Flames golden in Boarder Cross at nationals; men’s, women’s snowboarders strike silver, skiers bronzed in Rail Jam

Sunday, March 8

Lake Plaid, NY

TBA

Liberty University Club Sports

USCSA Nationals

Snowboarders at Lake Placid Boarder Cross

Flames freshmen snowboarders Syrus Castanaga-Acerra (left) and Julian Cook finished sixth and ninth, respectively, in Tuesday's Boarder Cross event, leading Liberty to a team gold medal at the USCSA National Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y. (Photos by Andrew Smith)

Flames golden in Boarder Cross at nationals; men’s, women’s snowboarders strike silver, skiers bronzed in Rail Jam

3/12/2026 9:50:00 AM | Ski & Snowboard

The Flames and Lady Flames got out to solid starts in slushy conditions at the USCSA National Championships at Lake Placid, N.Y.

Liberty University's men's snowboard team claimed a gold medal in the Boarder Cross event while its women's snowboarders placed second and skiers third in the Rail Jam on Tuesday's opening day of the USCSA National Championships on Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Then on Wednesday, the Flames snowboarders and skiers also captured second and third, respectively, in the men's Rail Jam, matching the Lady Flames' showings.

The Flames' top three finishers in the Boarder Cross landed in the top 15, paced by freshmen Syrus Castanaga-Acerra, who placed sixth in 44.99 seconds, Julian Cook (ninth in 45.36), and Chase Roberts (15th in 51.25), for a total of 30 team points.

That put them one point ahead of runner-up Lees-McRae (N.C.) College, which was led by Owen Gordon's second-place finish in 41.71, in the 18-team competition. UCLA, which featured the first- and third-place individual riders, landed in fifth place behind Westminster (Utah) University (third, 41) and UNC Charlotte (fourth, 53) with 55 points because it did not have a third competitor.

"We ended up winning it," Flames Head Coach Tyler Sherbine said. "We haven't done that before. Boarder Cross is one event where we don't prepare for it. We don't have any boardercross racers, just good snowboarders who can keep up with the competition."

"We had time to run the course early (Tuesday) morning to practice on it, and our guys were able to learn the course pretty well before we started racing in time trials, riding four at a time, after that," he added. "There were jumps and turns and slaloms on the course, so it was cool. It wasn't crazy. On the rollers and turns, it required pumping, pushing down through your feet on the jumps, which gives you a boost, but your legs are burning after the race."

The Lady Flames' snowboarders placed sixth out of 16 teams in Wednesday's women's Boarder Cross led by graduate Maddie Morgan's 11th-place finish in 51.82, followed by freshman Hailey Lemke (14th in 54.26) and junior Izzy Melvin (26th in 58.01).

In Tuesday's women's Rail Jam competitions, Liberty's snowboarders placed second with 21 points, behind only Westminster (11) and ahead of San Diego State University (30) and Lees-McRae (36). Morgan and Lemke finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with Melvin landing in 12th out of 25 riders.

Liberty's women's skiers totaled 39 points to place third behind Westminster (16) and UCLA (29) and ahead of James Madison University (44) in the 11-team competition. Individually, the Lady Flames featured freshmen Danah Osborne (sixth), Cecilia Tinney (15th), and Kennedy Denecker (18th).

"It was really nice out, and it's been pretty warm, so it's been slushy, but we were really consistent," Sherbine said.

On Wednesday, temperatures reached the mid-50s and rain led to rapid snow melt, but Liberty's skiers and riders weathered the conditions and excelled in the Rail Jam, with the Flames' top four snowboarders landing in the top 10. They totaled 20 points to finish runner-up to Westminster (14), ahead of the University of Maine at Farmington (39) and Lees-McRae (49) out of 13 teams. Individually for Liberty, Cook captured a bronze medal with his third-place finish, followed by an 8-9-10 showing by Castanga-Acerra, junior Christian Bassoo, and Roberts, respectively.

The Flames' skiers scored 24 points, with their highest three scorers landing in the top 10, but missed second place by one point to UMF (23). Liberty finished ahead of fourth-place Fairfield (Conn.) University (33) in a field of 15 teams. Westminster skiers swept the top three individual places to secure the team title with the lowest possible score of 6.

A trio of sophomores paced Liberty with Eli Malek finishing sixth individually followed by Jack Albee (eighth) and Jack Swartzentruber (10th).

Complete results are available online.

Thursday's schedule is highlighted by the men's and women's skiing Slopestyle competitions before men's and women's snowboarding hold their Slopestyle events on Friday and Saturday's men's and women's skiing Big Air competitions are Liberty's last events before the closing ceremonies in the Olympic Center Conference Center.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer