Valley 16-year-old wins national snowboarding title

April 13, 2007

By MATT TUNSETH/ Frontiersman

WASILLA - The snowboarding career of Wasilla's Desi Diselrod is reaching new heights.

Diselrod, a 16-year-old junior at Colony High, recently won a women's junior national title in slopestyle at the U.S.A. Snowboarding Association National Championships in Truckee, Calif.

In addition, she finished the 2007 season as the nation's top-ranked female junior in both overall freestyle and overall freestyle/alpine combined.

&#8220I was hoping to do well,” Diselrod said after returning home from nationals.

She credited an increase in practice time this winter with contributing to her success over the winter.

&#8220I've been training a lot more than in other years,” she said.

After her big win, Diselrod said she was pretty pumped to find out she was national champion.

&#8220I was really excited,” she said.

It's the fifth time Diselrod has competed nationally, and the second time she's won a gold medal at nationals. She also won a national title in slopestyle at Copper Mountain, Colo., in 2005.

Diselrod trains at Alyeska, Hilltop and Hatcher Pass, but said her training is somewhat limited because there are no competition-caliber half-pipes in Alaska.

&#8220There's no half at Alyeska that's that good,” she said. &#8220So we just use gullies or whatever we have.”

Diselrod also trains on a trampoline in her yard to perfect aerial moves, as well as on rails at the ski resort and at home.

As for her future plans, Diselrod said she's hopeful she'll start getting sponsors based on her success at the national level.

&#8220That would be great,” she said.

Diselrod's father, Dan, said he believes his daughter has what it takes to start getting looks from national companies.

&#8220She's getting at that level and that age where they start to look at them,” he said.

Further down the road, the 16-year-old said her plans include eventually competing at the X-Games as well as possibly the Olympics.

&#8220I think that would be pretty fun,” she said.

Diselrod isn't just a one-dimensional athlete, either. She also plays volleyball and is one of the conference's softball players, hitting .450 last season as a shortstop on the Knights' varsity squad.

With the softball season just getting underway, Diselrod said she's turning her focus to the diamond - though she's still basking in the glow of her successful snowboard season.

&#8220I'm really happy about how it went,” she said.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com