Reaching his goal, Sun Valley Snowboard Team racer Ryan Roemer, 15, of Bellevue earned the overall national championship in the Youth Men's 14-15 age class Thursday.
Action took place during the 22nd annual United States of America Snowboard Association (USASA) national snowboard championships at Copper Mountain, Colo.
After five days and five events (giant slalom, slalom, slopestyle, halfpipe and boardercross), Roemer was crowned USASA overall national champ. He compiled four top-10 finishes in five events.
SVST program director Andrew Gilbert said, "Ryan accomplished this not by just being pretty good in these events, he had outstanding results and was a contender in all of them."
Highlight in his run to the title last week at Copper was a fourth place in halfpipe. Gilbert said, "It would most certainly would have been a podium if Ryan could have squeezed in one more trick. He was going huge and ran out of pipe."
In boardercross Roemer posted the fastest qualifying time of the day and was winning heats on his way to the final. He was taken out early but still finished 4th on the day.
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Roemer competed in the alpine events on a soft boot set up and was by far the winner if there was an award for that. He finished fifth in the GS and seventh in slalom, showing his all-around riding talents.
Gilbert said, "With this result Ryan will be invited back to next year's event to defend his title and will be moving to the Open Class to face some of the best riders in the country. If this year's nationals result is any indication, he should be right in the mix."
Roemer credited "going to bed early every night," as key to maintaining his focus in winning the overall title, the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Web site declared after last week's success.
"I'm psyched," Roemer said.
Gilbert concurred. The Sun Valley coach said, "This is the goal Ryan set at the beginning of the year and he achieved it. We are all very proud of him. The Youth Men's division was arguably one of the toughest and deepest at nationals."
In a field of 70 riders, Roemer kick-started the competition with a sixth in giant slalom. He went on to post fourth-place finishes in halfpipe and bordercross, seventh in slalom and 19th in slopestyle.
In winning the overall crown, Roemer compiled 3,000 points to top his closest competitor, Josh Cohen of Vermont, by 300 points.
In boardercross at nationals, Sun Valley’s Ryan Roemer posted the fastest qualifying time of the day and won heats on his way to the final. Courtesy photo
