New England riders mark their spot at Winter X

By Matt Boxler

Some new faces and some familiar ones served notice to the world last week that New England snowboarding is as competitive as ever.

The stage was Winter X Games 13 in Aspen, Colo., where several homegrown athletes came up big with the world watching. Among them was 21-year-old Scotty Lago, who is building himself a brilliant professional career – contest by contest, film by film.

The Seabrook, N.H. native and 2008 U.S. Snowboarding halfpipe team member was the only rider in the Winter X slopestyle finals to post two scores in the 90s, which was good enough to earn him the silver medal. It took a jaw-dropping, spiraling 720 flight over the channel gap from the world’s best rider, Shaun White, to beat him.

For Lago, who grew up riding at Waterville Valley, N.H., his Winter X result is only the latest of a string of meteoric successes. He was the cover shot on the May 2008 issue of TransWorld Snowboarding Japan, and has his own segment in the latest Grenade Films production, “The Boned Age.”

Lago also has a part in Absenthe’s “Ready,” and appears in fellow pro Travis Rice’s new movie, “That’s It That’s All.”

Meanwhile, his 2008 results include second in the Air and Style quarterpipe competition at Innsbruck, Austria (an event won by Norwich, Vt. native Kevin Pearce), second in the King of Quarters competition in Aspen, Best Trick at the US Open in Stratton, Vt., and fourth at the Tamarack (Idaho) U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix.

Lago wasn’t the only New England rider to excel at Winter X. Fellow 21-year-old Chas Guldemond of Laconia, N.H, placed fourth in slopestyle. Guldemond’s career highlights include a second place behind White at the 2008 Burton European Open and a victory at the 2007 Australian Open.

In men’s halfpipe, Pearce arguably posted the best run, but judges awarded the gold by the slimmest of margins (1-point) to White. Elijah Teter (Belmont, Vt.) placed fourth in the event, a result that caught the eye of U.S. Snowboarding halfpipe coach Mike Jankowski.

“Elijah has worked so hard to get to where he is,” Jankowski said. “We feel like he’s doing everything right and everything is in place for him to really make a surge forward right now. His result in the X Games proves again that he is a world-class rider and he’s got what it takes to make it to the next level and stand on the podium.”

Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton, Vt.) was up to her old tricks, winning gold in women’s Snowboarder X, while a trio of Vermonters were among the best in women’s halfpipe: Kelly Clark (Mt. Snow) won silver; Hanna Teter (Belmont, Vt.) took bronze; and 17-year-old Ellery Hollingsworth (Stratton) placed fourth.

“Hannah has been working super hard to push her snowboarding to the next level,” Jankowski. “I think every day and every contest is just a step toward her goal of winning the gold medal. We just take it one day at a time and one contest at a time and try to see the big picture.”

Clark is coming off a superpipe victory on Jan. 11 at the Winter Dew Tour stop at Mt. Snow. Teter took second in that competition, while Hollingsworth was third. Clark now leads the overall Winter Dew Tour point standings going into the final event later this month at Northstar-at-Tahoe.

Both Clark and Teter have their sights clearly set on recapturing Olympic gold. Clark is the 2002 Olympic halfpipe champion, while Teter is the 2006 Olympic halfpipe champion.