New blog system at 2010 Olympics

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The U.S. Snowboarding team announced its roster today. Notice Marni Yamada who rides out of the Summit at Snoqualmie made the B Team for SBX. Vic Wild of White Salmon made the alpine B team.

Halfpipe Men
Pro Team
Greg Bretz (12/19/90; Mammoth Lakes, CA)
Steve Fisher (10/21/82; Breckenridge, CO)
Scott Lago (11/12/87; Seabrook, NH)
Luke Mitrani (7/24/90; Mammoth Lakes, CA)
Elijah Teter (3/7/84; South Lake Tahoe, CA)
Louie Vito (3/20/88; Columbus, OH)

Halfpipe Women
Pro Team
Clair Bidez (8/7/87; Minturn, CO)
Gretchen Bleiler (4/10/81; Aspen, CO)*
Kelly Clark (12/19/1990; Mt. Snow, VT)*
Elena Hight (8/17/89; South Lake Tahoe, CA)
Ellery Hollingsworth (9/2/91; Stratton, VT)
Hannah Teter (1/27/87; Belmont, VT)*

SBX Men
A Team
Nick Baumgartner (12/17/81; Iron River, MI)
Jonathan Cheever (4/17/85; Saugus, MA)
Nate Holland (11/8/78; Squaw Valley, CA)*
Seth Wescott (6/28/76; Sugarloaf, ME)*
Graham Watanabe (3/19/82; Sun Valley, ID)*

B Team
Jayson Hale (6/26/85; Sierraville, CA)*
Pat Holland (5/5/82; Tahoe City, CA)
Shaun Palmer (11/14/68; South Lake Tahoe, CA)
Jason Smith (1/11/82; Durango, CO)*
Ross Powers (2/10/79; Londonderry, VT)*
Bobby Minghini (1/24/86; South Lake Tahoe, CA)

SBX Women
A Team
Lindsey Jacobellis (8/19/85; Stratton Mountain, VT)*

B Team
Callan Chythlook-Sifsof (2/14/89; Girdwood, AK)
Brooke Shaw (5/12/91; Litchfield, CT)
Marni Yamada (8/26/78; Seattle, WA)

Men's Alpine
A Team
Tyler Jewell (2/21/77; Steamboat Springs, CO)*
Justin Reiter (2/2/81; Steamboat Springs, CO)
Adam Smith (9/7/80; Bend, OR)

B Team
Vic Wild (8/23/86; White Salmon, WA)

Women's Alpine
A Team
Michelle Gorgone (10/18/83; Boston, MA)*

The U.S. Freestyle team was announced today. A-teamers are your front runners to represent the USA in the 2010 Olympics. Cle Elum's Patrick Deneen is the defending world champ in the moguls.

Men
Patrick Deneen, moguls (12/25/87; Cle Elum, WA; Silver Mountain Freestyle)
Sho Kashima, moguls (11/1/86; South Lake Tahoe, CA; Heavenly Freestyle)
Michael Morse, moguls (4/21/81; Duxbury, MA; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club/Killington)
Jeret "Speedy" Peterson, aerials (12/12/81; Boise, ID; Bogus Basin)*
Casey Puckett, ski cross (9/22/72, Aspen, CO)*
Daron Rahlves, ski cross (6/12/73, Sugar Bowl, CA)*
Nate Roberts, moguls (3/24/82; Park City, UT; Park City Freestyle Team)
Ryan St. Onge, aerials (2/7/83; Winter Park, CO)*

Women
Shannon Bahrke, moguls (11/7/80; Tahoe City, CA; Squaw Valley Freestyle)*
Emily Cook, aerials (7/1/79; Belmont, MA; Freestyle Lives Year-round)*
Hannah Kearney, moguls (2/26/86; Norwich, VT; Waterville Valley Black & Blue Trail Smashers)*
Shelly Robertson, moguls (4/8/79; Reno, NV; Squaw Valley Freestyle)
Emiko Torito, moguls (7/2/82; Denver; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club)

B Team
Men
Dave Babic, moguls (6/3/79; Washington, VT; Sugarbush)
Scott Bahrke, aerials (7/19/85; Tahoe City, CA)
Dylan Ferguson, aerials (8/10/88; Amesbury, MA; Waterville Valley Black & Blue Trail Smashers)
Bryon Wilson, moguls (4/7/88; Butte, MT; Wasatch Freestyle)

Women
Jana Lindsey, aerials (8/18/84; Black Hawk, SD)*
Eliza Outtrim, moguls (7/18/85; Steamboat Springs, CO; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club/Mount Snow Ski Club)
Michelle Roark, moguls (11/16/74; Denver; Winter Park Eskimos)*
Lacy Schnoor, aerials (6/12/85; Draper, UT)

C Team
Men
Jeremy Cota, moguls (10/24/1988; Carrabassett Valley, ME; Carrabassett Valley Academy Athletics)
Shane Cordeau moguls (12/16/1986; Sun Valley, ID; Sun Valley Ski Team)
Matt DePeters, aerials (8/20/87; Hamburg NY; Buffalo Ski Club)
David DiGravio, moguls (11/26/86; Farmington, ME; Carrabassett Valley Academy)
Jimmy Discoe, moguls (5/15/89; Ridgway, CO; Telluride Freestyle)
Joe Discoe, moguls (2/23/1987; Telluride, CO; Telluride Freestyle)
Landon Gardner, moguls (1/1/85; Missoula, MT; Missoula Freestyle)
Holt Haga, moguls (8/29/83; Boise, ID; Park City Freestyle Team/Bogus Basin)

Women
Ani Haas, moguls (12/14/87; Missoula, MT; Park City Freestyle)
Mikaela Matthews, moguls (12/24/1991; Frisco, CO; Team Summit)
Heather McPhie, moguls (5/28/84; Park City, UT; Bridger Freestyle/Breckenridge)
Jaime Myers, aerials (3/27/82; Boise, ID)
Laurel Shanley, moguls (2/19/83; Squaw Valley, CA; Squaw Valley Freestyle)
Kayla Snyderman, moguls (7/4/88; Winchester, MA; Waterville Valley Black & Blue Trail Smashers)
Allison Treleaven, aerials (10/20/83; Fort Wayne, IN; Freestyle Lives Year-round)

Ever since Nicole Joraanstad graduated from Kentridge High in 1999 and moved to Madison, Wisc., she hasn’t had many reasons to return to the Northwest.

She picked the University of Wisconsin to study business, her parents – Gary and Debra -moved to Mississippi then Ohio and Joraanstad spends her spare time curling.

But in February she earned a reason to return to the Northwest when her team won the curling national championship for the fourth year in a row.

This time the national championship came with a spot in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, making her – and her team – the first Americans to qualify for the games.

Most of the American athletes won’t officially be named until January. The games are Feb. 12-28.

“It’s nice to qualify so early,” said Joraanstad, a 29-year-old corporate recruiter for TDS Telecom. “It gives us a chance to plan out everything without being rushed.”

Joraanstad started curling because of her dad, Gary, who played out of Seattle’s Granite Curling Club. He played on some good teams that contended for national championships in the 1980s before curling was an Olympic event.

When Joraanstad turned 15 she started curling and in 1996 her team advanced to junior nationals and finished eighth.

“I was pretty much hooked after that,” Joraanstad said.
She quit the school softball, basketball and track teams to focus on curling and it paid off.

Her teams returned to junior nationals the next five years winning the title in 2000 and 2001 after she moved to Madison.
“Granite is a great club but I needed to go some place where there where more clubs and more curlers,” Joraanstad said.

Curling became an Olympic sport at the 1998 games in Nagano. Still a junior at Kentridge at the time, Joraanstad envisioned a day when she would be competing for a gold medal.

By the 2002 Olympics she was already in contention to qualify. Her team finished fourth in qualifiers. Only one team advances to the games.

It was qualifying for the 2006 games that proved to be one of the key moments in her career.

Her team along with Debbie McCormick’s Wisconsin team were the favorites, but both teams were upset.

The next summer McCormick and Joraanstad decided to combine forces to form a team that wouldn’t be upset the next time around. Joraanstad joined McCormick’s team, which also includes Tracy Sachtjen of Wisconsin and Allison Pottinger and Natalie Nicholson of Minnesota.

The team has dominated women’s curling in the United States ever since.

When this year’s national championships came around Joraanstad’s new team was ready. There would be no upsets.
As the team’s second – meaning she throws the third and fourth stones and sweeps for everybody else – Joraanstad helped her team go undefeated.

Joraanstad and her teammates usually take the summer, but not this year.

Three weekends a month Joraanstad makes the 21/2-hour drive from Madison to Green Bay to practice with her team. The team will also take a training trip to Switzerland this summer.

“This is a new model for us but I think it will work well,” Joraanstad said. “We are keeping our skills honed so we are starting off stronger next season.”

Perhaps that will also translate into a spot on the podium when she comes home to the Northwest where she says she still has lots of friends and extended family.

The team will have to be at the top of its game in Vancouver. As dominant as it has been in the United States, it has yet to win a world championship.

The team finished ninth in March at the World Championships in Korea. Its best finish came in 2006 in Alberta when it finished second, but it was fourth in 2007 and seventh in ’08.
The U.S. has never won an Olympic medal in women’s curling.

Joraanstad expects that to change in Vancouver. “We expect to win gold.”

(Photo: USACURL.org)

The USSA is circulating a Q&A with Patrick Deneen today. Deneen is a mogul skier from Cle Elum who'll be on of Washington's best chance for a medal at the 2010 Olympics.

One year after being named the FIS World Cup Rookie of the Year, Patrick Deneen (Cle Elum, WA) took the freestyle moguls world by storm when he won gold at the 2009 World Freestyle Championships in moguls. Now with a landmark season wrapped up, Deneen reflects on what his win meant to him and how he's shifted his focus to the 2010 year.

You're back at home in Washington now. How are things there and what have you been up to?
I'm just hanging out at home, which is nice because I just got back from spending the last month in Colorado where I was training and coaching some kids. So, it's good to be back in Washington and be home with the dogs and the horses.

Will you be spending your whole summer in Washington or are you ramping up your training schedule elsewhere?
I am planning on spending a lot of my summer in Washington. It's great because I am so close to Mt. Hood and with this time of year also being the time I do physical training, for me, this is the best type of training environment - in Washington and with my family on the ranch.

You might be a World Champion now, but when you head back to the ranch does a long list of chores wait for you?
I'm gone so often that my mom pretty much has it covered. But, when I am here I do normal chores like mowing the lawn and feeding horses. Luckily this time of year the grass is getting long, so I don't have to do a whole lot of feeding.

When you won your gold at Worlds, things were a whirlwind for you. Now that the dust has had a chance to settle, how do you reflect on what you accomplished?
The World Championship medal really means a lot to me. When you're skiing at the biggest event, and for me having everything come together at the right moment, it's a real special time.

What have you done with your gold medal?
Right now I keep it in a cupboard in my living room. If I'm sitting down watching television I'll have a quick look at it. My mom plans on framing it with my bib.

With such a great season behind you, how do you plan out your training this summer as you look ahead for future success?
I really focus on my skiing, the task at hand and small goals that I can do. If I just keep moving down that path my skiing will work and the results will come.

Do you have any additional thoughts as you look ahead to the 2010 season?
I'm really excited for next season. All of us just really love to compete. It's such a short ski season and we don't get that many competitions to ski in, so I'm looking forward to getting in there and starting to compete again. I know it's only June, but it seems like it's coming up so fast.

Torin Koos of Leavenworth made the U.S. roster again making a likely candidate to make his third Olympic team in January.

From the U.S. Ski Team:

World Championship silver medalist Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK), along with World Cup sprint medalist Andy Newell (Shaftsburry, VT), Kris Freeman (Andover, NH) and three-time U.S. champion Liz Stephen (East Montelier, VT) are among the athletes headlining the newly named 2010 U.S. Cross Country Ski Team.

=> Read more!

From the U.S. Ski Team

Life's not exactly a beach for the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team moguls athletes who are stationed in San Diego this week for one of the most intense training camps of their season.

"We came down here to get our skiers out of their element in the mountains," U.S. Moguls Head Coach Scott Rawles said. "We've been doing beach workouts every day. We try to keep everyone moving. We have stuff going on from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., so it's fairly grueling, really intense and it's a good way to get our prep season kicked off."

Among the athletes at the camp are World Championship bronze medalist Hannah Kearney (Norwich, VT) and 2002 Olympic silver medalist Shannon Bahrke (Tahoe City, CA).

"We're basically getting whipped into shape. We're learning some technique in the gym, we're doing core workouts, we're running on the track and then we're doing workouts at the beach that involve running in and out of the water with and without surfboards," Kearney said. "I'm not exactly what you'd call a beach person, but it's a really good way to mix up the training and get a good tan at the same time."

For Bahrke, a California native, training in her home state is a great way to get back into the swing of things.

"This is our first camp and we're really trying to get back into it. We've been doing a lot of different things," Bahrke said. "I'm a Cali girl, so I love being down here. It's beautiful, the sun is shining and it's a really good vibe down here."

The camp involves some of the most intense training the athletes will endure throughout their season. The intensity serves as a foundation for the athletes remaining in consistently good shape as they gear up for 2010.

"Every day I fall asleep within two seconds of my head hitting my pillow. Everything we've been doing is really hard. There have been no easy workouts," Bahrke said.

"In a lot of ways this is a little unorthodox compared to what we usually do, but I think that's one of the main reasons we do it," Rawles added. "It's good to get the athletes into different situations that they might not have been in before because in our sport we're always dealing with different situations so this helps them prepare for that."

Athletes who live away from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association's Center of Excellence training facility and the supervision of the Team's trainer will be able to take the workout plans and fundamental skills they developed in San Diego and use them from their homes across the U.S.

"Living in Vermont I don't get to work with Alex [Moore, Team trainer] very often except for over the Internet. It's really good getting some face time. He makes us work harder than we would alone. It's a really good way to start the off season," Kearney said.

The moguls athletes will remain in San Diego through the weekend before returning to their personal training schedules.

Leave it to Sasha Cohen to spice things up.

The Olympic silver medalist confirmed Wednesday she is returning to competitive figure skating in hopes of earning a spot at the Vancouver Games. She has submitted paperwork to U.S. Figure Skating that would enable her to compete at Grand Prix events this fall.

“I’ve been excited,” Cohen told The Associated Press by phone from Winnipeg, Manitoba, where she is touring with Stars on Ice. “Every day it’s closer and real, so it’s very exciting to me.”

=> Read more!

Just got off the phone with Patrick Deneen, the mogul skier from Cle Elum. Deneen just got in yesterday from Japan where he won the moguls World Championship.

He directed me to a website where you can watch his winning run.

From the U.S. Ski Team:

Torin Koos (Leavenworth, WA) led the way for U.S. sprinters in Saturday's World Cup in Lahti, finishing 12th. Petter Northug of Norway won, sprint leader Ola Vigen Hattestad, also of Norway, was second and Nikolay Morilov of Russia took third.

"For Torin, it was a good race. Had things gone more his way, it would have been a pretty different outcome," U.S. Cross Country Coach Patrick Casey said. "He was skiing top six, but ended up getting turned around on a pretty scrappy course."

=> Read more!

Patrick Deneen of Cle Elum just won moguls gold at the world championships.

Here's the release from the U.S. Ski Team:

The U.S. Ski Team's Pat Deneen (Cle Elum, WA) took the competition by storm Saturday, winning the gold medal in moguls at the 2009 FIS Freestyle Ski World Championships in Japan.

"This is incredible. It really hasn't set in yet, but just to know that I have that now is a great feeling. I don't even know how to put it into words. I just can't believe it's mine," Deneen said. "It's been a really long and tough season so far, so to have this win feels really good. To come out with a World Championship win is the most incredible thing."

Deneen was closely followed in the men's competition by teammate Sho Kashima (South Lake Tahoe, CA) who finished sixth. In the women's moguls, Shannon Bahrke (Tahoe City, CA) headed up the list for the U.S., finishing sixth.

On top of having the fastest time down the course, Deneen stuck a Back X, a trick he only learned four days ago, off the top jump. He then landed a D Spin off the bottom jump after struggling with the maneuver for the past few weeks.

Deneen said his ability to perform his air packages so well came from added effort away from the competition trail.

"I went home, worked on it and came back here and everything worked," Deneen said. "I had a really tough training day yesterday and same with this morning, but everything just went together for my finals run. It's pretty amazing.

=> Read more!