Collegiate Freestyle Champions Crowned!

Whew... an intense day of competitions has finally come to a close. We started out with beautiful sunny Nevada weather, and later on it came close to rivalling the Oregon Cup for raininess and cold...
Water levels were slightly higher than they'd been the last couple days, causing the hole to be slightly flushier and harder to stick the big moves consistently. Very few competitors were able to stay in the hole for the full 60 second ride, patience and technique paid off.

First up was the men's prelims- 3 heats of 5 each, 2 60-second rides, both counting to see which 6 would advance to the semis. The field of 15 was cut to Max Bechdel, Lane Jacobs, Jesse Shimrock, John Meyer, Tyler Muntz and Jacob Selander (hey, that's me!).

But before the men's semis, the women had their chance to throw down. Since there was only a field of 8, the prelims were considered the semifinals, and the top three advanced to the medal knock-out round. Diane Gaydos, Lizzie English and Erin Griffith all threw big rides in prelims and advanced.
Lizzie and Diane hit big loops in the finals and Erin had a bunch of solid cartwheels, and in the end Diane and Lizzie advanced. The final rides were sick, but it was Diane's consistency and variety that got her the winning score from the judges.


Next up were the men. The heat of six was quickly cut down to three after a flurry of intense rides bursting with energy, big moves and lots of variety. Selander, Shimrock and Meyer came out with the top three scores and moved on, with only a 0.2 difference in scores between 3rd and 4th place.
On with the finals. Each competitor was given a 60 second ride, the top 2 scores advance and are given another 60 second ride and a champion crowned.
Jacob went first in the heat of 3, and proceeded to throw down the highest scoring ride of the day, out of any competitor in any class. The bar had been set for Shimrock and Meyer, who both threw down impressive rides. But someone had to go. Jesse was eliminated, taking the 3rd place spot on the podium. John was up first, and threw a big ride with a lot of variety but unfortunately flushed halfway through and lost some time paddling back up into the hole. I was up next, and after watching John flush (I was suprised, he had been throwing some of the sickest rides of the comp consistently) I knew all I had to do was stay in the feature for 60 seconds and save some high-risk moves for the end.
I played the first part of my ride pretty conservatively, and when the clock hit 30 seconds, I knew it was time to throw. I managed another 15-20 seconds before flushing, and then it was up to the judges to decide.

Here's the final:
Women's Collegiate Freestyle:
1. Diane Gaydos
2. Lizzie English
3. Erin Griffith

Men's Collegiate Freestyle:
1. Jacob Selander
2. John Meyer
3. Jesse Shimrock

Pictures coming tomorrow. Big props to Amanda Marusich for taking some shots!
And even bigger props to the panel of judges that worked hard all day- Rusty Sage, Macy Burnham and Jessie Rice

Now, it's off to party!

--Selander out!