October 07, 2012 (Lake Placid, NY) – Pete Frenette (Saranac Lake, NY) grew up jumping on the hill’s of Lake Placid’s Intervale ski jumping complex and today he demonstrated his mastery of the hills, winning by just over ten points at the annual Flaming Leaves Ski Jumping Festival, despite rain that lasted throughout the tournament. Keeping his cool Frenette was the picture of consistency with jumps of 97 and 96 meters, and points of 253.5.

Two-time Olympian Anders Johnson (Park City, UT) had the day’s longest jump of 100.5 in his first competition ride, while his second effort was at 90.5, giving him overall points of 243.0 and second place. Mike Glasder (Cary,IL) took third with jumps of 90.0 and 93.0 meters, garnering total points of 230.0. Perhaps the other biggest excitement today was the impressive performance of the Norge Ski Club’s Kevin Bickner who finished fourth. Bicker had jumps of 93 and 87 with points of 221.0. Fifth went to the USASJ’s Brian Wallace with 86 and 92 meters with points of 218.5.

Following the win Frenette was wearing a big smile, telling us…”it’s always nice to win on my home hill. I’ve jumped this hill for a long time, so I know how to jump this hill pretty well. I’m pretty happy about today. You know, I had some pretty good jumps in Europe and it gave me a lot of confidence coming in here. I’m still a little tired today from just coming back from Europe but it went well.” Frenette also added that he is still working on his timing and that he felt he had a late takeoff today, and “needs to keep pushing his hips thru the jump but I am excited for the winter.”

Coach Clint Jones was pleased with both Frenette and Johnson’s performances commenting…”I think both Peter and Anders did well, there were some tricky conditions out there with the wind changing direction quickly, and it was cold out there today. I think they both were the favorites coming into today, and to have them on top of the podium was good. But we still can use some improvement for Sunday’s event.”

Jones also praised Kevin Bickner’s jumping, noting…”his fourth place was wonderful and the conditions he had during the second round were tough, and yet he was still right up there with our guys and that’s good to see. We are encouraged by his performance today.” Following the event we caught up with Bickner who seemed to take his outstanding performance in stride noting…”I think I have been taking a lot of jumps lately along with a lot of dryland training, and I feel like I am jumping well…all those jumps add up. I just tried to stay focused today on doing the best I could, and this gives me added confidence going into the winter.”

The USASJ’s Brian Wallace was fifth with jumps of 86 and 92 meters, while sixth went to Alex Haupt with 88.5 and 83 meter jumps. Seventh place went to Christian Friberg while eighth went to Trevor Wert, rebounding from surgery, Taylor Hoffman was 9th and Central’s AJ Brown was tenth.

Lake Placid’s Miles Lussi was dominant in the junior class with jumps of 92 and 88 meters and points of 222.5, while Central’s Trevor Edlund took second with jumps of 86 and 81.5 meters and points of 191. Luke Daniels was third, while Henry Kavanagh-Beltman was fourth. Central’s Nate Mattoon placed fifth and Matt Doyle was sixth. A second competition, the NYSEF event will be held on the K-90 on Sunday, starting at noon.

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Results (brief)

1. Pete Frenette (Saranac Lake, NY) 253.5
2. Anders Johnson (Park City, UT) 243.0
3. Mike Glasder (Cary,IL) 230.0
4. Kevin Bickner (Norge Ski Club) 221.0.
5. Brian Wallace (USASJ)218.5