BIOGRAPHY:
Washington State is passionate about their winter athletes and Brooke Wales could be in line to become one of the Northwest's next Olympians. A product of the Mission Ridge Ski Education Foundation, Wales jumped straight from the club program to the U.S. Ski Team following the 2011 season.

How'd she do it? Well, finishing fifth in the overall NorAm standings definitely helped (second in super G, fourth in super combined, sixth in downhill). So did the 2011 NorAm super G wins she claimed in both Aspen and Whistler. She also popped a top 10 in downhill at the U.S. Championship race held in Aspen. But the real kicker is her second place finish in the NorAm super G standings, locking up a World Cup start in the discipline for 2012.

BROOKE SAYS:
"So far things have moved pretty fast. It wasn't long after hearing I made the team that we had our first camp in Mammoth. It's already been an awesome experience. My goals are to become competitive on the Europa Cup next season and hopefully get a few super G starts on the World Cup level."

"I'm hoping to move to Park City this summer to take advantage of training with Ernie [Rimer] at the Center of Excellence and also take classes at Westminster."

FIRST TRACKS:
Began skiing at four, mainly because both parents skied so "it was just kind of what we did." At nine she joined the Stevens Pass program due to the family cabin nearby. She dabbled in racing for a few seasons before breaking through at a J3 race at age 14 and deciding ski racing was the gig. At age 16 she switched to the Mission Ridge Ski Education Foundation, and accelerated her skiing from there.

OFF THE SNOW:
Reading – Water for Elephants. Apolo Ohno's book Zero Regrets. water skiing on Lake Washington. Being outdoors, rollerblading. Country music is a must!