It was a day of fallen heroes in the June Mountain pipe, but that didn't bother Greg Goulet, of Boise, Idaho and Kristie Elder of South Lake Tahoe, California. Both riders survived the knock-out rounds and scored their first American Snowboard Tour wins at the June Mountain Open.

Greg Goulet won because he went higher than everyone else. Well, that's one reason.

AST officials had enough time run a head-to-head final at June Mountain, but not all the riders were excited about it. "I don't like head-to-head finals at all," said Ian Spiro of Killington, Vermont. "The best guy can make one little mistake and he's out of the competition."

And that's exactly what happened. Travis McLain had the highest scoring run in the preliminary round but was knocked out in the first knock out round by Ross Peterson. McLain wasn't the only one. Seth Wescott was taken out by Ian Spiro. Jeff Brushie fell in his run advancing Jonathan Smallwood, and Keir Dillon knocked out J.J. Collier. In fact, the only top AST rider to advance out of the first round was Frank Wells who edged Shane Charlebois but was defeated by Greg Goulet in the semi-finals.

After the semi finals the remaining riders were Greg Goulet, Ian Spiro, Keir Dillon, and Swedish rider Thomas Johansson. In the quarter-finals Johansson prevailed on Spiro and Greg Goulet took out Dillon.

Thanks to a sketch by Dillon in the consolation final, Ian Spiro got third and made his first-ever trip to the podium.

The finals also went down with a fall. Swedish rider Thomas Johansson had been competing well all day, but in his final run against Goulet, he crumbled near the bottom of the pipe. Goulet, who'd thrown down the same run all day, did it one more time with feeling for the win. "I can't believe it," Greg said. "I think I surprised a lot of people today."

One of the most surprised was Greg Goulet himself. "I think you need a little luck sometimes," he said. "I used a little today to get by Frank Wells."

Goulet's final run was the highest scoring run of the day, and this seemed strange to him. "I don't know," Goulet said. "I did the same run all day and they scored it the highest who knows."

In the women's competition Kristie Elder took out Tara Zwink, Tina Dixon, and the Athena in the finals. "I can't believe it," Elder said. "I haven't won anything since the California series and that was eight years ago."

Freestyle competition continues February 21, 1997 at Snow Summit, California.

June Mountain Halfpipe Results (2-9-97)

1997 Mammoth Open GS #1: The Kosglow and Archie Show Continues (2-7-97)
Giant Slalom # 1 Results (2-7-97)

Men's Giant Slalom # 2 Results (2-8-97)
Women's Giant Slalom # 2 Results (2-8-97)

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