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It was a pretty amazing 2009. Starting off with the opportunity in March to finally compete in the Moomba Masters in Melbourne, Australia. Sadly I didn’t perform quite as well as I would have like to. I did make it to the semi-finals however I finished 12th out of 12 there and wasn’t able to move on to the finals. Still an amazing experience competing on the Yarra in the middle of downtown Melbourne. Hope to go back. In April I jumped 178’(5.5’ ramp at 35mph) to set the National record in the newly created Masters Men division. It was a ¾ cut. Later in June I traveled to Covington, Louisiana for the first of 2 Big Dawg Qualifiers. What a beautiful site this was and the hospitality was wonderful. Didn’t ski well enough on Saturday to make the head to head portion on Sunday. Two scores of 2 @ 39.5 off was enough to finish 18th but only the top 16 make the finals. Dave Miller ended up winning this event with a very impressive score of 4 @ 41 off. In July the 2nd of the Big Dawg Qualifiers was hosted by Jeff & Patti Smith at their lake in Gaines, Michigan. A score of 2 @ 39 then a nearly disastrous second round score of 5.5 @ 38 was just enough to make the cut as the 16th seed. When the pairings were announced I learned that the number 1 seed and my first round competitor would be Big Dawg Ben Favret. I decided my best course of action to prepare…..start talking trash to Ben, immediately. Well…..it didn’t work. In the head to head I went out first. After running my 38 off pass I watched Ben run his, there was a glimmer of hope when I saw what I thought was a stumble by Ben. No such luck. Ben ran his 38 off. I came back and ran 2 at 39 then watched as Ben ran 39 to beat me. Ben ended up making the final 4 but the victory went to Scott Larson. A couple of weeks later I skied in the Fluid Record Opener, the first tournament to be held at the redesigned Headquarters lake. In my first round of slalom I had 39 run, came out of 3 ball in great shape but unfortunately short pulled into 4 making me narrow and was only able to score 4. A new personal best but so close to running it. In the second round of jump I jumped 186 (56.8 meters) to set my second Masters Men National Jump record.
In mid August I headed to West Palm Beaches Okeeheelee Park for the U.S. National Championships and the Big Dawg Finals. Normally these events are held at different locations and at different times. It was fun a little differently this year with the Big Dawg Finals being run during Nationals on the same lakes. For an overall skier like myself, this meant the potential for a lot of skiing. On Thursday, August 13, I skied my 2 preliminary rounds of the Big Dawg. Scores of 2 @ 39 off and 3 @ 39 off were enough for get me into the top 16 as the 15th seed and thus into the head to head portion. Friday morning started off with me competing in Masters Men Tricks at around 10am. I did not trick quite as well as I would have liked to but it was enough to win the Gold Medal. Later that after around 2:30pm I completed in Masters Men Slalom for Nationals. I finished with a score of 2.5 @ 39.5 off to finish 7th. It was my first event at Nationals since my return that I did not medal in an event. Approximately 3 hours later, I took to the water in my head to head round of the Big Dawg. As the #15 seed that meant that I got to take on the #2 seed, David Miller. I advanced past David Miller to the Elite 8 which was to be run under the lights on the trick lake. My second round match up was against the #10 seed, Kris LaPoint whom I defeated to then take on the #7 seed Scott Larson. I also defeated Scott to advance to the final 2 where I faced #1 seed Ben Favret. Unfortunately Ben ran 39 while I only got 2.5. To read more about this amazing event click here. While the my fellow Big Dawg Competitors were done, I still had to go back to the lake the following morning to compete in Masters Men Jump. It was a pretty gusty day on the jump lake unfortunately. I really wanted to put a big jump out there to set another national record but had to settle for a jump of 181’. It was enough for the win and considering the conditions and the amount of skiing I had done the night before I was happy with the performance. The second weekend in October brought the annual Rocketman Record. I tricked well scoring 6420 with 4170 of that being on my hand pass. A new one pass personal best however my toe tricks let me down, only a couple of tricks from a personal best. In the 2nd round of jump I went 187’ (56.9 meters) to set my 3rd Masters Men National Jump Record of the year. A week later at McCormicks, we received an unusual cold front bringing us chilly temps and gusty winds. The first round of jump was pretty ugly but I managed to make some corrections for the second round and jumped 187’ again however this one measured out to 57.1 meters for my 4th Masters Men National Jump Record. The weather was so cold and windy on Sunday that most skiers didn’t ski As is customary with McCormicks, they held tournaments on back to back weekend towards the end of October. The weather was better however my slalom and tricks left a bit to be desired. My last jump of the 2nd round was great but sooo close to being huge. I left so much on the ramp but still went 191’ (58.3 meters) for a new 5.5’ personal best and new Masters Men National Jump record. October 31 was the last day of the year that would go towards the October 2009 World Ranking Lists so Scot and Kiwi decided they would have one final Fluid Record tourney to end the season. With a skier only allowed 3 ski rides I decided to do one trick and 2 jump rides. It ended up being a good choice. I tricked 6750 with 2 botched toe tricks. It was the most I’ve tricked since my return in 2007 after 4 years off and either one of those 2 tricks would have given me a new personal best. I had been jumping so well in practice that when the first round of jumping approached I was really amped up and ultimately too much so. The first round of jump was not good at all. The second round however, was. My first jump of the second round was 195. I made some small adjustments and came back to better that by 2 feet to jump 197. On the last jump I was a bit earlier than I wanted to be but still happy with the round. A new personal best for the second weekend in a row and new Masters Men National Jump record for the 4th week in a row. I was also named to the U.S. Sr. Team to compete at both the Sr. World Championships in Milan, Italy as well as the Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile. |
