Crested Butte Mountain Resort held a one day big mountain competition last Saturday that served as part of the IFSA Junior Regional series. Fifty-four skiers and snowboarders attacked Big Chute and Paradise Cliffs for a fast and steep run. The CBMST Freeride team said the proverbial, “Not in our house”, taking first place in 3 out of 4 skier divisions: Matt Evans in Men’s 15-18, Brittany Barefield in Women’s 15-18, and Maile Cowell in Girls 12-14.
The IFSA Regional series is part of the Overall Junior IFSA rankings. These are smaller 1 day events limited to athletes of that Region only. Crested Butte shares the Central region with the rest of Colorado and New Mexico. CBMST athletes can earn valuable points towards their overall rank and getting the invitation to the North American IFSA Championships at Revelstoke, BC.
1st Matt Evans, 2nd Kyle Koenig, 3rd Peter Hunt and Ryan Montgomery
Matt Evans found himself in 6th place going into the super final. However, he skied Big Chute in less than 18 seconds sending Little Rock as large as possible. With a little help from some crashes by the athletes in front of him, Matt coasted in to 1st place. Unfortunately, one of those skiers who crashed in front of Matt was Oz Scott. Oz, a sophomore at the community school, was sitting in 2nd when he had two of his best runs down Big Chute but crashed 10 yards from the finish when some snow snakes grabbed his edges.
It was business as usual for Brittany Barefield, who had a two-point lead over fellow CBMST teammate, Josie Byron, going in to the super final. Brittany greased through Big Chute and punched a large air off of Little Rock. She increased her lead over the other girls, taking her second 1st place finish at central region event. Josie Byron, currently 3rd overall in the IFSA rankings, improved on her run 1 score to maintain 2nd place and earned her third 2nd place at central region events this year.
1st Maile Cowell, 2nd Morgan Westfall, 3rd Abby Ward
In just her 2nd competition, Maile Cowell was able to overcome a half-point deficit in the super final to take 1st place. It was just another couple runs down Big Chute for Maile, who stayed fluid in the chokes and ran out to bottom after a little air next to Little Rock.
The action continues this weekend when even more junior athletes come in to town for the IFSA National Series event being held here at Crested Butte. All the heavy-hitters on the junior tour will be coming to town for this one. The CBMST hopes to carry the momentum into this weekend. Stay tuned!
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