Juan Diego CHS student skis her way into the U.S. Freestyle National Championships

Friday, Apr. 15, 2016

DRAPER — Taylor Schilly, a freshman at Juan Diego Catholic High School, qualified for the USSA Junior National Championships in Sun Valley, Idaho March 9-13, and from there she qualified for the U.S. Freestyle National Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colo., March 14-21.

At the Junior National Championships, Schilly placed fourth in the divisional championships for dual moguls, which ranked her 50th in the U.S.; she has earned a spot in the U.S. National Championships for both single and dual moguls.

The U.S. Freestyle Championships is the final event of each season combining the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team and the top divisional skiers from around the country in moguls, dual moguls and aerials. 

 “Taylor had an amazing competition on the world-class mogul course in both the single and dual mogul events. For Taylor’s dual run, she was matched with Lane Stoltzner, a U.S. team athlete, who is ranked 10th in the U.S. and had placed third in the singles mogul event,” said Tracy Schilly, Taylor’s mother. “Even so, Taylor skied an incredible and very clean run for her first-ever U.S. Freestyle National dual, ending her season on a very high note. She skied awesome, throwing a spread eagle at the top and a 360 at the bottom jump.”

Schilly has qualified for next year’s U.S. selections along with the next level of the International Ski Federation competitions; she also is looking ahead to the World Cups in 2017, Tracy Schilly said. 

Skiing in the two national championship events for Schilly was “really fun and a great experience,” she said. “I can’t wait to go back next year. It was very scary but it was really fun. My confidence level was high and I was really excited.”

Schilly learned to walk and ski at the same time; she was raised on the ski slope, she said. Her parents would back-country ski with her in a baby backpack. She was 18 months the first time she skied.

“My parents taught me how to ski and then I took lessons as a little kid in the Saturday Adventures in Park City,” Schilly said. “When I was old enough, I joined Team Park City.”

Schilly began her competitive skiing career when she was 10 as a slopestyle and halfpipe skier. She competed in a park and halfpipe tour and reached the junior nationals for several years as one of the youngest on the team, she said. Then one of her coaches suggested she try the mogul competition; she placed second overall. From there, she began competing in all four mogul events: halfpipe, slopestyle, single and dual. 

Schilly liked skiing all of the events, but it became “too hard and too expensive,” she said.

Injuries also were a factor in her decision to focus on single and dual moguls. 

“In the junior national competitions in slopestyle, I kept getting black eyes and I bruised my heel gruff plate casing in a jump by landing too short and not on the landing hill. I began to get really scared of the jumps; all the girls started doing different crazy corks and back flips off the jumps and I was falling behind,” she said. “I decided not to do slopestyle even though I really liked halfpipe.”

To prepare for a race, Schilly likes to talk to her coach or friends on the team at the starting gate. 

“They make me feel better because I get very anxious,” she said. “Once I get out of the gate and get going, I’m fine. Skiing is about 50 percent mental; you’ve got to know you can do it or else you won’t do it. To be able to go off a jump and go upside down and not fall on your head, you have to have confidence. When you are going down fast, you get scared, so you have to trust that you know how to do it – it’s scary.”