Just before Christmas break, Wild Mountain hosted an Alpine Ski Invite where sophomore Hannah Wangensteen was invited to compete against the top six ski-racers from 21 schools across Minnesota.

Wangensteen finished 7 out of 127 girls, earning a medal since she placed in the top ten.

“It was really fun. I’ve never been to an actual high school meet,” she said.

Wangensteen started skiing when she was two-years-old and became interested because she heard stories from her parents about how they skied in college. Her parents inspired her to try it out for herself. She had a natural talent for it and took her talents further.

When Hannah was seven, she started alpine ski-racing. Every year since then, she has been going to about ten meets a year. The meets are typically every weekend in the winter at various locations, and she’s currently on a team for Wild Mountain because SFHS has no team.

“I don’t ski through the school, I ski with an organization called USSA,” she said.

She races at Wild Mountain on a team called Tr2 which is part of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association.

“The (USSA) is the national governing body of Olympic skiing and snowboarding. It is the parent organization of the U.S. Ski Team, U.S.

Snowboarding and U.S. Freeskiing. Developed to facilitate participation in national and international competition, the Olympic sports organization provides structure for competitive skiing and snowboarding,” states USAA.org.

Wangensteen’s team trains Monday through Thursday and learn techniques to improve their speed and overall competitive skills.
At her first high school competition, her hard work paid off. Hannah Wangensteen will continue to compete and pursue her passion of alpine skiing.