While injury and illness impacted several members of the Bridger Ski Foundation’s Freeski team who qualified for junior nationals, athletes still persevered through some tough conditions at the United State of American Snowboard and Freeski Association (USASA) National Championships at Copper Mountain in Colorado April 8-14.
Casper Lemley put together an outstanding slopestyle run to score 76.33 points and claim 4th place among the Freeski Junior Men (ages 17-18) in the FIS Slopestyle National Championship. He also finished 12th in the rail jam to go onto the finals. Wylie Mugaas finished 16th, just missing finals.
BSF athlete Miles Hundhausen qualified for nationals but was unable to compete after breaking his wrist. Teammates Rad Rabinsky and Anders Fanning also qualified but were battling illness during the championship. Rabinsky finished 57th in slopestyle for Freeski Youth (ages 15-16) and Fanning did not start.
Coach Kale noted that conditions for athletes were incredibly difficult with 30 to 40 mph winds daily. Three of the five days of competition they had snow as well, making speeds on the course inconsistent.
Huge congrats to these athletes and the entire Freeski team for working hard all season and representing BSF and Bozeman both locally and on the road.
