Ah to Reno, a great place to visit….if you are looking for a great time at half the cost of Las Vegas. This old west town has a lot of things to be proud of. It is the divorce capital of the US, home to the National Bowling Stadium which boasts over 100 lanes and is home to the Nugget $5 Awful, Awful burger which weighs 3lbs and comes with 2lbs of french fries.

All Photos Courtesy of Drew Diehl
This town is also very proud of its University, UNR, and for good reason as they showcased the region’s top riders on Saturday night as the 9th host of the 2008 Cricket Campus Rail Jam Tour. Located only a 5 minute drive down Virginia Avenue from Reno’s major casinos, the brand new Joe Crowley Student Union Building made the perfect venue for a top tier rider performance.

Over 250 riders and skiers submitted their applications for this event, 100 were approved and only 60 spots were available for riders to compete. Needless to say, first serve for rider registration at the Cricket Wireless registration booth created some pre-event excitement. This excitement became focused on riding when the tag team of DJ Wicky and MC Chimpy T took the stage and called the riders out to show if they could compete with the rest of the talent in the west.

The riding in the event answered with a statement, “can the rest of the west compete with us?” With riders pulling out Casanova’s on the rail and box and smooth switch ups on the Down Flat Down, in the qualifying heats it became clear that there was a talented group competing in the finals. The riders and crowd were fueled off Red Bulls and Clif Bars which kept them going strong through the first 3 heats and into the finals. The Flipside Production girls and Heavenly’s Angels kept the crowds attention by making them jump for all sorts of swag from Cricket Wireless, Spyder, Giro, Civil Apparel, FUEL TV, Eternal Boardshop, and Mt Heavenly Resort.

The top female Joanna Dzierzawskr showed her style with a solid frontside 180 on backside 180 off of the box and the top skier Trent Palmer threw down a solid 270 on opp out 270 on the kink to remind the judges that he would be a force at the finals in Portland, OR on May 23rd.

Cody Rapp rounded off the top 5 Male snowboarders with a backside 180 to 180 out on the Box, Blake Gies showed off his style with a steezy nose press down the kink to land himself in fourth.

The top three started with Sal Rubio marking his territory with a back board to front board on the rail, second place belonged to Jordan Basurto with a 50-50 to 270 front board on the kink and first place was given to Andrew Brewer with a 50-50 tailslide to 270 out on the kink.

Snowboard Men
1st Andrew Brewer
2nd Jordan Basurto
3rd Sal Rubio
4th Blake Gies
5th Cody Rapp

Snowboard Women
1st Joanna Dzierzawskr
2nd Laurie Currier
3rd Jenna Dramise

Ski Men
1st Trent Palmer
2nd Scott Pollman
3rd Matt Nelson