2010 Freestyle National Championships
The country’s best freestyle skiers gathered at Squaw Valley, Calif., from
March 26 to 28 for the Sprint U.S. Freestyle Championships. The U.S. mo-
guls team arrived fresh from a trip to Sierra Nevada, Spain, where they
claimed the Nations Cup trophy with the most overall World Cup points of
any country. For the aerialists, it was the first competition since the Van-
couver Games, where Jeret “Speedy” Peterson was able to end the team’s
tough season (no World Cup podiums) with an Olympic silver medal — the
country’s first medal in the discipline in 12 years.
Singles Moguls, March 26
After taking wins in two of the last three World Cup competitions, Olympic
gold medalist Hannah Kearney landed in Squaw Valley gunning for her
first national championship in four years. None would stand in her way
as she put down a 26.37-point winning run in the best-of-two-run format.
The run had an extra kick as Kearney pulled off a mute grab.
“That was the first time I’ve ever thrown a mute in competition or qualify-
ing and a new trick, it’s always satisfying when that goes well,” said Kearney,
a 24-year-old Vermont native. “I like to try to push myself because I’ve been
stuck in a rut for a few years as far as my tricks go.”
Eliza Outtrim followed up her win in Sierra Nevada (her career first) with a
second-place result ahead of fellow first-time World Cup winner this season,
Heather McPhie, in third. It was Outtrim’s first career podium at a nation-
al championship and McPhie’s second since finishing runner-up in 2006.
Shelly Robertson just missed the podium in fourth place in the field of 53.
“I’ve never been on a U.S. championship podium before, so that’s incred-
ible,” said Outtrim. “I really wanted to come off the win from last week, ski
well here and follow up on that win.”
After sustaining minor injuries while training for the season’s final World
Cup competition, team veteran and Tahoe native Shannon Bahrke didn’t
compete, but cheered on her teammates from the sidelines. She has an-
nounced that she will retire after this season.
On the men’s side, U.S. Ski Team rookie Joey Discoe of the Telluride Ski
Club earned his first national title.
“I’m really excited,” said Discoe, who recorded his career high in a World
Cup earlier this month in Are, Sweden, with an eighth-place result. “It’s an
amazing feeling and I’m super stoked. My skiing has been coming together
for the last three events with a couple World Cups making the finals. I got a
top 10 there and just kept the skiing going into here.”
Only a tenth of a point behind was fellow U.S. Ski Team rookie Jeremy Cota
in second. Michael Morse, the 2008 national champion, finished third for
his fourth career national championships podium.
Waterville Valley’s Reed Snyderman, 20, finished fourth at his third nation-
al championships. Olympic bronze medalist Bryon Wilson finished seventh.
Aerials, March 27
It was another day of sunny skies when the aerialists took their turn. Emily
Cook and Matt DePeters ended the season with the wins after not compet-
ing for more than a month following the Olympic Games.
The win marked Cook’s fourth career national title and put a smooth, gold-
en end to a rocky winter. Her World Cup season had ended early with a heel
bruise at a mid-January competition in Calgary. Cook had to rely on just
three World Cup results to make the trip back to Canada for the Vancouver
Games, where she finished 11th. Her two-jump score of 173.14 in Squaw Val-
ley put her almost 10 full points ahead of her nearest competitor.
