For Immediate Release                                           
February 9, 2009

 

 

 

BRATTLEBORO, Vt.— While the US Women Ski Jumpers were not invited to compete in the 2010 Vancouver/Whistler Olympics, and have gone to court over it, they have been invited – and five will jump – at the 85th Annual Harris Hill Ski Jumping competition in Brattleboro, Vermont.

 

Five of the Visa Women’s Ski Jumping Team are scheduled to compete at Harris Hill on Saturday and Sunday, February 14 and 15. The jumpers include: Tara Geraghty-Moats, age 16 from West Fairlee, Vt.; Danielle Lussi, age 17 from Lake Placid, NY; Nina Lussi, age 15, from Lake Placid, NY; Karin Friberg, age 20 from Roseville, Minn.; and Nita Englund, age 15 from Florence, Wisc..

 

According to Victor Method, Women’s Ski Jumping USA, “The sport of women’s ski jumping is growing and the Harris Hill Competition will be a great opportunity to appreciate the dedication and skill of these young athletes.”

 

As a group they love to get on a pair of skis, head downhill at more than 50 miles per hour and then launch themselves into the air and fly more than the length of a football field. Spectators who come to the Harris Hill competition will get a rare chance to see them up close as they compete on a brand new re-built 90-meter jump.

 

“Ski jumping is the only Winter Olympics event that excludes women,” says Karla Keck, director of the VISA Women’s Ski Jumping Team, and a former ski jumper who saw her own Olympic aspirations crushed by international sports officials. Keck will not be on site for the Harris Hill competition, but her goal is to get women’s ski jumping in the Olympics in 2010.

 

Former Jumper Wendy Randall from Brattleboro reminisces about women jumpers and Harris Hill: “A few years ago when I volunteered to mark distances at the annual tournament in Brattleboro it was great to see that at least one competitor was a young woman.  Although their numbers are small, I know there are women jumpers in the U.S. who would welcome the chance to compete at the Olympic level.  I think their time has come. I remember several folks, including my parents, recalling a woman named Dottie Graves, from Greenfield, MA.  She, I believe competed on the big hills--Greenfield had one then, as well as Harris Hill, in the 40's.  There was a teenager from Lake Placid named Sandy Vitvitsky who jumped when I did, and for a short while in Brattleboro there were three of us--Sandy Harris and Karen Middleton being the other two.  

 

It is tremendous what the committee and the townspeople have accomplished in restoring Harris Hill to its new life. It is a unique sport, and an especially unique sports venue for this corner of Vermont.”

 

 

Tara Geraghty-Moats -- Tara is a dedicated athlete and exceptional home schooler. Very competitive, to Tara the word "can’t" is only "can" with a "t" on the end. She will go all out and do what it takes to reach her goal. This past winter, Tara gave up jumping in the Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Junior Olympics to trek out to Alaska to ski in the Cross Country Junior Olympics where she skied exceptionally well under her Bulgarian coach. In the skate, she skied to first place as a first year J3 (younger half of 15 and 16 year olds) as well as helping her team win the gold medal. Qualifying for XC JOs was not easy either for her because she had to miss a few key races for important jumping competitions. Tara is an avid telemark skier and will never miss a chance to hit the powder (dream for Easterners) or attack the rock hard slopes of the eastern mountains.

 

Born: April 12, 1993 in Lebanon, NH Hometown: West Fairlee, Vt. School: Home School Sponsors: Alpina, Surefoot, Visa Favorite Jumping Hill: Lake Placid K90 Longest Jump: 98m Noted Accomplishments: 18th Place Lake Placid COC.

 

Danielle Lussi – Danielle Lussi has accomplished quite a lot in her life for a 16 year old, including being the proud holder of her very own New York State driver’s license. She plays the flute, rides horses, plays soccer and water skis. In the last year, Danielle has improved a lot in her jumping. She went from getting roped in by the knoll troll to flying past K on the 90 in Lake Placid. When winter roles around, Danielle finds her wallet bursting at the seams because of her roaring knit hat business (for more information contact Danielle Lussi at your local ski jumps and order a custom hat).

 

Born: May 7, 1992 in Lake Placid, NY Hometown: Lake Placid, NY School: Lake Placid High School Sponsors: Visa Favorite Jumping Hill: Steamboat’s K68 Longest Jump: 88m Noted accomplishments: 1st Place Empire State Games ?2nd Place 2008 Nordic Combined Junior Olympics — Ishpeming, MI 3rd Place 2008 Special Jumping Junior Olympics — Ishpeming, Mich.

 

Nina Lussi -- Nina Lussi does everything, will go anywhere, and wear anything short of a crossing guard vest that’s neon. Multi talented, she plays the trumpet, water skis, wake boards, is fluent in German, horseback rides, went to the Junior Olympics for cross-country running, runs track, plays in varsity soccer, and skis on White Face regardless of whether it’s powder or the usual eastern blue ice. On top of all that, she gets good grades and will always lend a hand with coaching the junior skiers. This summer she satisfied her need for speed with jumping from bar 28 (house) on the K90 and was rewarded with coming in second twice in the Soaring Saturdays Series.

 

Born: March 29, 1994 in Lake Placid, NY ?Hometown: Lake Placid, NY ?School: Lake Placid Middle School ?Sponsors: Visa ?Favorite Jumping Hill: Lake Placid’s K90 ?Longest Jump: 100.5m on K90 ?Noted Accomplishments: ?1st Place 2008 Special Jumping Junior Olympics - Ishpemeing, Mich. ?1st Place 2008 Nordic Combined Junior Olympics – Ishpeming, Mich. ?3 SuperTour wins.

 

Karin Friberg -- To understand Karin's story, you have to understand mid-western ski jumping. She grew up training on the St. Paul 45-meter ski jump. To train on bigger hills meant traveling many hours on the weekends for competitions. When you're on a different hill every time you jump, it can be frustrating. Knowing that your competition gets steady training, and watching them get further ahead is even more difficult. There was an obvious disadvantage being the girl who could have the chance to be the next top jumper if given the opportunity. Karin knew she had had to work more than most. She spent several summers training out West, both in Park City and Steamboat. Karin has always been a perfectionist. Whenever she was going through a rough spot you'd always know she'd come back a stronger jumper. She tackled one problem at a time and she made a slow but steady rise. She's now our top girl in her division. She's brought her jumping all the way to Europe — three times. We fully expect her to have a strong American finish this year.

 

Born: November 17, 1989 in St. Paul, Minn. ?Hometown: Roseville, Minn. ?School: University of Minnesota ?Sponsors: Visa ?Favorite Jumping Hill: Park City’s K90 & Chicago’s K70 ?Longest Jump: 124m ?Noted Accomplishments: ?2008 Junior World Team.

 

Nita Englund -- Nita is a fun-loving, athletic, determined, and talented who will do anything in the name of adventure. She swims in waterfalls, runs through streams, bikes up the wrong way on highways, roller blades down mountains, and takes showers in glacial lakes. She can bake a killer cake, and eat it without gaining an ounce. She has acquired the nickname Sketchmuffin because of her interesting style on the ski jump that would be seen as scary by some. Nita isn’t fazed by it; she just marches back up and tries to make it better. She has relatives in every convenient location in the country, but makes her home in a small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Nita’s athletic skills are unmatchable, but her determination is even greater. She finds the workout that hurts the most, and does it for fun. Watch out for this girl, she will be taking the world by storm!

 

Born: June 10, 1992 in Iron Mountain, Mich. ?Hometown: Florence, Wis. ?School: Florence High School ?Sponsors: Visa ?Favorite Jumping Hill: Park City’s K90 ?Longest Jump: 80m ?Noted Accomplishments: ?2nd Place 2008 Special Jumping Junior Olympics — Ishpeming, Mich. ?2nd Place 2007 Nordic Combined Junior Olympics.

 

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Media Contacts: 

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