CARRABASSETT VALLEY – He wasn’t just looking to boost to his future, he was hoping for a significant Bump up the U.S. Ski Team ladder.

Monday was the day Auburn’s Bump Heldman has been waiting for at the U.S. Alpine Ski Championships at Sugarloaf. After a couple of delays for weather, he had the opportunity to ski his best event and hopefully turn some heads at the same time.

“Downhill is my event,” said Heldman, a member of the U.S. development team. “So I thought I could do really well and show them what I’ve got.”

Heldman placed 13th, his best finish in three National championships.

“I definitely would have liked top 10, but I’m still pretty happy,” Heldman said. “It’s not terrible, but it’s not great.”

Heldman failed to finish the slalom Saturday and placed 30th in the Sunday’s super-G. With Monday’s speed test suiting his skills best, he knew expectations were high.

“I try not to, but I definitely put some pressure on myself,” Heldman said. “I think I was more nervous at the World Juniors in Spain than I was now.”

Heldman finished with a time of 1:11.31, slightly slower than his practice run earlier in the day at 1:11.23, which was 11th fastest.

His top speed was 70.65 miles per hour.

“It was all right,” he said. “There were some small mistakes, but nothing too big. It was a great course. It was really fun. It was a pretty good day.”

Heldman was 25th in the downhill in Alaska at last year’s Nationals and 41st two years ago at Sugarloaf. In hindsight, he says he raced Monday’s course a little too safe and might have done even better by pushing the limits a bit.

“I’d probably go a little straighter and take a few more chances,” he said. “I didn’t really take that many chances. I just wanted a good run with no mistakes, but I may have taken it a little too easy.”

Two years ago, Heldman was 18th in the slalom, 30th in the giant slalom and 30th in the super-G. Last year, he was 19th in the giant slalom and didn’t finish the slalom or super-G.

He struggled Saturday and was one of the initial casualties on the first run of the slalom.

“I didn’t ski very well,” he said. “It’s tough after three days off and jumping right into it. Your mind’s not really into it. That kind of killed me.”

He matched his performance from two years ago in the super-G, but feels he could have done better.

“I was skiing pretty well,” said the Gould Academy product. “I made a really big mistake and that hurt me a lot. It could have been a lot better, maybe a top 20.”

He wraps up the competition Tuesday with the giant slalom, an event where he has had some recent success. Heldman recorded an 18th and 17th in a pair of NorAm races and took ninth and 12th in a pair of FIS races.

Bates College product Leo Menard was 55th while 15-year old Carrabassett Valley Academy student Ben Morse was 62nd in his first U.S. championship downhill.