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CSULB freshman hits the slopes at snowboarding championship

A member of the Cal State Long Beach Snowboarding Team came in 17th place in the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association Championship at the Sunday River Resort in Bethel, Maine, on March 15.

Ryan Stenberg, a freshmen engineering major, competed in the giant slalom event, and was the highest-scoring freshman in the championship. Stenberg was also the recipient of an academic All-American award.

“I hope to really continue doing this. I can always improve,” Stenberg said. “Hopefully I can do it again next year. This year I was really happy to be able to go. Just that alone was a really great experience.”

Although Stenberg was happy with placing 17th in the nation, he still saw that there was room for improvement.

“I was in eighth place in the first run. I was really in one of the top ten spots,” Stenberg said. “Unfortunately, if I was about one second faster, I would have been in the top ten.”

Stenberg felt funny being a freshman in the competition. He didn’t meet many other freshmen, so he said that he was the young guy there.

Stenberg started snowboarding in eighth grade. He began snowboarding competitively after joining a snowboarding team in high school at his hometown in Red Bluff, Calif., which is about 30 miles south of Redding.

“All throughout high school the only event I did was racing events – they’re called giant slalom and slalom,” Stenberg said. “I thought after high school I would be done with my whole racing career, but then I found out there was a team here on campus.”

The CSULB Snowboarding Team is part of the Southern California Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Conference. In order to enter the national championship, Stenberg had to first earn a high score in his conference.

“There’s different leagues for collegiate snowboarding,” Stenberg said. “The one I’m in, it’s called SCCSC, the Southern California Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Conference. You compete in these races and you earn points and you get standings according to how well you do in different events.”

When Stenberg races, he said that he always tries the best he can.

“I just want to leave an event knowing that I did my best and that there wasn’t anything that I could have done better,” Stenberg said. “I know that I’ll always improve, no matter what, and every year I’ll just get better. Even now I’m learning new skills.”

There are seven race events each year. Stenberg said he wasn’t able to make it to all the events.

“As far as racing for me this year, there were a couple things getting in the way,” Stenberg said. “I missed a couple events because I was so far away, being up in Northern California [during winter break].”

According to Stenberg, in order to qualify for nationals, there was a national qualifier event in the week prior to nationals, and members of the SCCSC had to compete in that in order to go. Stenberg was the only CSULB member of his snowboarding club who qualified for the nationals.

“This year, no one showed up to qualify except for me,” Stenberg said. “I’m sure many people could have easily qualified and gone, but no one seemed to one to do it this year.”

Stenberg said that he had a great time competing in the championships.

“Just being there was a really great experience, because the people that I did get to have this experience, they really pushed just how well I could do,” Stenberg said. “And just riding with people that had so many skills and abilities, they really pushed me to do better than I ever thought I could do. It really made me excel.”

Stenberg only had trouble paying for his trip. Fortunately, he was able to share a condo with another school’s team and received help from CSULB’s team.

“I was able to stay with another school [team], UCLA,” Stenberg said. “They were really nice in letting me just split their costs of the condo they were staying at. And then … the [CSULB] team, they helped me with my registration fees.”

Stenberg has especially appreciated snowboarding with the CSULB team this year.

“The good thing about being a team is that, no matter what, you’re always learning new skills, because there’s always people that know something different than you,” Stenberg said.

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