Ski & Snowboard Club Vail’s big mountain freeskiing team rolled through its section national competition March 9-11. With low snowfalls through much of the West this season, the big mountain season got off to a relatively late start, but that hasn’t stopped the team from putting up some solid results.
The second installment in the national series was moved to Breckenridge from Crested Butte. Historically, Breckenridge has hosted only regional events, but the venue proved well suited for a national competition with two separate courses for qualifiers and finals.
SSCV qualified seven of its eight athletes to finals. Among them, Sam Heller qualified in 12th out of 48 athletes and ultimately finished the day third in the 12-14 age division. The result was Heller’s second podium at a national event — the other came in the form of a win in Grand Targhee — and should be good enough to punch his ticket to the North American Championships next month in Snowbird.
Among the other strong finishers for SSCV were Travis Mills Jr. (ninth, 12-14 male), Caroline Ungar (third, 12-14 female), Jenna Meyers (fourth, 12-14 female), and Molly Reeder (eighth, 12-14 female).
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