U.S. Nationals: Who is … J1 Laurenne Ross?

Get Laurenne Ross chatting about skiing and music and her face lights up.
“That’s what I love, ” she said.
    The 19-year-old on the U.S. Development team was the top junior in Sunday’s super G at the U.S. Alpine National Championships taking sixth place overall. She nabbed the junior top spot again in Monday’s downhill, where she took fifth overall.
GET LAURENNE ROSS chatting about skiing and music and her face lights up.
    “That’s what I love, ” she said.
    The 19-year-old on the U.S. Development team was the top junior in Sunday’s super G at the U.S. Alpine National Championships taking sixth place overall. She nabbed the junior top spot again in Monday’s downhill, where she took fifth overall.
    “Obviously I would have liked to win,” said a laughing Laurenne, “but I’m happy with fifth, just not as happy about how far out I am.” Ross clocked a time of 1 minute, 13.38 seconds, while downhill champ Stacey Cook crossed in 1:11.69.
    This season has been a building project for Ross, who fractured her pelvis in five places, plus damaged some other unpronounceable parts of the body while racing in British Columbia last year. The injury limited her 2007 season to five NorAm races.
    “When I came back in May, I was kind of nervous it would be slow [process], but I think I just came back with confidence. It actually came really easily for me. I don’t know why, just that I trusted that it could,” she said.
    The Edmonton, Alberta, native moved to Klamath Falls, Oregon, at a young age and cut her ski edges at the Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation. In 2007, she made the D team and became good friends with now C teamer Leanne Smith. Ross said she is silly and quickly bonded with the team jokester. They worked at the same café, Java Cow, in Park City over the summer, and enjoyed throwing ice cream and giving “each other dead legs,” Ross said.
    But it’s music that really makes this racer smile. She started playing piano at age 2 and the violin at 9. The violin is dragged along on all of her ski trips.
    “Sometimes I’ll get together with Bryon [Friedman] and we’ll jam,” said Ross, who did just that Monday night after the downhill, joining Friedman on stage at The Rack bar near the Sugarloaf base. “I try to practice everyday but we’re so busy it’s really hard. … I enjoy it a lot, I bring it everywhere.
    “I just get so into it, it’s crazy,” she added. “I love it. I’m always around music. I’m always listening to music or playing music, or singing. I’m always singing, which is probably obnoxious to a lot of people.”
    She also thinks playing music helps her with skiing.
    “I think [music] is a distraction, which is good for me,” she said. “It calms you down. I don’t know. It’s like I have something else going for me other than skiing. It makes me feel like if I don’t make it in ski racing, I have other things going for me. It’s kind of reassuring.”
    One day, Ross hopes to become a professional musician, but she is putting her education on hold to pursue skiing. Ross is deferred at the University of Denver.
    “I really do want to go to school and I’m kind of anxious,” she said, “and I feel behind in that aspect. I’m giving myself a break because this is what I love to do.”
    If she makes the team again, she plans to move to Park City for the summer to train, probably continue to goof off with Smith and take classes at Westminster — studying music, of course. What else?