By USSA

CALGARY — The U.S. Freestyle Ski Team battled weather Sunday as it wrapped up three days of competition in Calgary Sunday with Emily Cook (Belmont, VT) finishing sixth and Dylan Ferguson (Amesbury, MA) seventh in World Cup aerials.

Chinese athletes Zongyang Jia and Nina Li won the event in what U.S. Freestyle Ski Team Aerials Coach Matt Christiansen said was changing weather, poor snow conditions and some of the lowest scores he has ever seen. Bright spots were few, but the performance of 15-year-old Ashley Caldwell (Lake Placid, NY) in her first World Cup brightened things on a difficult weather day.

“There was a weather change. No one was hitting good takeoffs, the snow turned into sugar. It wasn’t that hard packed snow we were aiming for,” Christiansen said. “The whole women’s and men’s events were not good just really bad. Not just from performance, but iIt was the lowest scoring semi-finals I have ever seen in my 12 years on the World Cup.”

In the men’s competition Ferguson was followed for U.S. results by Jeret “Speedy” Peterson (Boise, ID). According to Christiansen the two had the same trick on the first run and were in contention, but Mother Nature had different plans.

World Champion Ryan St. Onge (Winter Park, CO) also struggled with the slow snow, slapping back onto the hill and failing to qualify for finals.

The story was the same for the women who struggled with conditions.

“Emily [Cook; Belmont, MA] had a great first jump, but on the second jump she got caught in the sludgy snow and her jump wasn’t a very nice jump,” Christiansen said. “Ashley [Calldwell]; Lake Placid, NY] just slapped back on her second jump.”

The Team will be in front of the hometown crowd with a long track record of success. Up next for the team is the Visa Freestyle International at Deer Valley Resort Jan. 14-16 with night finals Friday Jan. 15 and a two-year win streak from Peterson and St. Onge.where he hopes the team will be able to find success again.

Olympic spots were wrapped up in December’s Olympic Trials in Steamboat Springs, CO by Peterson and Lacy Schnoor (Draper, UT). But the rest of the team is wide open.

Calgary, Jan. 10, Aerials

Men

1. Zongyang Jia, China, 253.40

2. Anton Kushnir, Belarus, 244.60

3. Alexei Grishin, Belarus, 230.73

4. Timofei Slivets, Belarus, 224.17

5. Stanislav Kravchuk, Ukrane, 213.22

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7. Dylan Ferguson, Amesbury, MA, 206.27

12. Jeret Peterson, Boise, ID, 124.34

25. Ryan St. Onge, Winter Park, CO, 85.18

28. Scotty Bahrke, Tahoe City, CA, 78.73

Women

1. Nina Li, China, 195.63

2. Evelyne Leu, Switzerland, 178.99

3. Xinxin Guo, China, 167.73

4. Xin Zhang, China, 165.14

5. Lydia Lassila, Australia, 164.81

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6. Emily Cook, Belmont, MA, 157.91

11. Ashley Caldwell, Lake Placid, NY, 133.86

16. Jana Lindsey, Black Hawk, SD, 63.80

18. Lacy Schnoor, Sandy, UT, 57.10