Ross Powers was at the men’s snowboard cross (SBX) yesterday cheering on his teammates. The 2002 gold medalist and 1998 bronze medalist in men’s halfpipe switched to SBX after the 2006 Olympics, where he was an alternate in halfpipe. The 31-year-old Vermonter then set his sights on making his fourth Olympic team.

When he came up short by one place — he finished third at a World Cup in Telluride, Colorado, in December and ninth at the final World Cup before the Olympics, one place behind Graham Watanabe’s second-best World Cup finish — Powers was named alternate (again) to the 2010 U.S. Olympic men’s SBX team.

But Powers is not the type to sulk. He traveled to Vancouver to support his teammates and was at Cypress Mountain the day before the Olympic snowboard cross competition.

“Its good to be here,” he said. “There’s a lot of excitement. I definitely wished to be part of the competition, but just being here is like being part of it anyway, and it’s the next best thing. I’m here just in case something happens, but basically just to enjoy myself.”

Nothing did happen to Seth Wescott, Nate Holland, Graham Watanabe, or Nick Baumgartner before the SBX qualifiers and final heats. So Powers was left to be a spectator. And he was at Cypress on Saturday night when Hannah Kearney won the gold in women’s moguls.

“It was awesome to see two of the U.S. team taking two medals, and the winner Hannah comes from Vermont, my state, ‘cause I’m from Okemo.”

Powers is the snowboard ambassador for Okemo Resort in Ludlow, Vermont.

So did Powers predict that his buddy Wescott would win his second gold medal yesterday? Wescott convinced Powers to try SBX after the 2006 Olympics, and the two champion snowboarders often wakeboard together in the summer. Wescott is from Carrabassett Valley, Maine, about a six-hour drive from Ludlow. Powers wakeboards on Vermont’s Lake Bomoseen, where his wife’s family has a summer home.

A day before the Olympic men’s SBX, Powers predicted that Pierre Vaultier from France had a good chance of winning gold. (Vaultier ended up not advancing beyond the quarterfinal.)

But Powers did add, “Both Seth and Nate are big game players.”

They certainly were, both moving on to the SBX final, where Wescott was the biggest game player of all.