News: 16-Year-Old Hamilton Native Ashley Caldwell Makes U.S. Olympic Freestyle Team

(Jan. 27, 2010) - Loudoun will be represented in the next month's 2010 Vancouver Olympics as 16-year-old Hamilton, Va. native Ashley Caldwell has made the U.S. freestyle team.

Caldwell is a former gymnasts who used to compete for APEX Gymnastics locally. Caldwell has been skiing since she was 3 and started freestyle aerial skiing when she was 13. Read a feature on her from Jason S. Rufner in the Loudoun Times-Mirror from 2008 that details her path to the sport .

Caldwell is the first athlete from the the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association's Elite Air Program to qualify for the Olympics. She did well at the Olympic Trials and then earned her spot on the roster for Vancouver by finishing 10th and 13th in a pair of World Cup events earlier this month.

2010 U.S. OLYMPIC FREESTYLE SKI TEAM
(name, hometown, age as of opening ceremonies, birthdate, (past Olympics))

Aerials
Men
Matt DePeters, Hamburg, NY, 22, 8/20/87
Dylan Ferguson, Amesbury, MA, 21, 8/10/88
Jeret "Speedy" Peterson, Boise, ID, 28, 12/12/81 (2002, 2006)
Ryan St. Onge, Winter Park, CO, 26, 2/7/83 (2006)

Women
Ashley Caldwell, Hamilton, VA, 16, 9/14/1993
Emily Cook, Belmont, MA, 30, 7/1/79 (2006)
Jana Lindsey, Black Hawk, SD, 25, 9/18/84 (2006)
Lacy Schnoor, Draper, UT, 24, 6/12/85

Moguls
Men
Patrick Deneen, Cle Elum, WA, 22, 12/25/87
Michael Morse, Duxbury, MA, 28, 4/2/81
Nate Roberts, Park City, UT, 27, 3/24/82
Bryon Wilson, Park City, UT, 21, 4/7/88

Women
Shannon Bahrke, Tahoe City, CA, 29, 11/7/80 (2002, 2006)
Hannah Kearney, Norwich, VT, 23, 2/26/86 (2006)
Heather McPhie, Bozeman, MT, 25, 5/28/84
Michelle Roark, Denver, 35, 11/16/74 (2006)

Ski Cross
Men
Casey Puckett, Aspen, CO, 37, 9/22/72 (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006) *
Daron Rahlves, Sugar Bowl, CA, 36, 6/12/73 (1998, 2002, 2006) *

* Past alpine skiing Olympians