Skiers, snowboarders enjoy home-slope advantage for USCSA events at Snowflex

Liberty University's men's and women's skiers and snowboarders dominated their USCSA Southeast Conference foes in Saturday night's Rail Jam and Sunday afternoon's Big Air competitions at the Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre (LMSC).

"It's awesome that we get to practice here and it makes it such an advantage for us when we do host these events, because we know the features and we know the surface, so we are able to come prepared and have that home field edge," said Flames senior snowboarder Jesse Mast, who placed third in the Rail Jam and first in the Big Air event.

Saturday night's Rail Jam drew a decent-sized crowd despite the steady rain.

"It was pouring, and people were having fun," first-year Head Coach Tyler Sherbine said. "Rain makes it better. We call it Snowflex powder day, the opposite of snow, but it just makes it really slick. Jumps were perfect for (Sunday's Big Air competition) with a steady mist. In years past, we've had this competition at this time of year, and it's been really icy, so it's fast-slow, fast-slow (on the slopes). This was perfect."

The Flames and Lady Flames swept the podiums with the top three finishes in all four divisions of the Rail Jam, including the top five men's snowboarders. Junior Tate Gardner's 85-point total was the high score in that event followed by senior Jayden Horrocks (70), senior Jesse Mast (65), sophomore Curren Cook (50), and senior Benjamin Scully (45) as Liberty's 6-point team total separated it from Lees-McRae (23), Virginia (38), Duke (39), and JMU (43).

Junior Coby Liebelt (80), sophomore Cameron Brandenburg (75), and sophomore Justin Maier (69) executed the cleanest runs in the men's ski Rail Jam, with junior Charlie Barkow (58) landing in fifth place, to lead Liberty (6) to a decisive sweep of Duke (19) and UVA (20).

In women's snowboarding, Emmaus Rich (80) put together a first-place performance followed by fellow Lady Flames junior Abigail Foreman (50) and senior Kylie Kraemer (30) as Liberty (6) landed in first place as a team ahead of Duke (19) and UVA (20).

Finally, in the women's skiing Rail Jam, Josephine Rich (60) earned gold followed by silver and bronze-medal showings by fellow Liberty seniors Isabella Tinney (55) and Gianna Marie Niece (40), respectively, as the Lady Flames (6) finished well in front of JMU (22), UVA (26), Duke (29), and Lees-McRae (31).

Liberty's men's snowboarders secured the top four places and five of the top six in Sunday's Big Air event, led by Mast (95), Cook (78), senior Carlton Leggett (71), and Scully (62), with Horrocks (36) finishing sixth. As a team, the Flames (6 points) distanced themselves from Virginia (26), Appalachian State (29), Duke (30), and JMU (31).

"The tricks I tried today were front-side 540, backside 900, and a backside 720," Mast said. "I slipped out a little bit on the 900 and the back 720. I landed them in warmups so I was feeling confident, but they didn't really stick today. Overall, I landed a couple tricks and I fell on some, but I still had a great time and I think the crowd probably enjoyed the show."

For the men's skiing Big Air event, Liberty captured three of the top four spots, with Maier earning a first-place total of 122 followed by Liebelt (112), with Duke's Andrew Claire (107) landing in third in front of Barkow (90). In the team scores, the Flames (7 points) soundly defeated JMU (18) and Duke (34).

"Especially from the skiers, I saw a lot of improvement from fall until now on this (Big Air) jump specifically, because we came back (from Christmas Break) and were right where we left off," Sherbine said.

In the women's snowboard Big Air competition, the Lady Flames swept the podium and left Duke riders in the dust, winning 6-15, with Emmaus Rich landing the high score of 160 followed by Foreman (100), and Kraemer (60). Liberty's women's skiers experienced similar success, with Tinney (47), Niece (31), and Josephine Rich (30) earning a clean sweep of the top three spots to lead the Lady Flames to a six-point total followed by Duke (17) and JMU (22).

Liberty's skiers and riders traveled to Seven Springs (Pa.) Resort on Thursday for a weekend of training on much larger jumps than they have to practice on their home slopes at Snowflex or Wintergreen Resort, where the Flames and Lady Flames have season passes. They will conclude the USCSA regular season at Wintergreen on Feb. 10-11 before traveling to Blue Mountain (Pa.) Resort for the USCSA Regional Championships on Feb. 23 and Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid, N.Y., for the USCSA National Championships from March 4-9.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video edited by Kamia Cooper/Club Sports Video & Media Assistant

Skiers, snowboarders enjoy home-slope advantage for USCSA events at Snowflex

Players Mentioned

Cameron Brandenburg

Curren Cook

Abigail Foreman

Jayden Horrocks

Carlton Leggett

Coby Liebelt

Justin Maier

Jesse Mast

Emmaus Rich

Josephine Rich

Benjamin Scully

Isabella Tinney

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