As always, spectators enjoyed watching freeskiing's elite battle it out for the Tobias Lee Sickbird buckle award. The Sickbird award is presented to the competitor with the most spirited competition run, often involving super-human talent and agility.

Legendary freeskier and Squaw local Jamie Burge took command of the women's field qualifying first with a score of 35. The only woman to attempt and beautifully execute a double drop, Burge's line was smooth, fast, aggressive and she received a Sickbird nomination for her efforts. Jess McMillan of Jackson Hole, WY, sits behind Burge with 30.6 points and Kate Olsen, who recently placed second at the Subaru Telluride Freeskiing Open, is just one point behind McMillan with 29.6. Katharine Lange of Squaw Valley finished fourth with 28.8, Ashley Carruth sits in fifth position with 28.6 going into tomorrow's finals. A total of 10 women will advance to the next round.

"The run was really fun today because the snow conditions are awesome," said first place qualifier Jamie Burge. "We finally got some snow to save our competition. There were some fun rocks, some little pillows and the bottom double air was really fun and soft. I feel pretty good going into tomorrow's venue; I've been inspecting it a lot. But I'll definitely have to step it up a bit."

The Headwall will be the proving ground for contenders tomorrow. Two runs are planned for the finals if time allows.

The men's field was incredible to watch today and scores reflect just how tight this field of competitors really is. Only 7.8 points separates all 27 men who qualified for tomorrow's finals. Cliff Bennett of Snowbird, UT, who recently won the Sickbird buckle at the Subaru Telluride Freeskiing Open, tied for first place with Chris Tatsuno of Sun Valley, ID. Bennett executed a near perfect run which concluded with an impressive step-up, gap jump which no other competitor attempted today while Tatsuno's run included a perfectly executed 30 foot air. Tatsuno and Bennett lead the men's competition with 36.2 points and both were nominated for the Sickbird award. Adrien Coirier of Les Arcs, France, who recently won the Subaru Telluride Freeskiing Open, skied a solid, fast and smooth run with a double drop near the bottom of the venue which he skied into with no hesitation. Corier sits in third with 36 points. Jesse Bryan and Kevin O'Meara are tied for fourth with 34.6 points while Drew Tabke, last year's winner of The North Face Young Gun award, sits in sixth with 34.2.

"My run felt pretty good today," said first place men's qualifier Cliff Bennett. "I came in to today thinking that I would have to step it up to make it through to tomorrow. The conditions out here are really good so there was some big stuff that I had lined up and a couple of little pillowy gaps that I knew no one else was looking at. I just went out there and had fun, skied a clean, fluid run and kept on my feet. I'm looking forward to heading up to the Headwall for tomorrow's finals."

New in 2007, MSI will be posting same-day video broadcasts on the newly redesigned usfreeskiing.com featuring state of the art video and photo player technology. The daily uploads of video, photos, news and results of each day's competition action will be available mere hours after each day concludes.

The North Face Young Gun Award returns in 2007, honoring outstanding new talent in competitive freeskiing. Points accumulated throughout the season will crown one lucky under-21-year-old a full sponsorship from The North Face and the honor of becoming only the second Young Gun winner. This year's front runner is Justin Richard of Breckenridge, CO.

Additional Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Series tour stops include the Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Nationals at Snowbird, UT, Subaru Jackson Hole Freeskiing Open at Jackson Hole, WY, Subaru North American Freeskiing Championships at Kirkwood, CA, and past tour stop the Subaru Telluride Freeskiing Open at Telluride, CO.



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