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You’ve heard of the X Games, the Dew Tour and NCAA Championships. But how about The Alt Games?

CBS Sports and CBS College Sports Network created The Alt Games (formerly known as the Collegiate Nationals) to provide a stage for competitors in action sports to compete and represent their colleges (and presumably to make a few bucks).

The 2009 Alt Games’ line-up is highlighted by last year’s roster of championships, which includes snowboarding, wakeboarding, flowboarding, freeskiing and beach volleyball.

The snow portion of the comp took place April 9th, at Colorado’s Copper Mountain. Events included men’s and women’s snowboarding and freesking.

Kelsey Huelsman admits one of the biggest factors she enrolled at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado, was so she could ski a lot. After winning the Alt Games slopestyle ski championships yesterday, it appears to be paying off for the third-year graphic design major.

Snowboarder Michelle Zeller, a junior at the University of Colorado in Boulder, absolutely stomped her second slopestyle run at the Alt Games collegiate snowboard championships to earn her first-place prize. Zeller, who is studying international affairs and Japanese, hopes to head to New Zealand this summer for a few more comps. Zeller’s CU-Boulder classmate Kendra Tombolato also made the Buffaloes proud with a second-place finish in this year’s competition.

The Alt Games continue April 17-19 in Southern California with beach volleyball, flowboarding, and wakeboarding.

For the wakeboarding comp, each of the 16 competing schools is expected to bring seven riders to compete at Hidden Anchorage Bay Cove on Mission Bay. Individual titles in respective events will also be at stake. The University of Florida is the defending team champion.

In addition, the Alt Games will feature the second annual Competitive Eating Championship, showcasing the nation’s top collegiate competitive eaters, as well as a music festival.

More than 500 competitors from 45 different colleges and universities nationwide are expected to compete at the 2009 Alt Games, which will ultimately crown 11 national men’s and women’s champions in both individual and team events.

Coverage of the Alt Games kicks off with a special one-hour program airing on CBS Sports on Saturday, May 16 (2 p.m. EDT). The show will launch two weeks of Olympic style and sports specific programming on CBS College Sports Network, beginning on Sunday, May 17.

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