Brooke Lever of Edward Little was the Class A Giant Slalom Runner-Up and the Class A Slalom State Champion. She won the slalom by almost two seconds. We caught up with
Brooke and asked her about her state meet preparations and her thoughts at the starting gate.
1) What were your preparations leading up to the state meet?
All year I worked as hard as I could, knowing that this was my last season. Towards the beginning of the year I would get down on myself after a practice, which would translate into skiing poorly at some of the races. But as I neared the end of my season, I found that by keeping a positive attitude and releasing most of my worries about failure, I ultimately would become successful.
2) How did you deal with the pressure and emotions that come along with competing in a state meet?
I tried to look at it as any other race. Obviously the thought of winning pops into any racers head at any race, but as I mentally prepared for states I didn’t expect anything. I knew I had a lot of challenging competition and I knew if I would focus on them instead of myself, things wouldn’t work out the way I wanted them to
3) What is your favorite thing about ski racing?
I would say the adrenaline as I’m in the start gate, that split second of nervous scramble for the memory of what the course looks like. I think this little fear of the unknown is what keeps me on my toes and keeps me high energy. Instead of letting this nervous energy consume me, I try to use it to my advantage by letting it carry me through the course.
4) Coming into the season, what were your goals and did you achieve them?
I would say I had a goal of winning states, but at the time that I set this goal, I believed it was pretty far-fetched. I dreamed of living up to my sisters capabilities as well because of her outstanding senior year (She was undefeated). But I knew that most of the goals I set seemed out of reach. So instead I decided to just see where the season took me, and to work as hard as I could to achieve the goals I set, and fortunately the hard work paid off.
5) What was going through your mind at the starting gate?
During the first run I just skied, I had no one to worry about I was just there to have fun and see where I was sitting in comparison to my competition. As I finished, I had no idea that I would have such a large lead over the 2nd place racer, who happened to be my best friend, and I had never been used to that kind of pressure. I usually like to come from the lower positions and work my way up. I came into the second run knowing that I had to hold the lead, and I did the best I could to worry about myself, and what I had to do, finish. I always tell myself, every run is a new race, and I think my calm persona is what helped me achieve my goal.