WINTER PARK, Colo. -- International rookie Sharon Petzold of Andover, Mass., earned her first national ski title Thursday when she won the women's ballet event on the first day of the $50,000 Subaru U.S. Freestyle Championships.
Petzold, 21, who finished second this season in the final World Cup ballet standings and who was bronze medalist in the Olympic ballet demonstration event, scored 25.20 points on her first run.
She made it stand up for the win, despite an upset stomach which troubled her during her second run under partly sunny skies at Winter Park Resort.
'I think Andover's about 29 feet above sea level. We're at about-- what?-- 10,000 feet here, and I always have some queasy feelings at altitude, so...but I still wanted to do my second run,' said Petzold, who began skiing at Sugarloaf USA in Maine.
Competitors in the event kept the points from the better of two runs. Petzold collected $2,500 for the victory while runnerup Ellen Breen, the current world ballet champion from West Hills, Calif., got $1,000 for finishing second. She had 24.75 points.
Karen Hunter, a Dartmouth College graduate from Bangor, Maine, finished third with 24.30 points.
The men, including Lane Spina of Reno, Nev., the 1991 world champion who, like Petzold, also earned the bronze medal in the demonstration ballet Olympic event, compete Friday in moguls.
Upwards of 200 skiers from across the nation are competing at the four-day championships.
