Skiers, snowboarders sweep Rail Jams at Wintergreen, travel to USCSA Southeast Regionals in Pa.

Snowboard-Rail-Jam-Wintergreen — Liberty senior snowboarder Jayden Horrocks competes in the Feb. 11 USCSA Rail Jam at Wintergreen Resort. (Photo by Tyler Sherbine)

Liberty University's ski and snowboard team leaves Thursday for Blue Mountain Resort in Palmerton, Pa., site of Friday's and Saturday's USCSA Southeast Regional competition.

The 12 members (six skiers, six snowboarders) of the Flames' and six members (three skiers, three snowboarders) of the Lady Flames' travel team will compete in the men's and women's Slopestyle event on Friday and men's and women's Rail Jam on Saturday, which serve as automatic qualifiers for the March 4-9 USCSA National Championships on White Mountain in Lake Placid, N.Y.

To prepare for the postseason competitions, Liberty traveled to Seven Springs Resort in western Pennsylvania last month, the slopes where first-year Head Coach Tyler Sherbine grew up riding on.

"Seven Springs was a really good trip, with bigger features, bigger jumps, and a tow-rope (terrrain) park," Sherbine said. "We have some bigger jumps this weekend at Southeast Regionals. Temperatures have allowed them to be making a lot of snow so it will be fun. We will be competing (for team titles there), but the focus at regionals is the bigger picture of nationals."

The Flames and Lady Flames completed their USCSA regular-season schedule by dominating their Southeast competition in a Rail Jam on Feb. 11 at Wintergreen Resort in nearby Nellysford, Va., where the team has season passes and weekly travels for practices.

"Everyone performed really well," Sherbine said. "The whole setup was something we were familiar with as the rails were similar to what we've been practicing on up there every Thursday night."

In the men's snowboard competition, Liberty junior Tate Gardener was the overall winner with a best run of 70 points, followed by senior Jayden Horrocks (65.33), sophomore Curren Cook (65), and senior Jesse Mast (fifth, 63). The Flames finished first in the team standings with 6 points to distance themselves from Appalachian State (23), Lees-McRae (33), UVA (53), JMU (56), Duke (77), Virginia Tech (90), UNC Charlotte (93), and NC State (96).

Lady Flames junior Emmaus Rich landed a high score of 58.67 to win the women's snowboard event and junior Abbey Foreman placed third with a 53.667 followed by senior Kylee Kraemer (fourth, 52.667). Liberty won the team competition with 8 points, followed by the University of Virginia (24), Appalachian State (27), Duke (36), North Carolina State (40), and JMU (45).

Men's skiers were even more dominant for Liberty with Justin Maier winning with a score of 68.67, followed in close succession by fellow sophomore Cameron Brandenburg (67) and juniors Coby Liebelt (65) and Charles Barkow (62.67). The Flames totaled 6 team points to finish well in front of UVA (28), JMU (32), Duke (42), NC State (68), and UNC Charlotte (79).

Lady Flames women's skier Isabella Tinney won her event with a score of 50.667 followed by fellow senior Josephine Rich (third, 49.33) as Liberty totaled 12 points to edge JMU (15), followed by Duke (28), Lees-McRae (30), and UVA (35).

The landslide victories gave Liberty an extra dose of confidence going into the postseason.

"The team is hungry and after practicing on Thursday (at Wintergreen), we talked about the postseason," Sherbine said. "They are excited to get up there, and are really eager to place first in their respective disciplines. Each year, our men's teams have been getting closer and closer (to national titles) and we are trying to figure out what it's going take to bring legitimacy to the program on the national level and set a good example of what the team is about."

He said the team's success opens doors for more witnessing opportunities, allowing the Flames' skiers and riders to use the podium as a platform to share the Gospel.

"When our team is winning competitions, we're more respected and other schools are more open to talk about Christianity," Sherbine said. "It makes our faith a little more credible to them. We have a lot of good conversations with people who are curious and want to know more, bridging that gap between believers and non-believers."

He said the competitions are secondary missions of the team, with the ultimate goal to be ambassadors for the Lord and for Liberty. Win or lose, they want to be lights on the hill, and to shine a light on the source of their hope and peace, Jesus Christ.

"We tell our riders, skiing and snowboarding is something you can really devote your whole life to and dive into, but at the end of the day it's a silly sport," Sherbine said. "You're sliding on a wooden board over frozen water. We try not to get caught up on 'How am I riding?' and try to look at the bigger picture, that the Lord gives us skills to use in a way that glorifies Him. We want to use our sport to worship the Lord and create conversations that can lead people to Christ."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer

Skiers, snowboarders sweep Rail Jams at Wintergreen, travel to USCSA Southeast Regionals in Pa.

Players Mentioned

Charles Barkow

Cameron Brandenburg

Curren Cook

Tate Gardener

Jayden Horrocks

Kylee Kraemer

Coby Liebelt

Justin Maier

Jesse Mast

Emmaus Rich

Josephine Rich

Isabella Tinney

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