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Board walk continues for South Shore at nationals

Steve Yingling

Elena Hight of Heavenly Foundation completed a gold medal sweep of the grommet girls disciplines and Sierra-at-Tahoe Joanie Anderson capped her USASA Snowboard Championships with two gold medal performances.

Hight, competing against 8- and 9-year-old girls, added slopestyle and halfpipe titles to her previous golds in the slalom, GS and boardercross.

As consistent as the Zephyr Cove competitor was, Corral Warren of South Lake Tahoe was just as dependable, finishing runner-up to Hight in each event.



The four-day national competition concluded on Wednesday but not all of the results were official. Overall standings weren’t available at press time.

After making her way onto the podium with a silver medal in the GS and the bronze in the slalom, Anderson thrived in the breaker girls (12-13) freestyle events of boardercross, halfpipe and slopestyle, earning gold medals in the pipe and slopestyle. The Tahoe Paradise resident was runner-up in boardercross as California competitors placed second through fourth.



Brady Gunsch showed why his Sierra-at-Tahoe pupils should pay attention to him as he took silver in the highly competitive men’s jams (18-22) slopestyle event. Gunsch nearly won gold but was edged out by fellow Californian Shawn Walker of Big Bear Lake, 53.5 to 52.9. Gunsch was ninth in halfpipe earlier in the competition.

Also, Stephanie Warren and Stacie Anderson concluded nationals by earning medals in each event.

Warren, who previously won gold in GS and slalom added a boardercross gold to go along with silver medals in the halfpipe and slopestyle. Rachel Newton of Truckee tied Warren for second in halfpipe and was third in boardercross and slopestyle.

Anderson settled for nothing less than silver in the menehune girls (10-11) division. The Tahoe Paradise boarder won slopestyle by a margin of 3.40 points and was runner-up to Annie Finnegan of Duluth, Minn., in the halfpipe.

Heidi LaPointe of the South Shore improved with each event. After opening nationals with a seventh-place showing in GS, she placed fifth in boardercross and fourth in halfpipe before bringing home the gold in slopestyle. Her score of 30.50 in slopestyle was 2.10 points better than runner-up Kari Everson of Bloomington, Minn.

Tahoe Paradise’s Donna Vano came on strong in the final days, winning gold in the legend women (40-49) slopestyle and halfpipe.

Other area medalists were Dustin Singler, who captured bronze in the junior men’s (16-17) halfpipe and Placerville’s Roger Carver, who was second to Sam Luebke of Girdwood, Alaska, in grommet boys (8-9) slopestyle and halfpipe.

Other top 35 performances by area snowboarders included: Harrison Kramer, ruggie boys, fourth in halfpipe and ninth in slopestyle; David Bosson, youth men, 10th GS and 15th slalom; Ari Giovenco, youth men, 17th in GS and 24th in slalom; Sophie Karandis, youth women, 11th in boardercross, 12th in halfpipe and 15th in slalom; Jared Palant, junior men, ninth in slalom, 11th in halfpipe and 12th in GS; Aaron Hernandez, junior men, 15th in halfpipe; Stacy Young, junior men, 29th in GS and 35th in slalom; William Goldenberg, breaker boys, seventh in boardercross, 27th in halfpipe and 35th in slopestyle; Jeff Kaczmar, breaker boys, 26th in halfpipe and 29th in slopestyle; Melissa Thaw, junior women, 17th in halfpipe; Lisa Warden, junior women, eighth in slalom and boardercross; Katrina Clapp, junior women, 15th in slalom and GS; Ryan Kronenberg, men’s jams, 19th in slopestyle; Travis Chatwin, senior men, 10th in slopestyle; and Jason Toutolmin, senior men, 22nd in slalom.


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