White on, Powers off U.S. snowboarding team

? Shaun White already had qualified for the U.S. Olympic snowboarding team in the halfpipe before this weekend’s events at Mountain Creek, but that obviously didn’t blunt his competitive spirit.

The 19-year-old from Carlsbad, Calif., won Sunday’s competition to sweep all five of the Grand Prix events that determined the Olympic team. He will be joined on the men’s halfpipe team by Mason Aguirre, Andy Finch and Danny Kass.

The most notable absence from the team will be Ross Powers, the 2002 Olympic gold medalist. Powers needed to finish fourth or better Sunday to qualify for the team, but was sixth. Jarret Thomas, the bronze medalist four years ago, also failed to qualify.

The women’s halfpipe team will be Gretchen Bleiler, Hannah Teter, 2002 gold medalist Kelly Clark and 16-year-old Elena Hight.

The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association also announced members of the snowboarding Alpine and snowboardcross teams, who did not compete at Mountain Creek.

The men’s and women’s snowboarding teams consist of Tyler Jewell, Rosey Fletcher and Michelle Gorgone. Absent is 2002 bronze medalist Chris Klug. The snowboardcross teams will be Jayson Hale, Nate Holland, Jason Smith, Seth Westcott and Lindsay Jacobellis.

White already had clinched a spot on the U.S. team based on his results from Grand Prix qualifying events at Breckenridge, Colo., and Bend, Ore.