The Heavenly Freestyle Team recently competed at the Junior National Championships in Park City, Utah. The nation’s top 60 junior singles skiers and top 48 junior duals skiers for men and women are invited each year. Taryn Baker, Mia Idzorek, Gabbi Fisher, Shanti Payne, Zach Shearer and Dino Ambrosi all received invitations.

On March 20, Baker qualified sixth in the women’s singles event. She threw down a backflip to earn fifth overall, and a third-place medal in her J2 (15-16) age group. Idzorek (16th in J3) spun a 360 on the top air and made good turns, until she landed poorly on the bottom air. Fisher (5th in J3) also did a 360, and was quick through the middle section.

The men competed on March 21 on the same course and Dino Ambrosi skied a standout run with a huge triple twister which earned him a third-place medal in the J3 age group (13-14), and 36th overall. Ambrosi had to wait until the next day to qualify his backflip for use in competition, which he did successfully. Zach Shearer was .8 point away from the finals with his loop-to-back layout and ended up in 26th overall, 15th in J2s. Shanti Payne had a tough break on his top air landing, after he went huge on his backflip.

On March 23, both the men and the women competed in duals, head-to-head mogul racing. Taryn Baker, Mia Idzorek, Gabbi Fisher and Shanti Payne were invited to compete. Heavenly’s Baker was the team’s only skier to advance to the second round, but lost in a split decision to Kealy Zaumseil, the eventual winner.

“This team is skiing better every day. They fall and they get up and they ski even harder. They skied their hearts out. I couldn’t be more proud of them,” said head coach Travis Woodcock. “To have two kids from Heavenly on the podium at the Junior National Championships is incredible. We’re always excited to bring more medals home to Heavenly.”

This week, Taryn Baker is representing Heavenly at the Senior National Championships at Deer Valley, Utah. This competition is for the top freestyle skiers in the country who are 14 years or older, and turned 14 before Jan. 1, 2014. The entire Heavenly Freestyle Team returns to Squaw Valley for the final competition of the year April 5-6.