Lake Wanaka, New Zealand – Meghan Graham, of Minnetonka, Minn., qualified sixth and led the USA in 13th in the parallel slalom at the 2010 FIS Snowboard Junior World Championships Friday in New Zealand. Cassie Wagar of Steamboat Springs, Colo., who led the USA in the parallel GS a day earlier, also made finals, finishing 16th.nRussia Dmitriy Bazanov took the men’s title with Sabine Schoeffman of Austria taking women’s gold.

“Meghan qualifying sixth was amazing,” said U.S. team leader Abbi Nyberg. “She showed some real talent today.”

Hunter Murphy, of Deephaven, Minn., led the U.S. men finishing 19th. Mack Joyce, from Laconia, N.H., was 28th.

The PSL ended the week of competition for the U.S. riders at an innovative World Junior Championships that combined freestyle skiing and snowboarding for the first time. Skiing competition wraps up with skicross on Saturday and ski halfpipe Sunday.

The U.S. Snowboarding team came up with three medals over the week – all in snowboardcross. Rober Carver (Placerville, Calif.) and Alex Tuttle (Stratton, Maine) took silver and bronze for the men, while Olympian Faye Gulini (Salt Lake City, Utah) won silver for women.

“This has been a great week of competition in New Zealand – a pioneering event for snowboarding,” said Nyberg. “We’re proud of our athletes.”

“It was a good day and I had a lot of fun,” said Wagar. “While I wish I could have advanced further, overall it was a great experience here in New Zealand.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 Snowboard Junior World Championships
Snow Park, New Zealand
August 27, 2010

Men’s PGS
1. Dmitriy Bazanov, Russia
2. Edwin Coratti, Italy
3. Johann Stefaner, Austria
4. Darren Gardner, Canada
5. Ivan Rantchev, Bulgaria

Women’s PGS
1. Sabine Schoeffman, Austria
2. Julie Zogg, Switzerland
3. Ekaterina Khatomchenkova, Russia
4. Maria Sitzenfrei, Austria
5. Stefanie Mueller, Switzerland