Earlier this year, we wrote about our sponsorship of Staci Mannella, a 14-year-old skier who is visually impaired. Staci’s goal is to represent the United States in 2014 as an adaptive alpine skier in the Paralympics in Sochi, Russia. Her guide, Kim Seevers, sent us an update on how the 2011 ski season has been going.
They raced in Park City at the Huntsman Cup in early March, and they ended up taking three gold medals: two in Giant Slaloms and one in Slalom. Then the team was off to Alaska for the Adaptive National Championships. They had kind of a rough week out there since it was very foggy and snowy with poor visibility. As Kim put it, “it’s never good when the guide can only see as much as the blind kid!”
Despite the conditions, they had a pretty good run for the first downhill and ended up winning the junior national championship. They were just 10 seconds behind the visually impaired pair that won Paralympic bronze so they were more than happy with that result.
Kim reports: “Staci missed a gate in SG so we were really slow there but did finish. Super Combined saw Staci take a horrific (but very entertaining) wreck three gates into the SG. Once we got all that out of the way, we did well. Came in 6th overall in the GS and won the junior women’s slalom championship. Staci is now ranked 8th in downhill, 13th in slalom, and 15th in giant slalom.”
From Alaska, they flew to Colorado to attend SkiTAM which is the largest single fundraiser for the US Adaptive Alpine Team. They’re hoping that their invitation is a good sign since they’re announcing the US team for the 2014 Paralympic Games in August.
What’s next for Staci? Her and Kim are headed out to Mount Hood in July to train with the team and might even trek down to New Zealand to compete in their national championships in August. Join us in wishing Staci the best as she reaches for her dreams!
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