Northstar Revolution Tour, Freestyle Events.

In the FIS USSA Revolution Tour at Northstar CA. 16 SMS Athletes from Campus in VT and SMS West in Co. joined forces and took part against an up and coming international field.
In the Wmns HP Noelle Edwards was our top athlete just missing the podium in 4th place overall. Julia Marino was 7th, Madison Barrett 8th, Marian Lobell 12th and Hannah Merson 14th in their respective heats.
For the men's HP SMS Alumnus Joseph Mensch '10 was the number 2 qualifier starting his runs with a cab seven that may have been the biggest air all day! Not quite as clean in finals Joe still managed a very respectable 6th place. 

Thomas O'hara fs air!

Tanner Barrett BS air!

Maverick Shaw was our only other finalist, riding big and clean with an FS 900, and back to back inverted 7's six feet out to take 9th in his first rev tour final. Xander Raith was 19th, Thomas Ohara 25th, Tanner Barrett 37th, Evan Werner 44th, Peter Dimitriou 46th, Andrew Tousignant 48th and Mason Geils 55th. Very difficult task with such little HP Training.

Maverick Shaw Cab Five-o-flage.

One day later the team took part in the Slopestyle Event on possibly the largest fratures in Rev Tour History.
In Heat one Jack Griffin  finished 18th, Mason Geils 21st, and Dan Landy was 24th. Tough day for DL who had some good runs in practice but walked the wrong side of the fine line and fell in his contest runs.
In Heat 2 Ezra Racine was 9th getting a  tight score for a tech run that included a  switch back 720 to Cab 9 that may have tricked the judges. Maverick Shaw 12th, Thomas Ohara 14th, Xander Raith 16th and Andrew Tousignant 23rd.
We had no riders in heat 3. In Heat 4
Tanner Barrett  stomped his cab 540 to back 720 japan, to FS 7 combo and land in 8th. Evan Werner was 23rd and Peter Dimitriou 22nd.
Julia Marino was our only competitor in the Wmns field doing a great job with her biggest backside three tail grabs ever and in competition no less but was disappointed not to qualify for finals.
Very proud of all our athletes facing a great field on increasingly larger terrain features that we just don't get a chance to train on in the first part of our season. Great job and thanks to everyone for supporting their efforts and courage.

Northstar Rev Tour and Copper USASA SBX's.

The SMS Speed & Style Team checking out the beautiful Lake Tahoe while at Northstar @ Tahoe for the Rev Tour.
Marian Lobell, Karen Kobayashi, Soma Kobayashi, Nick Watter and Josh Cohen.

Nick Watter on the left was getting good starts in the Rev Tour which helped him on his way to 9th place where he earned his best FIS points race to date. It wasn't your normal Rev Tour  SBX as top SBX racers such as Nate Holland, Shaun Palmer, The Minghini brothers, Alex Deibold and Trevor Jacob competed to train or earn points.

Josh Cohen airing over the Wu-tang at the start of the Copper SBX course. Josh rode great in the Rev Tour  finishing in 8th place and earning his best FIS points race to date as well. Josh also won the small final Jan 20th at the USASA Rocky Mountain Series in Open Class Men.

Soma Kobayashi jumping a double in the Copper course during the USASA RMS where he placed 6th in Open Class Men on Jan 20th. 

Nick Watter and Marian Lobell collecting their awards for the USASA Rocky Mountain Series  SBX race which took place Jan 19th. Nick placed 2nd in Open Class Men and Marian won the Junior Women. Marian also won Junior Women on Jan 20th which was RMS day #2 of SBX racing.

Here's a cool photo of Karen that I found on my camera from her and Jackie's 4th place finish in the Montafon World Cup SBX Team event. At the Rev Tour Karen won the time trails and all her heats until the finals. In the finals her and a girl bumped before a jump which made it so Karen couldn't set up right and unfortunately she went down. Karen placed 4th at the Rev Tour.

Guest Coach Phoebe Acquires an Eager Pupil

I must admit I have never spent any time on snow with SMS phenom Julia Marino. Waker gets that lucky detail. Today, by chance we found each other at the bottom of the park and spent a few hours riding. We were soon joined by rising star Phoebe Novello and the synergy compounded. I asked Phoebe to work a bit with her and give her some pointers. In one run Phoebe was sold on JM's skills and worked a bit to make sure she wasn't being shown up!

Biba and Phoebe Rep Their Nations

Grand Prix slopestyle events are always so action packed that my nerves kick in days before practice. This year was no different. The process of getting Biba into the event was an emotional roller coaster in itself. Michaela Davis-Meehan had to pull, which kicked off the event with an unfortunate disappointment. Phoebe came into the event with a bruised heel, and Biba only had one hour of practice on the course. Nerves were high indeed.

Yet now as I sit by the fire, still in shred gear, everything seems alright. Four inches of fresh snow set the tone for fun riding and soft landings. I drew the lot of practice guinea pig and even with good wax and a racing speed-tuck I put my back foot on the last two knuckles. More traffic sped things up a bit, but jump 3 ended up being blocked off for the comp. Phoebe's first run sat in first for a tantalizingly long time. She ended up 3 out of finals, but her top 30 percent finish is good for her Olympic goals and she seems to have gotten the nod from Bill Enos to go to the World Cup in Sochi Russia next month. I believe she finished 4th for the US, behind Jamie Anderson, Megan Ginter and Kylee Shore.

After a minor shake-up on the staircase of rail 1, Biba kicked it into gear and landed both her runs, stepping up run two with a backside 360. After having to struggle with the Australian organizers to get a spot in the event, she finished 2nd for her country, besting even Torah Bright. These two girls work hard, think hard and handle some heavy situations with a focus we can all envy.