The Mt. Hood Series is co-directed by Leslee Schader and Ali Johnson. We talked with Leslee last week about the series. Leslee competed in USASA and qualified for nationals when she was 11 years old. She went on to a pro career and competed in the XGames and other international events. Leslee has two kids who are competing this week at Nationals in Copper Mountain (Snowboard week). Ali has two freestyle skiing kids who will compete there next week (Ski week).
The Mt. Hood series has grown by 35% each of the last three years with 300 athletes competing in events. This year 70 local athletes qualified for Nationals (listed below). Series championships are invited to Nationals as our others who qualify through podium finishes throughout the series. There are 30 series like the Mt. Hood series spread throughout the country with over 5,000 members competing.
The Mt. Hood series has a strong team with several athletes who podiumed last year returning to Nationals this year.
Leslee says competing at this level teaches kids to push themselves, set goals, overcome nerves, and support each other. It’s grassroots and a great community to get connected to. She says some kids set goals and like her daughter want to compete in the Olympics. Others are just learning to ride features in a park and enjoy the camaraderie.
Here is a list of the Mt Hood Series athletes heading to USASA Nationals - our biggest number of qualifiers ever! Congratulations to the athletes, their families, their coaches and organizations (Meadows Freeride Team, Meadows Race + Big Mountain Team, Cooper Spur Alpine Team, Wy'east Academy). Good luck at Nationals!
SNOWBOARDERS (Competing at Cooper Mountain April 1 - 6)
EJ Dienberg
Kiah Dienberg
Michael Dienberg
Avery Eichner
Riley Eichner
Bearinger Brown
Brooklyn Beck
Ava Beck
MacKenzie Croswell
Dwight Hoskins
Andee Schader
Kaylee Jiang
Barron Schader
Lyric Hanseder
Azayla Lamper-Burrow
Emilia Greenwood
Paul Logan
Moises Ramirez-Aguilar
Tingshuo Zhang
Maximillian Bai
Tony Jones
Joseph Medley
Adam Papenfuss
William Ryan
Brady Campbell
Ariana Vergani
Alessia Vergani
FREE SKIERS (Competing at Cooper Mountain April 8 - 12)
Grayson Miller
Brynn Miller
Lucas Galan
Leo Kelly
Nico Bonura
Donovan Bonura
Luca Bonura
Luke Beyer
Jerry Jiang
Locke Heistand
Greta Lindgren
James Lindgren
Rowan Johnson
Piper Johnson
Kayla Friberg
Jack Friberg
Oliver Hubler
Miles Galler
Piper Darling
Lauren Tackett
Nathan Schuler
Callie Chu
Hunter Wills
Kellan Lockwood
Kegan Lockwood
Henry Hackett
Watou pFriem
Vivian Frederick
Will Baker
Charles Ryder
Joey Killeen
Patrick O’Brien
Devin Lindenmeyr
Raph Liberman
Michael Nilan
Luka Kuharic
Anders Chapman
Hugh MacMenamin
Ryan Buttars
Sullivan Ruddick
Jonathan Gregg
Angus Lindsay
Taylor Breen
USASA Nationals Results Page