Our next state champion spotlight is freshman Jeannette Cunningham of Greely who won the Class A Giant Slalom state title. We asked her what her reaction
was when she won and her feelings on race day.
1)What were your preparations leading up to the state meet? I trained during the week with my school team and on a team in New Hampshire (Franconia Ski Club) over the weekends to prepare.
2)How did you deal with the pressure and emotions that come along with competing in a state meet?
I have always felt a lot of stress and nervousness before ski races, but I know it's most important to make sure that you're doing it because it's fun, not because of the results. I try to remember that.
3) What is your favorite thing about ski racing? My favorite thing about ski racing is the feeling of it. It's really hard to describe, but when you are going as hard as you can and trying your best there isn't anything else like it. There's also the feeling of going fast. It's a pretty exhilarating sport.
4) You won by more than 5 seconds, what made your 2 GS runs at the state meet so fast? I honestly don't know. I hadn't seen the results of the first run before I went up for my second, so I had no idea that I was in first until I got up there. One of the parents helping at the top told me that I was in first, and I was shocked because it had felt like a bad run. Most of the time when you are skiing really hard it doesn't feel like clean, smooth skiing. I tried to remember the disappointment that I had felt before when I thought my first run didn't go well and channel that into my second run.
5) Coming into the season, what were your goals and did you achieve them? I didn't expect much from this season seeing as I'm a freshman. I hoped to make it to the shootout, and achieving that and going even further was awesome.