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AVSC’s freeski, snowboard teams hit Rev Tour

AVSC staff report
Allyson Cornelius of AVSC was the U14 winner of the first Roaring Fork Series cup race of the season. Margo McHugh won the second GS for the U14s.
Courtesy photo |

Against a field deep with talent, AVSC’s freeride team was competitive as the U.S. Revolution Tour kicked off the season with a halfpipe event Dec. 18 at Copper Mountain. Local athletes competed in the 22-foot pipe.

Showing improvement over where the team was this time last year, AVSC head pipe coach Peter Olenick said, “All of our kids landed at least one run, which is fantastic.”

Olenick, a former competitor now in his second season with AVSC, said the athletes skied well as a whole and “now have runs to build off to get them where they want to be competitively.”



Among the women, Carson Campisi finished in 14th, probably “one trick” from making the finals, Olenick said.

The women’s pipe event was won by Annalisa Drew, who trains with Ski and Snowboard Club Vail.




On the men’s side, Joey Lang was 20th, Keenan McIntyre finished 27, and Andrew Tierney finished in 27th.

Cassidy Jarrell landed in 32nd, and Gage Carr was 35th.

Winner Kyle Smaine’s top halfpipe run included a left corked 1260, right corked 1080, switch 7020 and a left 900 truck driver.

AVSC Snowboard

The snowboard field for the Rev Tour also was filled with international talent but AVSC newcomer Chris Corning, 15, rode smooth and strong to finish in second place in the slopestyle competition, which fielded about 80 athletes. Jake Pates lead the podium sweep by U.S. men.

This was Corning’s third Rev Tour start, said AVSC Team 2 coach Nichole Mason. He is originally from Arvada but has relocated to Aspen to train with the team.

The Copper stop for snowboard slopestyle and halfpipe Rev Tour events was Dec. 15-17.

In the halfpipe, AVSC’s Robert Pettit, was 14th overall (fifth among USA riders), Jake Orzech finished in 31st and Shane Serrano was 38th. Gabe Ferguson of Bend, Ore., landed a frontside double cork 1080 to win in the pipe.

USASA at Snowmass

On a day better suited for freeriding, AVSC hosted the second event in the Aspen/Snowmass USASA series, a giant slalom snowboard race at Snowmass.

Results are as follows:

Breaker Boys (age 12-13)

1. Logan Lauffer

2. Robert Sanderson

3. Sean Connelly

4. Richard Argueta

5. Dominique Johnson

Grommet Boys (8-9)

1. Zion Bethonico

Junior Men (16-17)

1. Zakary Abeles

Junior Women (16-17)

1. Jillian Moore

Kahuna Men (50-59)

1. James Veneziano

Menehune Boys (10-11)

1. Jonathan Weiss

2. Noah Bethonico

3. Lucas Matheny

4. Davis Cook

5. Bodhi Johnson

6. Boden Hamilton

7. Zane Hanlon

8. Dillon Brodsky

Menehune Girls (10-11)

1. Spencer Diamond

Open Class Men

1. Mike Shea

2. Keith Gabel

Open Class Women

1. Madeleine Veneziano

2. Moe Sweet

3. Lexi Tariff

Youth Men (14-15)

1. Gavin Aragon

2. MJ Mirano

3. Connor Cook

Youth Women (14-15)

1. Megan Feiner

Nordic News

Fresh from their recent success at two events the weekend of Dec. 12-13, AVSC’s Nordic team traveled to Snow Mountain Ranch for the first Rocky Mountain Nordic qualifier of the season. It was hosted by the Boulder Junior Nordic Racing Team.

It was another good weekend across all age groups.

Most noteworthy was U18 athlete Nick Sweeney’s second-place finish in Sunday’s 10K race.

In the Saturday 5K freestyle interval start race, AVSC boys finished this way: Graham Houtsma was seventh among U18s (20th overall), Nick Sweeney finished in 28th place for U18s (28th overall). In U16 men’s racing, Jack Sweeney was ninth and Ricky Wojcik 13th.

In the girls 5K freestyle interval start race Saturday, AVSC’s Chelsea Moore was sixth among U16s and 17th overall.

Jozie Wille was seventh in U16 racing (19th overall). Melody Lemke was 24th among the U16s.

In U18 competition, Nina Beidleman finished 10th in the 5K freestyle and 21st overall.

Logan McNamee was 16th among U18s, 31st overall; Adair Patillo was 18; and Hazel Wille 21st in U18 action.

On Dec. 21, Nick Sweeney’s impressive second place (10th overall) in the 10K classic mass start was followed by Graham Houtsma, who was sixth among U18s and 15th overall.

Nina Beidleman was the top AVSC finisher on the women’s side. Beidleman was 10th in U18 racing and 16th overall.

Logan McNamee was 14th, and Adair Pattillo was 25th.

In the boys 5K classic mass start, Jack Sweeney in ninth and Ricky Wojcik in 13th were the top U16 racers for AVSC.

Chelsea Moore (ninth), Jozie Wille (12th) and Melody Lemke (22nd) represented AVSC in the women’s U16 race.

Roaring Fork Series

Race fever ran high at the season’s first Roaring Fork Series cup event, a giant slalom held on a snowy Sunday at Aspen Highlands.

A total of 140 alpine racers from the Western Slope, representing Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club, Sunlight Winter Sports Club and Powderhorn, skied the Thunderbowl courses that held up well despite consistent snowfall all day.

Large fields for both the boys and girls were seen in all age groups, including skiers as young as 6.

“We had a great turnout for this race,” said Alice Black, AVSC alpine manager. “Lots of excited kids and parents.”

The presence of the Powderhorn club, after several years away from this series, was welcome, too.

“Powderhorn hasn’t come in eons,” she said.

Chloe Black of AVSC, starting with bib No. 1, won both U10 races.

In the first GS, Jasper Johnson was second, and Annika Johansson finished third.

Samantha Edelman of AVSC was the winner of both U12 giant slaloms.

Sunlight’s Mary-Cate Simpson took second with Kailey Murphy of AVSC in the bronze medal position, narrowly edging Tigist Cohen.

The U14 race was heated as well, with AVSC’s Allyson Cornelius skiing a solid first run to win over Megan Olsen and Margo McHugh.

The second GS saw McHugh stepping it up to win her first race of the season. Cornelius took second followed by Olsen.

Boys races

Chase Kelly, Eli Cohen and Kenneth McPhee, all AVSC athletes, were on the podium for the U10 boys in the first race.

Cohen put down a smoking second run in the second GS to win that race.

He was followed by Connor Stephen. Tucker Estock was third.

Among the boys U12 field, Garrett Dollahan was the winner of both races with Jake Morgan in second.

Tyler Thomas was third in the first event.

Morgan and Thomas swapped podium positions in race No. 2.

In the competitive U14 division, William Laing edged Alexander Ilic by just .06 of a second.

Tucker Sheldrake of Sunlight finished third.

In the second giant slalom, Tucker Thomas raced to a win followed by Stian Davenport and Ethan de Moreaes.