Hood River News

Led by standout riders Autumn Inouye for the girls and Connor Goodwillie for the boys, the Hood River Valley High School snowboarding team is carving through the season and has picked up two more first-place finishes in Oregon Interscholastic Snowboarding Association action.

The latest round on Saturday saw boys and girls teams from the Gorge League face off for a day of slopestyle competition at Mt. Hood Meadows. Edging riders from Sandy and Southridge, the HRV boys and girls both finished first overall and had two riders place in the top three. Inouye was runner-up for the girls, followed by Maddie Collins in third. For the boys, Goodwillie won his second slopestyle event of the season and was backed by Isaiah Arnold in third, Ethan Field in fifth and River Rudhe in seventh.

The weekend prior, the team competed in banked slalom racing, also at Mt. Hood Meadows. With riders elbowing against one another for the fastest times down the course, Inouye finished first overall in the girls field and Goodwillie finished fifth for the boys to lead the HRV squad.

The two were backed by teammates Katie Middle, Field, Rudhe and Arnold, all of whom finished in the top 10 to give the HRV team first overall.

“The team has dwindled from about 17 riders at the beginning of the season to eight now,” coach Phineas England said this week. “The ones left are the core group of riders who are solid and serious about being on the team. We’ve seen some great results so far and already have several who have qualified or are shoo-ins for state.”

The team moved on to compete in its first of two half-pipe contests Wednesday afternoon at MHM.

Banked slalom highlights

Girls

1st: Autumn Inouye

10th: Katie Middle

Boys

5th: Connor Goodwillie

6th: Ethan Field

8th: River Rudhe

9th: Isaiah Arnold

Slopestyle highlights

Girls

2nd: Autumn Inouye

3rd: Maddie Collins

8th: Katie Middle

Boys

1st: Connor Goodwilie

3rd: Isaiah Arnold

5th: Ethan Field

7th: River Rudhe