Holland Top U.S. SBX Qualifier

TELLURIDE - MOUNTAIN VILLAGE, CO (Dec. 13) - Fresh off a team SBX win in Austria, Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, CA) was the top U.S. Snowboarding rider in qualifying Thursday for the USANA Snowboardcross Cup in Telluride. Holland was third fastest in the first run to make Friday's round of 32 heats. Faye Gulini (Salt Lake City), ninth, was the lone U.S. woman to qualify. A big surprise was the fifth fastest qualifying performance of halfpipe/slopestyle rider Trevor Jacob (Mammoth Mountain, CA) in his first SBX World Cup. Finals begin at 1:00 p.m. Friday. NBC Sports Network will broadcast the event at 4:00 p.m. EST Saturday.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, CA) led U.S. Snowboarding qualifying third for the USANA Snowboardcross Cup to lead seven Americans into the finals
• Trevor Jacob (Mammoth Mountain, CA), a 19-year old halfpipe/slopestyle rider making his first World Cup start, qualified fifth. Jacob was second earlier this season in a FIS snowboardcross event in New Zealand.
• Alex Deibold (Manchester Center, VT) was 13th with last year's third place finisher Nick Baumgartner (Iron River, MI) 15th.
• Local hero Hagen Kearney (Telluride, CO), who paired with Holland for a team SBX win last weekend, was 18th.
• Jarod Minghini (Snowshoe, WV) was 28th with Olympic champion Seth Wescott (Sugarloaf, ME) 29th.
• Faye Gulini (Salt Lake City) was ninth, the lone U.S. woman to qualify. She will go out in the first heat that includes qualifying leader Dominque Maltais of Canada.
• Action begins at 1:00 p.m. Friday and will be broadcast at 4:00 p.m. EST Saturday.

QUOTES
Nate Holland
The course is fast. We're expecting snow tomorrow so that may change things. It flows really well - has a lot of gliding but also a lot of technical aspects. It's like target shooting off the jumps to hit the line and carry your speed. I like it.

RESULTS
Official Results