News
Wave Sport Has Best Showing at Team Trials Yet!
Jun 01, 2009
The Best Team Trials Yet - Report by Bryan Kirk
The 2009 US Freestyle Team Trials has just ended and Team Wave Sport represented stronger than ever with multiple top-place finishes. This year's team trials was held on the best wave on which the US Freestyle Team has ever been selected. The town of Glenwood Springs has gone out of the way to create an amazing wave on the Colorado River and to host an amazingly professional event.
The event selected 5 men, 3 women, 3 c1's, 3 junior men, 2 junior women, and 2 oc1 spots to travel to quaint Thun, Switzerland in August to compete against the finest freestylers the world has to offer.
Bryan Kirk and the Wave Sport Project 54cx
The men's K1 class was packed with big guns from all over the country, and they all threw down until just 5 were left. There were some upsets (Andrew Holcombe) as well as competitors who came out of the woodwork who haven't competed in years (Chris Stafford). This was the debut event for the new Project 54Cx, the carbon-kevlar freestyle machine. Here is the men's team, with 2 Team Wave Sport members in the top 3:
1) Bryan Kirk (54Cx)
2) Stephen Wright
3) Jonny Meyers
4) Chris Stafford
5) Rush Sturges
9) EJ (by)
Jonny Meyers
The women's class was highly competitive, being comprised of women who have been training extremely hard for a shot at the US Team. Wave Sport's own Elaine Campbell pulled through with a 2nd place finish in her Project 45. She's been training for TT nonstop since mid-winter in the northeast.
1) Emily Jackson (by)
2) Elaine Campbell
3) Jessie Stone
4) Adriene Levknecht
The junior men were dominated by 2 favorites, as well as a Glenwood Springs local, Michael Palmer. These youngsters' scores were comparable with the class with whom they'll be competing in a few years.
1) Jason Craig
2) Dane Jackson
3) Michael Palmer
The junior women class included many young ladies from New River Academy and World Class Academy, so the field was stacked with talent. Wave Sport's Taylor Cote, 15, missed the team by just a few spots, but will no doubt return for redemption at the next team trials. Just 2 spots on the team were available, and were taken with force by:
1) Tracy d'Arboloff
2) Emery Tillman
In the C-1 class, 4 people competed for 3 spots, with only EJ being eliminated. I heard that Dane coerced him to compete in C-1. Dane had some massive scores in C-1 and was very nice to watch, as was Jordan.
1) Dane Jackson
2) Jordan Poffenberg
3) Jeremy Laucks
Finally, the OC-1 class had 2 people shooting for 2 spots, so the tension was not quite as high as in other more competitive classes. They were interesting to watch, nonetheless, especially Jeremy's own glass design.
1) Jeremy Laucks
2) Jacob Ament
Good Luck to the 2009 US Freestyle Team as they take on the world's best athletes in Thun, beginning August 31.