A star is in the pipeline

Saugus's Cheever is board certified

In the offseason, Jonathan Cheever is a plumber. Now, the 23-year-old US Snowboard Team rider from Saugus is bubbling to the World Cup surface as the Visa US Snowboarding Cup comes to Sunday River in Newry, Maine, today through Saturday.

In his second World Cup season, the former Malden Catholic High School student body president reached the podium for the first time in his career last Thursday with a second-place finish at Stoneham, Quebec, following a fifth-place finish during a 2010 Olympic test event at British Columbia's Cypress Mountain the previous week.

"Being on the podium felt great," he said. "I was really hungry for it and needed it for myself."

Cheever's on a team of snowboardcross overachievers: Maine's Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott, Vermont's Olympic silver medalist Lindsey Jacobellis, X Game legend Shaun Palmer, four-peat X Game gold medalist Nate Holland, and World Championship bronze medal winner Nick Baumgarter to name some.

"The team is pretty crazy," says US Snowboarding Team coach Peter Foley. "That is a pretty tough team to be from. They feed on themselves and keep getting faster."

Going into Sunday River, 10 US riders are ranked in the World Cup's top 30 in snowboardcross, including Wescott second (third overall), Cheever fourth, and Jacobellis the No. 1 female and second overall.

Jacobellis, who pocketed her 17th career World Cup win last week, has increased her speed on the course, winning qualifiers on her way to the podium.

"Lindsey trains with the boys a lot," said Foley. "She follows them through the course and that enables her to pick up her level. On the same token, the girls train with Lindsey and that definitely helps them."

Cheever competes in Saturday's snowboardcross and is a skier-turned-rider who learned in New Hampshire's White Mountains before becoming a Sunday River "weekend warrior" in his late teens.

"I need the thrill of the chase," he said. "Some people freeze up in traffic, others don't. I try not to."

Cheever, currently on the B squad, has matured on the snowboardcross course filled with banked turns, rollers, and jumps.

"He used to be pretty wild and not focused in his riding," Foley said. "But he started to hone in on that and become more disciplined."

Cheever says he sometimes gets ribbed by teammates for his thick Boston accent but his plumbing abilities are welcome. On Christmas morning, the water heater at team member Graham Watanabe's place in Park City, Utah, went on the fritz and Cheever was in the area.

"So I replaced it. Being a plumber is a good skill to have," Cheever said.

Cheever has his sights on a spot in the 2010 Olympics.

"I'd like to carry my momentum into next season," he said.

Today's parallel giant slalom features competitors racing side-by-side through gates with the winner advancing. Boston's Michelle Gorgone, the highest ranked American on the US Snowboarding Team in parallel, will be competing. Currently seventh in the World Cup women's standings, the 25-year-old Olympian finished second in December at Arosa, Switzerland, while narrowly missing the podium in two other races.

"Sometimes it just clicks and sometimes it doesn't," said Gorgone. "For me it's been more of a head game and I've been more relaxed this season."

US Snowboard Team Alpine coach Steve Persons said Gorgone has been well-equipped for her races.

"This summer she stepped up her dry land training and she is better prepared with her equipment," said Persons. "Her mindset is really good, too, and she has taken her focus to go through to 2010."

Gorgone has done well in Eastern races, placing second in a 2005 World Cup in Lake Placid and sixth a year later.

"The East Coast is always a toss-up because you never know what kind of snow you are going to get," she said. "I grew up on it so I usually fare pretty well compared to those who haven't competed much in the East."

Looking to step up is Erica Mueller, 27, who grew up in southern Vermont. She won the Mount Norquay Nor-Am in Banff, Alberta, in December and earned a 22d spot in the Kreischberg (Austria) World Cup stop in January.