BIOGRAPHY:
The Upper Peninsula has good reason to be proud of its own Nick Baumgartner. The All-American wrestler, 2000 State Champ (189 pounds), State Champion hurdler and All-State football player added the title of Olympian to his resume of athletic accomplishments in 2010. Then he racked up yet another incredible season in 2011, earning a Winter X Games gold medal and another World Cup win. His rise in snowboardcross started in ‘04 when he won the USASA Nationals and U.S. Extreme Boarderfest, and he blasted onto the scene in '07 after winning the VISA U.S. Snowboardcross Championships at Tamarack Resort, ID. In 2009 Baumgartner got busy adding some hardware to his collection with a World Championship bronze medal. Then, the former wrestler honed in on grabbing a spot on the 2010 team, which he did with three top-10 finishes, including a podium on the World Cup.

NICK SAYS:
Last season was great. It was my best season to date so far, so I'm stoked on that. I have been trying to win X Games for years, so having all that happen and getting another World Cup victory has been great. For the overall title, missing the first two races bummed me out because I could have been one of the top guys, I could have even possibly won it. So next season I'm hoping to gun for the overall and try to get another victory at X Games…I just want to win everything.

FIRST TRACKS:
Like most growing up in the frozen tundra of Northern Michigan, snow found Nick and he's done (and does) pretty much everything there is to do with the fluff. Snowboarding just came along like the newspaper—daily.

OFF THE SNOW:
I'm usually exploring with my son Landon or at the torque series off road races. I'm also trying to tell kids to follow their dreams. They can make their own opportunities in life—play hard, dream big, become!