With Slopestyle and Halfpipe finished, only one event remained; the intense discipline of SkierX. With four people on one course, coupled with jumps, rollers, and banked turns, SkierX is by far, the most nerve racking of all the events at Nationals. What makes the competition even more difficult is the amount of racers that enter.
Ben, you are so fuerte!
On the first day of the competition, they let everyone inspect the course for an hour and then began time trials. With 64 entrees in the men’s division, getting a good seed is important if one hopes to do well in the finals. Equipped with race skis that we borrowed from Grace Parker, Natalie Landsinger, Abe Kislevitz, Patrick Wilcox, and Haley Ells, the five of us had a friendly competition to see who could lay down the fastest time. Feeling super dialed, I got the 6th seed, with Ben 19th, Caleb 22nd, Matt 34th, and Robby 44th. Feeling good after the time trials and stoked for the finals the next day we spent the rest of the day hitting moguls and the park.
Matt in the gate for time trials
SkierX Course
The next morning we headed to the course early to see what changes had been made. In the middle of the run there was an off cambered hip that was the most challenging aspect of the course. There was 16 heats of men’s racers, 4 men in each heat with only the top 2 advancing to the next round; cutting the field in half after every round.
Ben getting ready
Despite having a great seed in the time trials and getting the holeshot, I made a serious error on the hip jump and failed to advance to the round of 32. However, Matt, Caleb, Robby and Ben placed 1st or 2nd in their heats and advanced.
Caleb flying into the round of 8
In the next round, both Ben and Caleb advanced to the round of 16, quite an impressive feat, considering the amount of talented racers in the competition. Unfortunately, the two of them were put in the same heat against one another along with the favored 3rd and 11th seed. It was a great race and with Ben getting tangled up with a competitor, Caleb advanced to the semis. However, pitted against 1st and 2nd team All Americans in GS and Slalom, it was a difficult round and Caleb placed 8th in the competition.
Some extra shots:
Caleb shredding the course
SoCal team shot
Team Huddle
USC National Champions! AGAIN! Day 5
With all of our competitions done and another beautiful day in Sunday River, Maine, the whole SoCal group (UCSB, FSU, UCLA, and LMU) got steezed out and hit the park. Decked out with ghetto clothes, flannel shirts and tight jeans, we were quite the group to see. Unfortunately, Mike Scinto went down after taking the last jump to the flats and we all wish him the best in his recovery.
Spending our free time on the mogul course
Race skis, tight jeans, mogul course and a cork 7
Inverted hangtime
After seshing the mogul run it was time to head back to the condo and get ready for the awards banquet. Unsure of how the scoring was going to play out, we were hoping to get on the podium for the Team Overall in Freestyle. With Idaho and CU Boulder bringing very competitive teams the results were going to be close. Excited and nervous we packed into the van and headed to the Grand Summit Hotel where over 500 competitors and 250 coaches and parents waited for the ceremony to begin.
Ben Gunton getting ready for the awards banquet
Caleb Farro all steezed out
Representing USC
What a night it turned out to be. When it came time for the Freestyle Individual Combined, we were blown away with the results. We took the entire podium with Ben Gunton getting 3rd, Matt Cook 2nd, and Caleb Farro being the 1st Team All American and National Champion. Congratulations!
Caleb with his 1st place hardware!
Matt Cook and Ben Gunton stoked on 2nd and 3rd
Stoked on the podium! USC - 1st, 2nd, 3rd
For the Freestyle Team Combined we were successful in defending our title as National Champions with a slim victory over CU Boulder. Congratulations to University of Idaho for rounding out the podium in 3rd. Additionally, I received 2nd Team, Academic All American, and Ben received Honorable mentions for Academic All American. I want to thank Coach Chris Nelson for keeping us so pumped up at each event and being on top of everything throughout the week.
USC is 2010 National Champions
Matt Cook fist pumping like a true SoCal
It was hands down a memorable and fun ski trip and I can’t believe that a remote place like Sunday River, Maine could be that fun. The memories from this week will last a lifetime; from Matt Cooking winning Halfpipe at the opening ceremonies to the whole team standing on top of the podium at closing ceremonies.
I also want to do a shout out to UCSB, LMU, FSU, and UCLA for such a great week. We all shared a condo and have become such good friends throughout the week. Everyone was so supportive of each other and helped one another out for all the different events. It was really nice to have your friends cheering you on before a slopestyle run or waiting at the bottom of the halfpipe. It was a great bonding experience for the SCCSC and I’m excited to shred with my new friends in future weeks at Mammoth.
UCSB and UCLA at the awards banquet
Leaving Sunday River, Maine
Goodbye Sunday River and until next year,
Chris Farro