Sites selected for Olympic trials

 PARK CITY, Utah (AP) -- Resorts in Maine, California and Oregon were selected as sites of trials events for selecting the snowboard team that will represent the United States in the Olympic Winter Games in February.
 Giant slalom and halfpipe, the two disciplines of snowboarding which are being added to the Olympic program, will be contested at each site.
 The series opens Dec. 17-21 at Sugarloaf USA, Maine, fllowed on Jan. 21-25 at Mount Bachelor, Ore., and Jan. 28-31 at Mammoth Mountain, Calif. The team is to be named immediately after the Mammoth Mountain event and will fly directly to Nagano, Japan for the Olympics, which open Feb. 7.
 Selection criteria and team quotas are to be announced soon, Royle added.
 The $225,000 Bud Light Grand Prix, the official name of the three-event Olympic qualifying series, brings together riders from the two rival snowboard federations, the International Ski Federation (FIS), which has the Olympic franchise, and the International Snowboard Federation (ISF).
 "These sites are among the premier snowboarding sites in the United States. Each of them has a strong background in staging outstanding snowboard events," Royle said.
 Expected to be among the high-powered field of riders are FIS world champions Sondra Van Ert of Ketchum, Idaho, and Mike Jacoby of Hood River, Ore., along with ISF world championships silver medalists Lisa Kosglow of Boise, Idaho, and Betsy Shaw of East Dorset, Vt. Halfpipe specialists include Shannon Dunn of Midvale, Utah, who won both Grand Prix halfpipe contests last season, and the two men's winners, 1996 FIS world and World Cup champion Ross Powers of South Londonderry, Vt., and Todd Richards of Breckenridge, Colo.