Kreps a JO freestyle aerials champ

Lakeside teen has 2 successful jumps at Steamboat Springs, Colo.

In the upside down, daredevil sporting world of Evan Kreps, he was right-side up in the standings on March 8 at the 2008 Junior Olympic freestyle aerials competition in Steamboat Springs, Colo.

The 18-year-old Lakeside freestyle skier won the boys' competition by pulling off two near-perfect jumps while catching plenty of air on the VooDoo Air Hill.

His first effort was the lay-tuck, which had a 2.6 degree of difficulty. That involved a double backflip - where he did a stiff layout on the first flip and then a tuck on the second.

"I had a perfect score on the landing for that one," he said.

His second effort was a more challenging lay-full. That one involved two layouts with a 360-degree turn on the second. That was rated at 2.9.

"Pretty much (nailed that one)," he said. "I got a 2.8, which is .2 below perfect."

Kreps finished with a total score of 152. Second place was 146. There were 70 competitors in his class.

"It wasn't super close (margin of victory), but for aerials, it wasn't too far off," Kreps said.

Now that Kreps is on top of his sport, he said it's also the perfect time to walk away from it.

"You are the national champ," he said. "You are guaranteed a spot at Junior Worlds next year."

The site for next year's Junior Worlds will not be decided until this fall. There are no Junior Worlds this year, and last year they were held in Sweden.

"I might have to do one more competition because of that," Kreps said of Junior Worlds potentially being held in another desirable location.

Are the Olympics in his future? Definitely not.

"I'd have to do triple (flips)," he said. "I'm not ready for that."

Kreps has been skiing since he was 4. He's been doing aerials for the past seven years.

"I've never broken a bone," he said, "but I've knocked my head a few times.

"It's fairly high," Kreps said of his sport's danger element. "Once you get into triples, you're talking broken bones."

Kreps says his father introduced him to aeriels quite innocently.

"My dad showed it to me on TV," Kreps said. "He said, 'That looks like fun.'"

To be successful in aerials, Kreps said it takes money, good skies and more importantly …

"Just good air sense," he said. "Being able to control yourself in the air and to know where you are."

Kreps' parents, Brien and Carolyn, both ski. Carolyn raced in college in Oregon and won a state title.

"My parents were amazing about it," Kreps said. "Very supportive, helping me in as many ways as they could.

"Just skiing for fun," Kreps said of his athletic future. "There are other things I want to do."

Is he burned out on aerials?

"A little," he said. "It was fun for the time that I did it. It's taken its toll on my back with the impact."

Kreps also competed in Missoula, Park City, Utah, and British Columbia this winter.

"I didn't think I'd ever be in the top 10 this year," he said. "I've been real competitive with the top guys (last year, but this year) I was doing bigger tricks with a higher difficulty. It was the first competition I've done good at all year."

The 2008 Junior Olympic competition drew more than 300 skiers, who also competed in moguls, dual moguls, halfpipe and slopestyle.

A Montana State University freshman, Kreps finished seventh at the 2007 Spring U.S. Freestyle Championships, which were held on Bear Mountain at Killington Resort in Killington, Vt.