Olivia Giaccio saved the best for last to win the Rocky Mountain Freestyle Spring Cool Down this past Saturday at Vail. Conditions were challenging for the season end event. The moguls were firm from overnight freeze making the season end event a rough ride. The field of more than eighty men and women featured top ranking skiers from the Eastern and Rocky Divisions including Nor-am winners and Junior National Champions. Giaccio came out hard in the first run with fast technical skiing and the best air scores of the day throwing back tuck to back flip with iron cross. SSCV Teammate Lindsey Eckhoff stepped onto the podium in third place behind Winter Park’s Kelly Lawson 2nd place. Olivia’s win capped a strong push to the end which included the U-15 win at Junior Nationals and a finals appearance at US National Championships.
On the men’s side, Winter Park’s Joel Hedrick was technical and precise and skied to the win. SSCV’s Alex DeBonville, by contrast, skied it fast and a little loose, blazing down Cookshack’s 217 meters two and then three seconds faster than any other competitor. Turns and line, though, made the difference for Hedrick. Team Summit’s Jason Tilley bumped his way into 3rd.
In Sunday’s Dual Mogul event, Trevor Wahl broke through for a career first overall win over Alex DeBonville in an all SSCV final. Wahl skied smooth and clean to edge out the speedy DeBonville. In the women’s brackets, Tess Johnson won the final with Lindsey Eckhoff taking second and Morgan Harty in third for an SSCV sweep.
Follow SSCV