Squaw Valley, CA – Under the radiant California sun, skiers Jen Hudak and Tucker Perkins threw down to take the halfpipe titles at the Sprint U.S. Freestyle Championships at Squaw Valley on Saturday.nThe women’s skier halfpipe podium was rounded out by Brita Sigourney (Carmel, Calif.) in second and Maddie Bowman (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) in third.

The day marked the fourth title for Hudak, of Park City, Utah, who had to sit out the previous year’s event due to an injury.

“I had to miss last year because of my knee and that was a bummer because it was here and it’s fun here,” Hudak said. “But the whole day went well and the pipe held up nicely for how late in the day we were skiing. You cant complain about a little Tahoe sunshine.”

Hudak threw a 540 mute, alleyoop critical, 540 safety, alleyoop 5 for the win, but some tricky snow caused the champ a problem in the end.

“I was planning on doing a 7, but the soft snow snaked me a little bit and I didn’t get my full run in finals,” Hudak said.

But, despite the shortcoming, Hudak was happy with the way she came out of the day.

“I just didn’t quite get to finish my whole run, which would have been the icing on the cake. It would have been good to get the full run for the final,” Hudak said. “But I was happy with the part of the run that I landed.”

On the men’s side, Perkins, of North Hampton, N.H., took charge of the day to mark the first U.S. Champs title in his career.

“I competed four years ago and got second, so it’s good to be back and grab the title,” Perkins said.

Perkins was joined on the podium by Wing Barrymore (Hailey, Idaho) in second and Walter Wood (Evergreen, Colo.) in third.

The winning run consisted of double side flip, rightside cork 900, leftside cork 900, alleyoop flatspin 540, leftside cork 1080. According to Perkins, the pipe was just right for the tricks he wanted to put down.

“The pipe was great. The cutter got a great shape on it and we were all able to do the tricks we wanted to on it,” Perkins said. “This is the run I was planning on doing in finals so it happened to work out for my last run.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 Sprint U.S. Freestyle Championships
Squaw Valley, CA – March 27, 2010
Skier Halfpipe

Men
1. Tucker Perkins, North Hampton, NH, 45.6
2. Walter Wood, Evergreen, CO, 43.9
3. Wing Barrymore, Hailey, ID, 40.8
3. James Campbell, Reading, MA, 40.5
5. Tyler Peterson, Holladay, UT, 39.9

Women
1. Jen Hudak, Park City, UT, 32.6
2. Brita Sigourney, Carmel, CA, 32.1
3. Maddie Bowman, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 29.7
4. Hannah Haupt, Sun Valley, ID, 27.8
5. Annalisa Drew, Andover, MA, 25.4