Schiller makes first-day cut at free ski championships

Douglas High grad J.J. Schiller was just hoping to make it to the second day of the North American Freeskiing Championships at Kirkwood last week.

He was able to do just that, scoring a 27.20 on his qualifying run, which was good enough for 29th - five places ahead of the cut.

"My qualifying run was excellent," Schiller said. "I got in some good chutes and got to talk to some really great people.

"It was good experience and I was really glad for how things went."

Schiller didn't do quite as well on day two, coming in 45th after running a little off course.

"I got lost a little in the middle of my run," Schiller said. "I came off a dropoff and I went a little too big.

"I trapped myself in between two rocks and that was pretty much it."

Skiers in the competition were scored on their line choice, control, fluidity, technique and aggressiveness.

"The whole section of the mountain we were competing on is closed during the rest of the year, so that was a lot of fun, getting to try out some new terrain.

"It made for some difficult runs, but overall it was a really great experience."