Freestyle Champion
Freestyle Champion
HoliMont skier takes first in all three East Coast “Young Gun” disciplines
HOLIMONT - Ten-year-old Cayden Hacker of Lake View, New York claimed victory at this year’s Young Gun Freestyle Championship event held at Bristol Mountain in Canandaigua, New York. At the March event, there were more than 200 Freestyle Skiers from six states and 17 ski areas. This included competitors from full-time sports boarding schools such as Killington Mountain School, Carrabassett Valley Academy, Gould Academy, Stratton Mountain School, and Waterville Valley Academy. Due to Covid-19 the Championship Event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021. The last time it was held, was in 2019 at Sunday River, Maine.
The three-day event was comprised of three freestyle skiing disciplines: Moguls, Aerials, and Slopestyle. Hacker achieved a first place finish in all three competitions, earning him the title of East Coast Young Gun Freestyle Overall Combined Champion. This helped his team earn a second place out of 17 teams.
Two season awards are given out every year to deserving athletes in the Eastern Freestyle Region. This the late year Cayden received one of them - the Mikey Lillis Spirit Award. This award represents the spirit of Mikey Lillis.
“The Lillis family has done so much for the sport over the years,” said Cayden’s father, Corey. “All three boys - Christopher, Johnathan and Mikey - were aerial skiers and started out in Eastern Freestyle. Chris just recently brought home an Olympic gold medal from Beijing. Johnathan represented our country at the Pyeong Chang Olympics. Tragically and unexpectedly, we lost Mikey in 2017. His go big, fun, adventurous spirt lives on with this prestigious award.”
Cayden, or “CayDog” as his friends and teammates call him, represents HoliMont as a member of the FLITE Team. FLITE Team is the ski club’s Freestyle Skiing Program. It was started by his parents, Corey and Kelly Hacker. Both of them had successful athletic careers as members of the US Ski Team as aerialists. They claimed titles such as National Champion, Nor-Am Grand Prix Champion, World Championships Podium Finisher, and are both members of their high school Sports Hall of Fame.
So, I guess you can say that the “CayDog” apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Cayden has an older sister and younger brother. Kylee is 12 and placed third overall combined at the Championships. Cooper is seven, loves to ski and loves to follow his big brother and sister around.