Seven members of the Whitefish Mountain Resort Freestyle Ski and Snowboard Team have qualified for upcoming National Championship competition at Colorado's Copper Mountain.

"We're taking some very talented kids this year," said Steve Knox, the team's head coach. "I know they'll make us proud."

The championships, sponsored by the United States of America Snowboard Association, will be held April 5-10.

Of the seven who qualified, four Kalispell competitors will go to Colorado:

n Lauren Baumgardner, 16, in the slopestyle skiing 16-19 age division.

n Marley Rodwick, 15, in the slopestyle skiing 11-15 age division.

n Baylon Connolly, 14, in the slopestyle snowboarding 11-15 age division.

n Chazz Roberts, 17, in the slopestyle snowboarding 16-19 age division.

Three Whitefish competitors - Danner Pickering, Meredeth Reed and Torry Coe - qualified for nationals but declined to go to Colorado.

Knox said this year's team had 41 members, compared to 33 last year, and next year he expects more than 50.

"We are by far the largest single program on the mountain," said Knox, who started the program in 1995.

The program has evolved since then, switching from association with the traditional freestyle events under the U.S. Ski Association to the USASA. The Whitefish team now is part of the Inland Northwest Free Ride League, which includes teams from the Schweitzer, Silver Mountain, Mount Spokane, Lookout Pass and 49 Degrees North resorts.

"We're definitely the largest program and the largest contributor to the national [competitor] contingent from this region," Knox said.

The program evolved further this year with an aggressive "progression-based" curriculum that involves motivating team members to master tricks and rapidly move on to new tricks.

"It has produced some amazing kids that can do some amazing tricks," Knox said.

The "New School Freestyle" skiing events have become extremely popular for young skiers and snowboarders, largely on the heels of X Games superstar Tanner Hall, who got his start in the discipline on Big Mountain.

"He's the leader," Knox said, adding that freestyle has a different tone than other competitive skiing and snowboarding disciplines.

"I compare it a lot to surfing," he said. "The reason that with surfing, you go out with friends, you test your skills, you show off a little, you get a little exercise and you just have fun … It's just as much about having fun as it is thinking about becoming a world champion."

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com