HEAVENLY, CA (March 30) – Joe Discoe (Telluride, CO) won his third U.S. title Saturday in the dizzying dual moguls competition at the Sprint U.S. Freestyle Championships. In the women’s duals, Sophia Schwartz (Steamboat Springs, CO) won her first ever U.S. Championship title on the soft course at Heavenly. Local favorite Sho Kashima (South Lake Tahoe, CA) took silver along with Mikaela Mathews (Frisco, CO) while Dylan Walczyk (Breckenridge, CO) and defending U.S. Champion K.C. Oakley (Piedmont, CA) took home the bronze medals.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Joe Discoe (Telluride, CO) won his career third U.S. title Saturday in the dual moguls competition at the Sprint U.S. Freestyle Championships at Heavenly.
- Discoe threw a D-spin in his top air and a backflip on his bottom air.
- In the women’s duals, Sophia Schwartz (Steamboat Springs, CO) won her first ever U.S. Championship title.
- Schwartz did a back full up top and a back lay in her bottom air.
- Local favorite Sho Kashima (South Lake Tahoe, CA) won silver on his home mountain.
- Mikaela Mathews (Frisco, CO) took silver for the women.
- Dylan Walczyk (Breckenridge, CO) took home the bronze for the men.
- Defending U.S. Champion K.C. Oakley (Piedmont, CA) settled for bronze after she lost control out of her top air and skied into Mathews’ line.
- World Cup winner Hannah Kearney (Norwich, VT) and teammate Heather McPhie (Bozeman, MT) didn’t compete in the dual moguls event.
- Brothers Bradley and Bryon Wilson (Butte, MT) also chose not to compete after Bradley took his first U.S. Champs title in the singles moguls on Friday.
- Due to incoming weather, officials moved up the dual moguls event from Sunday to Saturday to prevent delays or cancelations.
- Saturday began as a beautiful California day, with the frozen course softening throughout the day. Clouds arrived in the afternoon.
- The really large jumps lent to big crashes, upsets and an all-around exciting competition.
- The Sprint U.S. Freestyle continues Saturday evening with men’s and women’s aerials.
QUOTES
Joe Discoe
Pure strength was what got me through today. It wasn't very pretty skiing but I made it down just barely. There is some great competition here and to walk away with the win is something I'm definitely proud of. Yesterday I had a pretty rough day and I couldn't figure out how to get down this course so I'm just really happy today I was able to get it dialed in.
Sho Kashima
Two podiums here at my home mountain is pretty incredible. I didn't have a full season coming back from injury and this is proof that when I trust my skiing good things will happen. To feel the support here from everyone I grew up with makes me want to pull out some good results for them, and I'm so happy I was able to do that twice for them.
Sophia Schwartz
I’ve been to a few National Championships before and I've never podiumed so to have this win means a lot. It's the most fun event of the year, and with such a stacked field it's something I'm proud of and something I've been working towards for a while now. I couldn't be happier.
