Andrew Arnold, Grady Schoop, Marshall Kratzer, and Alex Wakenight moved into the finals for men’s snowboarding. Hunter finished 6th overall.

All three of our ladies qualified for the ski finals (Francesca Pavillard-Cain, Polly McGrane and Carolyn Spencer) – Francesca finished 5th overall, Polly was 7th and Carolyn was 9th.

Brad Hall and Dave Sugnet, WSCU skiers, qualified for the men’s ski finals and Dave finished 4th overall at the end of Tuesday’s competition.

Slopestyle competitions on Wednesday were postponed due to some unexpected snow and a lack of visibility in the park. Reports from the team said “Its coming down deep! We may be off competition, but not off the slopes – it’s a pow day!” . The team headed to Baldy Mountain yesterday to make the most of the snow. Cancelled competitions were rescheduled over the remaining days this week.

Men’s Skier and Boarder Cross

WSCU had a huge showing in both skier and boarder cross events today with over 10 athletes in the two fields. Skiers Connor Michael and Morgan Haymans made it through 3 rounds of eliminations and into finals this afternoon. Connor took home the silver medal in 2nd place and Morgan who was holding 1st lost the lead due to a crash and secured the 4th place spot.

A few WSCU boarder athletes made it into the middle of the qualifing pack but unfortunately, never made it to the semi’s. Women’s skier cross will take place tomorrow afternoon.

Women’s Slopestyle

Our girls took on the massive slopestyle course today as well, showing some impressive moves and results. All in the top 10, WSCU lined up in the final results as follows: Carolyn Spencer 6th, Francesca Pavillard-Cain 7th, and Polly McGrane in 9th. Men take it to the rails and jumps tomorrow.

Adding to the fun, tonight features a Big Air Exibition, featuring USCSA athletes hand selected by resume and USCSA officials. 3 our of the 8 chosen athletes were representing WSCU. Andrew Arnold and Alex Wakenight will be throwing down on their boards next to Dave Sugnet on the planks. Look for some killer video and pictures tomorrow!

 Events continue on tomorrow and Saturday leading up to the athlete banquet that night. Hope you enjoyed the update, keep cheering on our WSCU crew as they work towards the home stretch in the season’s biggest competition – USCSA Nationals.