Freestylers fly at Junior Olympics

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS Down one, but not out. For Team AVSC’s best freestyle skiers, the loss of teammate Charlie Lasser to a knee injury earlier this month provided some extra motivation last week at the Junior Olympics at Steamboat.No one had a bigger showing than 15-year-old Kelly Selby – who almost didn’t qualify for the event, only to soar to a silver medal in Thursday’s one-run slopestyle final.

“[He] entered the contest as the final alternate,” AVSC pipe and park coach ElanaChase said in a club news release. “He came into it ranked 54th in the nation, was leading after the semifinals and took the silver medal belt buckle.””Kelly’s one of the best of the next generation,” freestyle coach Geoff Stump added. “He’s got a lot of talent, and I’m looking forward to watching him develop in the next few years.”Joining Selby in the open field of 53 were teammates Travis Van Domelen (seventh) and Sam Ferguson (ninth). Van Domelen finished fourth among J2 competitors, while Ferguson took the bronze belt buckle in the J1 age class. Walter Wood was 17th overall and third in his J3 age class.

“Our team has so much depth we can keep sending guys in and scoring big,” Chase said.In Wednesday’s halfpipe competition, Jack Sullan boosted big airs to take the overall bronze and the silver in the J2 age class.”Jack is on a roll right now,” Chase said. “In his last five competitions, he’s either made finals or made the podium.” Wood was seventh overall among 57 and took home the bronze among J3 skiers. Teammate Dan Armbruster was 11th overall and won the bronze for his J1 age class. “It was so much fun seeing these guys come out of a national event with great results after working so hard this season,” Chase said. “Dan wasn’t even ranked a year and a half ago and now he has a bronze for his age group.”

In Friday’s boys moguls competition, Zac Giammarrusco had his best result of the season, qualifying for the finals (top-20) against 70 of the top under-18 mogul skiers in the country.In the finals, Giammarrusco unleashed a 360, then a corked 720 to finish 17th overall.