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Huntsville • Luke Mitrani said he hadn't given it much thought. When he finally did, squinting and looking toward the scoreboard over Snowbasin Resort's superpipe, he said he'd expected the run he just performed were it executed flawlessly to score about 85 points.
It earned a 97.
"I don't even know how that happened," Mitrani, of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., said after winning the men's superpipe at the Winter Dew Tour's Toyota Championship. "I kind of blacked out."
Mitrani, 20, landed his signature trick, a double Michael chuck a double backflip to secure the championship against more traditionally successful riders such as Olympians Louie Vito and J.J. Thomas.
When Mitrani grabbed first place, it bumped his older brother, Jack, out of the top three. But the 22-year-old was only happy for the champion.
"He's one of those kids, you never know until he tries it," Jack Mitrani said. "But after that first hit, he was on point."
Vito, of Sandy, won the first two stops of the Dew Tour but fell on his first run and finished in seventh place. Vito still won the coveted Dew Cup, the seasons-end points championship. Of course, he wasn't satisfied.
"You're happy to get the Cup," Vito said, "but I always look at what you could have done better."
Vito already secured the Dew Cup entering his final run it was decided once his nearest competitor, Thomas, rose only to sixth on his 80.75-point run so there was no risk in trying to put together his best run. He targeted Mitrani's 97.
"I wanted to get 100," Vito said. "Isn't that everybody's goal when they ride to get a perfect score?"
Veteran Steve Fisher had a different goal.
The 28-year-old said earlier this week that snowboarders age fast and it's easy to feel like old news at a young age. But Fisher turned back his own clock Saturday, landing his first double cork in competition and finishing third behind Mitrani and another Californian, Greg Bretz, 20.
Fisher, of Breckenridge, Colo., wasn't invited to the Winter X Games last month, which particularly rankled a man who already owned two gold medals at previous X Games.
"The message was clear," Fisher said.
Age, it turns out, is just the same as a score: a number that only means so much.
Announcers and athletes, however, were agog at Mitrani's 97. It was a number that was two notches higher than Bretz's 95 but was also the highest score in the three years of the Winter Dew Tour.
"There's definitely a lot more tricks you can do to get that three extra points," Mitrani said.
Results
Men's snowboardsuperpipe
1. Luke Mitrani, 97
2. Greg Bretz, 95
3. Steve Fisher, 92
Women's snowboard superpipe
1. Kelly Clark, 274
2. Queralt Castellet, 264
3. Elena Hight, 244