Thanks to three Top-7 finishes, The College of Idaho men’s freestyle ski team captured the USCSA National Championship in the Slopestyle at Dollar Mountain in Sun Valley.

It marks the 24th team national championship by a C of I team – and the third by a freestyle Coyote team since 2005.  The Yotes recorded 14 place points to claim the title, three points ahead of second-place USC, and 17 points clear of the University of Nevada.

“The nature of the course was tough – as it rained all night, making the track harder than a bowling ball,” said assistant coach, Don Deters.  “It was an X-Games style course, but the snowboards sounded like road graders.  I told the guys to be sane, do what you can do – thanks to the points system that takes the best of two runs, we were successful.”

Junior Cliff Mailloux led the Yotes with a third-place finish (72), with fellow junior Skylar Herbert in fourth (66.33).  Senior Jack Lewis capped The C of I’s team scoring with a seventh-place finish (55), with Zach Tomlinson in eighth (52.33).  Matt Cook of USC won the individual title (84.33), with Travis Tidd of Nevada in second (83).

It capped a great 24-hours for The C of I freestylers, as the Lady Yotes placed second in the women’s Skier-X, with the Coyote men taking third.

The Lady Yotes, thanks to Kelley Fitzpatrick’s title and a seventh-place finish by Stephanie Dunn, put the squad on the podium, behind Rocky Mountain – but ahead of Penn State, Carnegie Mellon, and Nevada.

The Coyote men, who got 13th-place finishes from Lewis and Zach Tomlinson, finished third behind Nevada and Rocky Mountain.

Also today, Sarah Silva qualified for the finals in the women’s snowboard Slopestyle, placing eighth.