NEWS: BIG AIR: April Lawyer Injured by Shanti Sosienski Pro snowboarder and two-time X Game athlete April Lawyer was injured on Sunday afternoon during her first run in the big air preliminaries when she over-rotated her spin and landed on her back. The accident knocked April out and she was taken away in a stretcher, leaving the rest of the women at the top of the jump to contemplate continuing. April Lawyer is one tough mama. Not only does she huck in big air, but she is also a downhill racer. While no one seemed to mind the jump so much, there was some concern that the snow in the landing was too soft and there wasn't enough of a run out. A cooling in Crested Butte the previous night hardened up the snow higher up making the top of the run slick, while the bottom was still soft. According to pro snowboarder Leigh Coates who was with Lawyer on Monday morning at a nearby hospital, April had sketched earlier in the practice because she was coming up short, so she decided to go faster. The increase in speed was a little more than she had expected though, and so she tried to check herself mid-air. According to X Games organizer's it was reported on Sunday evening that she had an injury in her upper cervical spine (neck) that was "very suspicious for a fracture." As of Monday doctor's had determined that April did not fracture her spine, but was suffering more from the swelling of the muscles in her back and neck from the impact. She is expected to be sore for the next few weeks, but is looking at a full recovery in about a month. As for April, she is reportedly in good spirits in spite of everything and will be going home on Wednesday to Big Bear, California. Anyone interested in emailing April can send messages to: [email protected] and SOL will forward them. OTHER NEWS HALFPIPE: Burnside Is Back And Better Than Ever Mon. (Jan. 19 @ 10:29:PM est) BX: Dixon Takes Women's Boarder X Sun. (Jan. 18 @ 2:33:PM est) BX: Palm Takes Boarder X Again Sat. (Jan. 17 @ 10:39:AM est) THE X FILES--Special ESPN Edition of the Snowblower. Fri. (Jan. 16 @ 5:15:PM est) SLOPESTYLE: Powers And Waara Mine Gold Fri. (Jan. 16 @ 5:13:PM est) What's Happening? Thu. (Jan. 15 @ 10:24:AM est) What's Extreme Anyway? Thu. (Jan. 15 @ 10:22:AM est) WINTER X MESSAGE BOARDS: Your area to say anything you want about the Winter X Games. '97 WINTER X GAMES: Remember the '97 Winter X Games? Here's last year's coverage in case you don't. SOL NAVIGATION: SOL | Scoop | Hardware | Industry | Circleplus | Push | Travel | Interact | School | Weather | Terrain | Compete | Mediator © 1997, InterZine Productions. All rights reserved.