Monday, April 16, 2007

2007 Collegiate Nationals Wrap-up

Well, after an intense 2 days of competition in cold, rainy, windy weather, monday rolls in all sunny and warm just as all the collegiate athletes are leaving Reno.
Big thanks to the CSTV folks and Jim Litchfield for throwing together another excellent event this year. Lots of extremely talented paddlers from all corners of the country came out, the competitions were tough and in the end we have the results:
Saturday's boatercross saw snow in the morning, leading many competitors to sport drysuits for the event.
The women's final was first, unfortunately local favorite Lizzy English (UNR) jumped the gun at the gate, causing her to be DQ'd. That left the race open, with Hannah Farrar (Dartmouth) taking first, Diane Gaydos (UC Davis) second and Kim Russell (COCC) third.
The men's race paralleled last year's competitors closely, pitting Andy Maser and Lane Jacobs (both from Oregon, and in the finals last year) against each other. After 50 seconds of furious paddling, Lane came out first for a repeat victory with Andy a close second. Matt Fithian of Garrett College rounded out the podium.

Sunday morning we woke up to snow flurries downtown, but thankfully slightly higher water than the day before. Good news for the freestyle comp. Hole #3 on the Truckee was a little shallow, so folks had to be careful where they decided to throw their moves and what moves they decided to throw. Once again it was cold, but that didn't stop anyone from going big.
Two 60-second rides with the scores added together decided who would move on to the semifinals. After the men's prelims, Jesse "Weasel" Murphy (UC Davis) was in first with a flurry of tricky-wus, McNasties, Phonix Monkeys and clean cartwheels, followed closely by Dan Simenc (Skippy- Boise State), Jon Meyers (Western State), defending champ Jacob Selander (North Carolina), Lane Jacobs (Oregon) and Eric Bissel (Arapahoe CC).
Following a short break, the women's heat began. These ladies stepped up the comp this year, throwing lots of vertical cartwheels, cleans, splits and big loops. Hannah Farrar (Dartmouth)- yesterday's winner- advanced to finals in first, Jamie Cooper (?) in second, and Kim Russell (COCC) in third.
In the finals, Kim Russell threw a ton of vertical right-cartwheels but didn't have the variety that Hannah and Jamie did, and ended up taking 3rd. But, it was 3rd in her first freestyle comp ever- not bad.
Hannah and Jamie did the unthinkable after their rides- tied. Which meant only one thing- another punch-out heat. These ladies were tired, but threw down good rides regardless. Hannah took the podium in first place and Jamie second.

The men's semis were intense. Defending champ Jacob Selander's rides were solid, but unfortunately not enough to advance to the final 3. Jesse Murphy, Jon Meyers and Lane Jacobs all threw impressive rides with tons of variety and moved on. It was obvious that the weekend of competing was starting to take its toll on these three, they looked a bit tired during their finals rides. Nonetheless, the rides were good, and Jon Meyers (second last year) got his turn on the podium in first place, followed by Jesse and Lane.

Something new this year was the overall champion- combined scores from the Boatercross and Freestyle- Hannah Farrar won the women's with first place finishes in both events, and Lane Jacobs won the men's, with a victory in the boatercross and a 3rd in the freestyle.

Good times were had by all in America's Adventure Place- Reno.

--Jacob live in Reno!

Oh- and videos to come soon. Just need to do a little editing on the plane back to North Carolina this afternoon.

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