Corriann Delaney has just begun to make a name for herself in local alpine skiing with two successful seasons in the PVIAC League.
Now the 13-year-old Deerfield resident – who’s been skiing since age 5 – is hoping her continued improvement in the demanding sport will lead to even bigger things this month.
Delaney, who skis for the Burke Mountain Academy program in West Burke, Vt., qualified for the Vermont Alpine Racing Association’s (VARA) 2016 VARA Under-14 Championships this weekend at Stowe (Vt.) Mountain Resort. The competition features the best racers of the Northern, Central and Southern councils in the Green Mountain State.
Racing begins on Friday with the super giant slalom, followed by the giant slalom on Saturday, and wraps up with the slalom on Sunday.
Delaney – who has been a member of the BMA program since she started skiing – is ready for the challenge.
“Since this is potentially my last race of my U14 season, I plan to be very aggressive every run in all three events,” she said. “It will be tricky this weekend due to temperatures and snow conditions for all racers.”
Delaney, who is currently ranked 18th overall in the series for the Northern Council, is seeking to earn a spot in the Eastern Under-14 Alpine Championships from March 18-21 at Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry, Maine.
A solid training regimen – three days a week on the slopes at Burke, in addition to regular after-school conditioning workouts – should give Delaney a legitimate shot to qualify for the Easterns (the top 26 overall finishers qualify).
“I want to ski to my greatest potential, since this is an event I have been waiting for all season,” she wrote. “I am hoping to get in the top 15 in all three events.”
A precocious eighth-grader, Delaney had a stellar season for Frontier Regional School during the recently concluded PVIAC season. She finished in the overall top 10 of all seven regular season races – including top-5 finishes in all four giant-slalom races – to qualify for the MIAA State Championships, where she was forced to withdraw due to a school-sponsored conflict. She also placed fifth in the giant slalom, eighth in the slalom and finished sixth in the combined of the PVIAC Individuals.