Sprint Ultimate Airwave Results

PARK CITY, UT (Aug. 24, 2002) - Defending World Cup aerials champion Eric Bergoust (Missoula, MT), who has won everything else in his sport, finally found victory Saturday in the sun-splashed $35,000 Sprint Ultimate Airwave V - but it took six teammates to help him.

ESPN will broadcast coverage of the Sprint Ultimate Airwave Sept. 12. Check local listings for time.

With a new format, pitting hometown hero Joe Pack's seven-member Red Team against Bergoust's Black Team, Airwave V went to the Black Team, 18-8. In addition to the $1,000 each winning team member received, Bergoust collected another $2,700 as top men's scorer, edging Matt Saunders (Salt Lake City). Kate Reed (Montrose, CO), who graduated two months ago from high school, was the women's champion, edging Lacy Schnoor (Draper, UT), a high school senior.

The Airwave, once again presented before a sellout crowd at Utah Olympic Park, had a scoring formula based on head-to-head competition, two-skier synchro and team synchro. Pack's Red Team drew close at 7-6 before the Black Team began piling up points.

"I think it was fun," Reed said. "It's different but I think we had a good time. It's not just about the scoring."

Bergoust, who has won the last two World Cup titles in addition to the 1998 Olympic gold medal and '99 World Championships aerials gold, beamed as he noted he'd come home from competing in exhibitions in Europe three days before and still was getting a little sleepy late in the day.

"It's nice to get that out of the way," he said, referring to his shutout as an Airwave champion. "I finally won it after trying like five times…but, really, I didn't even think of that once today. It's important for me to try to jump well in competition, no matter what the competition is or what the prize money is, and I'm real happy I busted out a couple of key jumps today."

He edged Saunders with a quad-twisting-triple (four twists, three flips) after deciding he didn't need to try a quint-twist, which he used earlier this month in winning an exhivition in the Czech Republic.

Former Olympic champion Nikki Stone (Park City, UT), who retired after the '99 season, was an 11th Hour replacement on the Black Team for Tracy Evans (also Park City), who took a 10-stitch cut in her right calf Thursday during when she caught an edge coming down the in-run and it sliced her calf. Stone said it was fun but it doesn't make her think about coming out of retirement to tackle the World Cup again.

"One jump I haven't done in three years - full, double-full [three twists, two flips] - and lay-tuck I haven't done in 10 years," she said. "But these guys wanted me to do so I figured I couldn't let them down."

Bergoust's winning team included Schnoor, Saunders, Stone, Parker Schmidt (Steamboat Springs, CO), Kelly Hilliman (Tonawanda, NY), and Jerry Grossi (Park City, UT). Pack's Red Team included: Reed, Brian Currutt (also Park City), who battled nausea all day after waking up with a cold sweat and sickness in the morning; Jana Lindsay (Blackhawk, SD), Matt Chojnacki (Aurora, CO), and Ryan St. Onge (Winter Park, CO).

Airwave V also featured two other firsts - the debut of SnowMonsters as the official mascots of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (Snow Tiger, Powder Pig and Snowboard Beaver helped the Utah Jazz Dancers distribute free gear and roused the crowd throughout the afternoon) and the first disabled skiers to participate in an Olympic Park splash pool show. In the high-flying show following the competition, mono-skiers Lacey Heward (Boise, ID), who earned two bronze medals at the 2002 Paralympics, and Tom Hernon (Park City) drew one of the biggest ovations of the day from the appreciative crowd as they skied down the in-run and splashed into the pool.