Monster Army had 11 athletes sending it at the Calgary Olympic Park. The FIS NorAm - Gold level AFP event lasted 4 days and consisted of one slope and two halfpipe competitions.
It was a rough start to the event with the changes in weather. The practice day gave us a sunny blue sky, followed by a 13” powder day for qualifying. All of the qualifying heats were completed even with the snowy conditions. Slope finals went down as planned on Friday with negative temperatures making conditions slow. Ryan McElmon was our top finisher in slope with a solid 9th place finish in a stacked final. Rounding out the Monster Army field was Nate Miceli, Dylan Ladd, Birk Irving, Connor Ladd, Sam Ward, and Hunter Carey.
We had Svea Irving killing it for the women. Svea laid down a run in qualifying to make it to the finals round where she grabbed a solid 4th.
Halfpipe day one brought more cold temps. There were 3 men and 2 women athletes that made the final cut. Birk Irving was throwing hammers and took the win with a switch cork 7, dub chuck, right cork 9, dub 12 scoring a 92.2. Dylan Ladd pulled off a 6th with a solid run including a dub chuck. Jaxin Hoerter rounded out the finals with an 8th going huge with the most technical hit of the day a switch dub 10. On the ladies side Abi Hansen took the gold with spins in all 4 directions. Svea grabbed a 4th with a massive left 9. Finishing out were Hunter Carey 11th, Cameron Broderick 12th, Connor Ladd 16th, and Sam Ward 19th.
Halfpipe comp #2 brought more frigid temperatures! The first heat dropped in at -10 degrees. Our same rocking Monster Army athletes made the finals again. Birk Irving killed it with another 1st, Dylan Ladd in 5th, Jaxin Hoerter in 6th, Sam Ward in 8th, Svea Irving in 3rd, and Abi Hansen in 6th. We asked Birk what he thought of the event….he said “Cold. Very cold.”
Rounding out halfpipe day 2 Cameron Broderick 12th, Hunter Carey 13th, and Connor Ladd 21th.
Look out for results from Aspen, Colorado soon, where Monster Army athletes go big on the slope, in the pipe, and on the big air jump at Buttermilk Resort.
