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A total of 60 Grommet boys qualified and competed this year in nationals. This is Sumner’s second season competing in the sport.
He races for the Okemo Mountain Snowboard Team in the Southern Vermont series of the United States Snowboarding and Free Ski Association (USASA).
After winning 15 medals in his 17 competitions this season, Sumner qualified to compete in all five disciplines, which include Half Pipe, Slope Style, Giant Slalom, Slalom and Boarder Cross.
Sumner just spent the last two weeks at the USASA Nationals in Copper Mountain, Colo.
His first day of competition was in the Half Pipe where the best score of two runs counts towards the ranking. On his first run, Sumner dropped into the the Olympic size 22 feet super half pipe and popped 6 feet of air on his first hit. On the second run, he ended up in 32nd place.
On day two of nationals, he competed in Slope Style, a series of three rails and three jumps. His scores were the second highest in the competition.
On Sumner’s second run, he fell on the second jump and finished in 21st place.
On day three of nationals, Sumner competed in Giant Slalom, where the racers do two runs and his times are combined for a final score. Sumner earned third place in this event and made his first nationals podium.
Day four was the slalom competition. Sumner finished in fifth place.
On the final day, Orr competed in Boarder Cross, where four racers simultaneously race on a banked course at high speeds to cross the finish line first. Sumner made it to the quarter finals, where he placed third in his heat, losing by 1/100th of a second, and could not advance. In border cross, sumner placed 11th overall.
All five events are tallied for a final overall score for national rankings. Sumner placed fifth overall with 4,345 points.
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