By USSA

Heather McPhie (Bozeman, Mont.) successfully defended her title, taking gold in moguls at the Sprint U.S. Freestyle Championships on Friday at Heavenly Mountain Resort.

In the men’s contest, Bradley Wilson (Butte, Mont.) took his first U.S. crown winning over brother Bryon with local favorite Sho Kashima (Stateline) taking bronze. World Cup titlist Hannah Kearney (Norwich, Vt.) was second for women with Eliza Outtrim third.

The championships close Saturday with dual moguls and aerials.

Weather created challenges with rare fog and ice delaying the start Friday morning.

With incoming heavy weather predicted for Sunday, the scheduled dual moguls competition was moved along with the already scheduled aerials event.

“It was a warm day, the course was soft, but I was just working on getting my speed, charging out of the gate and really get some speed through the middle section,” Kashima said. “My recovery has been long but my skiing feels good and I finally feel like I’m back to the skiing I know I can do. Skiing in front of the home crowd, my family, friends, doctors, sponsors, everyone who enables me to be able to do what I love is a great feeling. And being able to put on a show for them after all the support they’ve given me is awesome!”