One of Honeoye Falls/Lima’s Nordic Ski team members, Jenna Hanson, also a member of NYSSRA Nordic, is one of the 9 finalist for Highschoolsports.net, Girls Sports Month “2011 ultimate athlete“. The contest is for girls in high school sports that have overcome adversity. Each finalist has a 3 min video posted to highschoolsports.net. After reading her story, seeing her video, and meeting her in person at the Empire State Games she has my vote. lets help Jenna win the Ultimate Athlete competition.
video link: http://www.highschoolsports.net/GSM/viewEntriesAndVote.cfm
Jenna’s website: http://votejenna.net/
Jenna, a Sophomore at Honeoye Falls/Lima High School in Section V, broke her neck while on a trampoline last fall (note to self, another good reason not to buy the kids a trampoline). Jenna spent a long painful winter in traction not knowing what to expect when the brace finally came off. No doubt the worst of all evils was knowing that her teammates were all out skiing while she was trapped in a neck brace in a wheel chair. The frightening statistics from her doctor – 6 out of the last 10 with this injury ended up completely paralyzed. In late January Jenna final escaped the neck brace and was given the all clear by her doctor. With three weeks left to qualify for the Empire state games, Jenna’s coach Bernine Gardner helped her make the come back. Jenna grabbed 22 on the NYSSRA points list qualifying her for the games which only takes the top 60 scholastic female skiers in the state. I remember that friday morning, the day before the games. Jenna was traveling to Lake placid with her friend Madeline Hoose. Prior to leaving, they took one last look at the posted start list only to find that Jenna was not listed (oops, an error on my part) after a few emails back and forth with her friends Mom, Cathy Hoose, the error was found and Jenna was on the start list. Two days later Jenna walked away with two silvers for the individual races and a Gold for the overall scholastic girls champion. She left a lasting impression on me when she accepted her medal from a trio of Bill Kochers(AKA the mini mario club team) she wrapped her arms around the kids and with a great big smile posed for a picture with the Empire State Games photographer.
Three weeks later Jenna went on to the New England J2 championships. New england is the toughest division in the country for xc skiing. She finished the three day competition 12th overall out of 91 competitors – an impressive feat for anyone, none less someone that was recovering from Jenna’s injury. Check out Jenna’s video, link above, and give her your vote.
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