Snowflex riders earn 2nd in USCSA NATIONALS Rail Jam

Snowflex is the premium high performance, synthetic ski slope system and is continuing to show proven results as a training ground for skiers and snowboarders. This was witnessed with the exceptional performance by Liberty University's ski and snowboard team at the recent United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association Championships at Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid, N.Y.

The Liberty Flames' men's snowboarders finished runner-up in the Rail Jam at the 36th Annual USCSA National Championships site of the 1980 Winter Olympic Games.

Liberty University's ski and snowboard team poses atop the jumps at the Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre overlooking the sprawling campus below and the distant Blue Ridge Mountains. LMSC photo

The Rail Jam was a new event added to the National Competition this year and the Flames made the most of the opportunity to implement the skills they've perfected on rail features at the Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre in Lynchburg, Va. Having the only on-campus, year-round ski slope facility in the country has helped the recently formed Liberty team in teaching and training for competitions.

The Liberty Flames, led by juniors Kevin Hoff and Isaac Gibson, finished second out of 10 teams overall with 21 points, behind only Westminster College (15 points) and ahead of Sierra Nevada College (25), Western Colorado State University (30), and the University of Virginia (46), a South-eastern Conference rival.

"There's a lot of good schools here, good riders from out west," first-year Head Coach Ryan Leeds said. "The team was showcasing the kind of manoeuvres they've been doing all year (at LMSC). We had a blast and we definitely made a name for ourselves. A lot of people were asking about Liberty and about Snowflex, so it was a great recruiting tool and great publicity. A lot of the western schools were pumped on Liberty."

Flames senior Tim Steltzer, who won the Big Air Exhibition at last year's USCSA Nationals at Sun Valley, Idaho, was the seventh individual place-winner out of 33 competitors in the men's freestyle skiing Rail Jam, pacing Liberty to a seventh-place showing out of 14 teams with 75 points. In the women's snowboard Rail Jam competition, the Lady Flames also placed seventh with 50 points.
Hoff and Gibson also qualified for the USCSA slopestyle snowboard finals by placing in the top 12 on their preliminary runs.

LMSC photos

LMSC is the first slope of its kind in North America and it has proven itself as an ideal training location. Leeds said his riders have an edge over other teams in the Southeast Conference because Snowflex gives them a more reliable place to train, and to try extreme stunts without as great a risk of injury.

"The surface doesn't hurt as much when you fall so it allows us to really push the level of progression more than you would probably be allowed to on snow," Leeds said. "Because Snowflex lets you build in so much repetition, once you get past the mental block of the fear of falling, the fundamentals of every trick you do just fall into place and it usually is a really easy transition (to snow). Everything starts to click because you've already developed that muscle memory on Snowflex."

Drew Sherwood, General Manager of LMSC, said Liberty hopes to see one or more of the athletes who train there make the U.S. Olympic team. "We definitely have some young rising stars that in the next five to 10 years could have a good chance at it," he said

The 2014 Snowflex Games

With the success of their past "Off-Season Competitions", LMSC will host The 2014 Snowflex Games, (formerly called the Dew Games) in Lynchburg, VA on April 25-26, with amateur and professional riders competing for US$15,000 in prize money in a variety of skiing and snowboarding Big Air and Rail Jam events. Registration can be found at +1 434-582-3539 or +1 866-504-7541 or Snowflex@liberty.edu

References:
http://www.liberty.edu/news/index.cfm?PID=18495&MID=115377
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/02/prweb11555397.htm
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