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Men
Rob Berney
Tommy Czeschin
Dustin DelGiudice
Bill Enos
Jeff Greenwood
Lael Gregory
Zach Horwitz
Mike Jacoby
Rob Kingwill
Tom Lyman
Shannon Melhuse
Manuel Mendoza
Thomas O'Brien
Steve Persons
Ross Powers
Jimi Scott
Dan Smith
Women
Griselda Gonzalez
Stacia Hookom
Lynn Ott
Cammy Potter
Sabrina Sadeghi
Listle Stokstad
Annemarie Uliasz
Sondra Van Ert

Welcome to the US Snowboard Team rider biography page. We have pictures of the team members, along with their race histories and gory details about their inner-most feelings! So dig in! The list to the left provides links to each rider's page. Below is some general information about snowboard competition. Enjoy!

Alpine

Like the competitive skiing it's derived from, alpine snowboarding has "technical" (gate-running, slalom/giant slalom) events and speed (super G) racing. It's a beat-the-clock format without judging; just be the fastest one down the course. Super G was one of two new disciplines added to the World Cup program for the 1996-97 season. Unlike World Cup alpine skiing, snowboarding also has a parallel slalom race with riders competing on side-by-side courses.

Parallel Slalom uses a knockout format to determine the winner. World Cup riders are timed in a qualifying run; based on their time, the men's field is cut to 16 and the women's field is reduced to eight. At that point, it's total time from one run on a blue course and one on a red course deciding who moves to the next round.

Freestyle

Riders perform in a halfpipe, a giant snow trough, with competitors performing various tricks while three or five judges grade their acrobatic maneuvers (rotations, standard maneuvers, landings, technical merit and amplitude). In all FIS events this season, the halfpipe has become a knockout format with the slowest riders dropped at the end of early rounds before the knockout format - one rider competing specifically (but not simultaneously) against another to determine who advances - is used in the final round.

Boardercross (or "snowboardercross") is the second new World Cup discipline. Depending on the number of participants in a race, four or six riders are at the starting line together, and simultaneously ride down a slope studded with various obstacles (i.e. moguls, steeps, jumps, waves). The two or three competitors who cross the finish line first qualify for the next round of competition in this elimination-format event.

This will be an interesting season as the well-documented Olympic debut of snowboarding takes place next season. Athletes will be looking to position themselves for a berth on the first U.S. Olympic squad and the Bud Light U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix presented by Chevy S-10 Trucks will help provide a lead on who might be on the team.

There are two international circuits, both featuring top riders. They include the longstanding International Snowboard Federation (ISF) tour and the FIS Grundig World Cup tour, where members of the U.S. Snowboard Team compete. The best riders from both circuits will vie for Olympic Team spots beginning with this year's Bud Light U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix.

"We'll see a lot of new faces this season as ISF [Intenational Snowboard Federation] riders come over to compete with us and try to make their national Olympic teams," said U.S. Coach Peter Foley. "The Grand Prix is a good idea. It'll lift the competitive level and give everyone a chance to measure themselves against everyone else."

Meanwhile, the USA will look to defend the Nations Cup title it's won during the first two seasons of the FIS Grundig Snowboard World Cup circuit. Foley has all of his firepower back this season although '95 World Cup halfpipe champion Sabrina Sadeghi (Aspen, CO), who re-injured her knee in November, will be out indefinitely.

The first FIS Grundig World Championships produced a handful of medalists, including men's halfpipe (and subsequent World Cup) champion Ross Powers (S. Londonderry, VT), GS champ Jeff Greenwood (Granby, CT) and women's double-medalist Sondra Van Ert (Ketchum, ID). In addition, former world champion Mike Jacoby (Hood River, OR) successfully defended his World Cup overall and giant slalom championships.

A look at how Foley's top riders figure to perform, by event:

Alpine

Jacoby has proven most dominant for two years in men's GS and, at 27, he's nowhere near the end of his career. Tom Lyman, Manuel Mendoza and Steve Persons (all Whitefish, MT) and Bill Enos (Waterville Valley, NH) have shown themselves to be capable gate-runners and they're bolstered by the addition of veteran Shannon Melhuse (New Salem, OR). Van Ert and the multi-talented Stacia Hookom (Edwards, CO) are the cornerstone of the women's team.

Freestyle

Powers and '95 World Cup champ (and '96 Worlds silver medal-winner) Lael Gregory (Bend, OR) head a strong halfpipe troupe. Included: veteran Jimi Scott (Carlsbad, CA), World Championships bronze medalist Rob Kingwill (Jackson, WY), Zach Horwitz (Aspen, CO), Dustin DelGiudice (Mammoth Lakes, CA) and Tommy Czeschin (also Mammoth Lakes). Among the women, World Championships medalists Annemarie Uliasz (Huntington Beach, CA) and Cammy Potter (Park City, UT) will get help from Hookom.

The Bud Light U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix Tour presented by Chevy S-10 Trucks, featuring top U.S. and international riders, may be the biggest competitive mark in the history of snowboarding for three reasons: The Bud Light Grand Prix is the first step towards determining the best riders to represent the U.S. when snowboarding makes its Olympic debut at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Japan; the two-event series will also mark the first competitions between riders from both major international circuits; and the Grand Prix offers the largest cash prizes in U.S. snowboard history.

The inaugural Bud Light U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix Tour brought together riders from the International Ski Federation (FIS) Grundig World Cup and International Snowboard Federation (ISF) World Pro tours. The tour kicked-off at Sugarloaf/USA in Maine, Dec. 18-22, marking a historic first, as riders, regardless of affiliation, competed in an open arena. Colorado's Snowmass resort, near Aspen, is the site of the second event, Jan. 1-5. Each Grand Prix stop will feature halfpipe and giant slalom competitions. Total purse for each event will be $75,000.

Past and present World Championships gold medalists and World Cup champions including - Jimi Scott, Ross Powers, Jeff Greenwood, Mike Jacoby, Betsy Shaw and Michelle Taggart, among others - head the list of competitors competing Dec. 19-22 when the Bud Light U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix presented by Chevy S-10 Trucks was held at Sugarloaf/USA.

The Grand Prix, followed by a second set of contests Jan. 2-5 at Snowmass, Colo., was designed to help select the U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team for the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Additional Grand Prix events will be held early next season before final selection of the U.S. team.

"Sugarloaf represents an unprecedented coming together of the world's finest riders," said Christy Martin, Tour Manager of the Bud Light U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix. "It's not only going to present the best American riders but the top snowboarders from Europe, too.

"Everyone wants to see how they stack up and the reality is the Grand Prix, with its riders from both the FIS Grundig World Cup tour and the International Snowboard Federation's Masters World Cups, will present the toughest field of riders ever in snowboarding," she said.

The competition level will be brought up because the Grand Prix is attracting top snowboarders who have left the competitive ranks in recent years to perform in videos and movies. "The Olympics has a very strong appeal to so many riders and the Bud Light Grand Prix is giving them all a chance to show what they can do before Nagano," Martin said.

The schedule calls for two days of qualifying rides and then giant slalom and halfpipe finals. GS and halfpipe will be the two snowboard events next season when snowboarding becomes an official Olympic sport.

Among the top riders:

• Scott, '96 U.S. Open halfpipe champion and longtime ISF freestyle great
• Powers, the 1996 FIS Grundig halfpipe world champion and reigning World Cup champion
• Greenwood, gold medalist in GS at the '96 FIS World Championships
• Lael Gregory, '95 World Cup halfpipe champion
• Ian Price, '96 U.S. Open super G winner and former national junior champion
• Travis McLain, 1996 World Junior Championships overall and parallel slalom gold medalist.

Women

• Shaw, the 1995 ISF World Cup GS champion
• the multi-talented Taggart, '95 and '96 ISF overall champion and GS gold medalist at the 1995 ISF World Championships
• Sondra Van Ert, the lone woman to win two medals at the '96 FIS World Championships
• two-time U.S. national halfpipe champ Aurelie Sayres
• Leslee Olson '96 World Juniors overall champion.

In addition, the international field of competitors will include premier riders from both the ISF and FIS tours, including Karine Ruby of France, Stacey-Anne Burke, Mark Fawcett and Jasey Jay Anderson from Canada, as well as international representation from Chile, Japan, Australia and many European countries.

"The purpose of the Grand Prix is not to select the best FIS riders or the best ISF riders. We want the best AMERICAN riders on the U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team," Martin said. "The Bud Light Grand Prix is where we start to determine who's the best, and the presence of the leading European riders is just going to make things even more exciting."

The Bud Light U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix competitions will be broadcast on ESPN in January as part of its new Friday night snow sports programming (see television schedule on page 7).

The 1996-97 Grand Prix Schedules:

Dec. 18 -- Registration
Dec. 19 -- Halfpipe Qualifier
Dec. 20 -- Giant Slalom Qualifier
Dec. 21 -- Halfpipe Finals
Dec. 22 -- Giant Slalom Finals

Snowmass/Colorado, USA

Jan. 1 -- Registration
Jan. 2 -- Giant Qualifier
Jan. 3 -- Halfpipe Qualifier
Jan. 4 -- Giant Slalom Finals & Nike Big Air Invitational (downtown Aspen)
Jan. 5 -- Halfpipe Finals

Snowboarding will make its debut as an Olympic sport at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. The 1996-97 Bud Light U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix presented by Chevy S-10 Trucks, which will debut at two sites this season, will begin a process which will ultimately determine the best U.S. riders who will compete on the first U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team.

The inaugural Olympic lineup includes men's and women's giant slalom and halfpipe events, and may be expanded to include other disciplines during the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City and succeeding Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) formally accepted snowboarding in 1994, naming the International Ski Federation (FIS) as its representative international federation. Last December, the organizers of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano agreed to add snowboarding to the Olympic program.

U.S. Snowboard, which represents the sport to both the International Ski Federation (FIS) and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), is working with the USOC and snowboard athletes and industry on a team selection process to name the best team of U.S. riders. The 1997-98 Bud Light U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix Tour will be part of this selection process.

The two-event Bud Light U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix Tour is open to all riders. The events will be Dec. 18-22 at Sugarloaf/USA in Maine and Jan. 1-5 at Colorado's Snowmass resort, near Aspen.

"The U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team must be comprised of the best riders without regard to their competitive affiliation," said U.S. Snowboard Vice President-Athletics Paul Major. "We will have a selection process that ensures opportunities for all riders, notably the best riders, to make the U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team."

Official in Nagano have set the following schedule for snowboard's entry in the Olympics: Feb. 8, 1998 - men's GS; Feb. 9 - women's GS; Feb. 12 - men's and women's halfpipe.

In addition to the new Bud Light U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix Tour, the American Snowboard Tour, a series of five national tour events, will begin this year across the USA. Both series will attract top U.S. and international competitors and will allow all riders to earn FIS points, which are necessary to qualify riders for Olympic competitions and will be used to seed athletes at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano.