Five out of eight ain't bad. Yesterday during the first stop of the U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix 50 ladies dropped in to the 22 foot tall Superpipe during two heats of qualifications. At the end of the day only eight will move forward into Saturday's Finals. Five of those eight girls were U.S.A's own sweethearts.

Gretchen Bleiler (1st), Kelly Clark (2nd), Maddy Shaffrick (4th), Ellery Hollingsworth (6th), and Clair Bidez (8th) will go up against three other riders from Spain, Australia and Japan on Saturday's Finals.

This first stop out of five in the U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix Series is an important proving ground for our United States Halfpipe riders. Not only are the five Grand Prix competitions the U.S.'s main determining factor for who will go to Vancouver to represent us in the the 2010 Winter Olympics, but because America's riders are typically "the one's to beat", many other of the top nationally competitive teams travel to the five Grand Prix's to see how they measure up against the American powerhouses.

It's safe to say that the same field of riders you see at the U.S. Grand Prix series will be fairly similiar to the riders we will watch compete against each other in February at the Vancouver Olympics.

Gretchen Bleiler leading the pack came as no surprise. Gretchen's been on the top of her game consistently the past few seasons, and after narrowly missing the gold at Torin's 2006 Olympic's it's obvious that she's hungry for it.

The big surprises of the day were who didn't make it into Saturday's Finals, including the favored to win, Australia's Torah Bright. Torah sat down on both her runs, ending the day in 11th place- not enough to move forward. Another girl missing in the line up was Burton's Hannah Teter, who chose to step back for the day and watch her fellow competitors while she nursed a bruised shoulder injury she sustained during training.

Official Results for Thursday's Qualifiers:
Women who will move into Saturday's Finals

1. Gretchen Bleiler, Aspen, CO, 47.10

2. Kelly Clark, Mt. Snow, VT, 45.70

3. Soko Yamaoka, Japan, 43.50

4. Maddy Schaffrick, Steamboat Springs, CO, 43.20

5. Quera Castellet, Spain, 43.00

6. Ellery Hollindsworth, Stratton, VT, 41.40

7. Holly Crawford, Australia, 41.10

8. Clair Bidez, Minturn, CO, 41.70




Competitive friends Torah Bright and Kelly Clark will not be going head to head in Saturday's Finals.