Brooke Wales Granstrom

Position:
Alpine
Height:
5-7
Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Sammamish, Wash.
High School:
Eastside Catholic/U.S. Ski Team

Top Career Slalom Finish: Third (2014 RMISA Championships)
Top Career Giant Slalom Finish: Second (six times, last 2014 RMISA Qualifier)

Honors

2013 First-Team All-American (Giant Slalom)
2013 First-Team All-RMISA
2013 CU Outstanding Alpine Woman Award
2013 RMISA Skier of the Week (Utah Invitational)
2013 National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team (3.5 GPA, Participation In Regionals)
2014 First-Team All-American (Giant Slalom)
2014 Second Team All-RMISA
2014 RMISA Skier of the Week (Colorado Invitational)
2014 National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team (3.5 GPA, Participation In Regionals)
2014 Sophomore Scholar-Athlete Award (Top sophomore GPA among student-athletes at CU)
2014 4.0 Club (4.0 GPA for Spring or Fall 2014 Semester)

Career at Colorado—Wales Granstrom enters her final season of eligibility for the Buffaloes after two seasons in which she has firmly entrenched herself as one of the all-time greats at CU and as one of the top female alpine skiers in the nation. One of the top GS skiers in the world, she has steadily improved her slalom skiing, as well. In 28 college races to her credit, she has finished 23 with 22 top 20, 18 top 10, 12 top five and seven podium appearances. She has finished 11 of 14 giant slalom races with all 11 finishes in the top eight including six second place finishes. She has finished 12 of 14 slalom races with seven top 10, two top 5 and 1 podium. She enters the 2015 season with 15.46 FIS points in giant slalom and 28.73 in slalom. She is the 117th ranked GS skier in the world and the 125th ranked Super G skier. She was also married in the off season to Colby Granstrom, who is currently ranked in the top 40 slalom skiers in the world with 6.20 FIS points.

2015 (Senior)—Wales Granstrom earned two top 10 finishes in slalom action prior to the start of the college season, earning a fifth and 10th place finish in the two races as part of the CU Jimmie Heuga Invitational at Echo Mountain. She finished 23rd in a slalom race at Copper Mountain in Nor-Am Cup action, as well.

2014 (Sophomore)—Wales continued her dominance on the giant slalom side and continued her impressive improvement in slalom action, making her one of the best all-around skiers in the nation as a sophomore. She earned first-team All-American honors in GS for the second straight season and was a second-team All-RMISA performer. She earned RMISA Skier of the Week honors for women’s alpine for the CU Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational after finishing sixth in the slalom and eighth in the GS. After not finishing the first two races of the year at the Utah meet, she went on a tear, finishing the rest of the 12 races throughout the season with 11 of those 12 finishes in the top 11. She had seven top 5 finishes and three podium appearances, including her first slalom podium, taking third place at the RMISA Championships, where she was also fifth in the GS race. She was second in the GS at both the Montana State Invitational and in an RMISA Qualifier race at Winter Park after the CU meet. Her fifth place finish at the NCAA Championships gave her a repeat first-team All-American performance. She also earned mention on the National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team for earning a 3.5 grade point average and participation at Regionals. Prior to the start of her sophomore season, she competing in several races, bringing home four top 8 finishes in Nor-Am Cup races in Loveland and Copper Mountain. She also traveled to Italy for World University Games, competing for the United States and finishing 18th in the GS and 20th in the slalom at those games. After the college season, she traveled to Nakiska for more Nor-Am Cup races, finishing sixth and 12th in a pair of Super G races.

2013 (Freshman)—Wales immediately established herself as one of the top collegiate skiers in the nation, turning in one of the top freshman seasons in CU history. She finished 11 of 14 races in her initial campaign with eight top 10, five top 5 and four podium appearances. In five giant slalom races that she finished, she took second four times, the only time she wasn’t the runner up was at the RMISA Championships, where because of the rules of that race, she started near the back of the field and still worked her way up to a fourth place finish. In slalom action, she opened the season with a 10th place finish at the Colorado Invitational and after taking 13th at the DU Invitational, she turned in impressive seventh and eighth place finishes at Utah and New Mexico, respectively. She finished 11th at the RMISA Championships in the slalom race. She was clutch at the NCAA Championships, helping the Buffs to the team title, taking second in the giant slalom race with the second-fastest second run after sitting in sixth place after the first run. She earned a podium appearance in her first ever NCAA race and was honored with first-team All-America honors as a result. Her 18th place finish in the slalom race at the NCAA Championships enabled the Buffs to keep contact with Vermont on the second-to-last day of the championships and set up the biggest final day comeback in championships history as the Buffs took home the title. She started her season off strong straight out of the gate with second place finishes in her first two races, giant slalom races at Eldora, one a RMISA Qualifer and one part of the Colorado Invitational. After not finishing either GS race at the Denver Invitational (one being another RMISA Qualifier), she had her best meet of the season at Utah with a second place GS and seventh place slalom performance, both season bests. On top of being a first-team All-American, she earned first-team All-RMISA honors and was given CU’s Outstanding Alpine Woman Award at the conclusion of the season. She was the RMISA Skier of the Week against Utah and earned mention on the Division I National All-Academic Ski Team for attaining above a 3.5 GPA in the classroom. Prior to the start of the college season, she competed in Nor-Am Cup Races in Panorama, British Columbia, and brought home two top five finishes in Super G action, including one second place. She also took second place in a GS race at Aspen. She also took part in Nor-Am Cup races in Vail, earning a sixth place finish in GS action. After the collegiate season, she was 10th in the Super Combined at Squaw Valley in Nor-Am Cup action and finished second in a pair of Super G races in Breckenridge. She was also second in a GS and seventh in a slalom race in Vail to end the season.

Club—Skiing for the United States Ski Team in 2012 and the Mission Ridge Ski Team prior to that, prior to CU Wales participated in 286 FIS races dating back to 2005. She finished 200 of those races with 138 top 20, 86 top 10, 53 top five, 38 podium appearances and 15 race victories. Her 15 race victories since 2008 include two in North American Cup races, both in the Super G in 2011, one in Aspen and the other in Whistler. She has seven Super G victories, five giant slalom, with one each in Super Combined, Downhill and slalom. She has six World Cup starts with three finishes, her best being a 49th place finish at Lake Louise in December 2011. She has over 100 starts on the North American Cup with two podium appearances already in NorAm races in 2012. She has finished 75 of her 104 NorAm Cup races with 57 top 20s and 34 top 10s to her credit. She has 13 top five finishes, eight podiums and two victories. She has two South American Cup races to her credit with one top 10, and 11 European Cup races on her resume. She has 20 National Championship races worth of experience and finished third in the downhill in 2012 in Aspen and fourth in the Super G in Winter Park. She also finished 10th in the downhill in the 2011 national championships, also in Aspen. She won the Mission Ridge Ski Team’s Schwabe Award in 2011 as the outstanding alpine competitor within the club, among both men and women.

High School—Wales graduated from Eastside Catholic High School in Sammamish, Wash., in 2009. She earned First Honors each of her four years there and lettered once in soccer as a midfielder.

In the Classroom—Wales is majoring in Integrative Physiology at Colorado and has twice earned mention on the National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team for maintaining above a 3.5 GPA.

Personal—Brooke Wales Granstrom was born August 28, 1990, in Duvall, Wash., to Scott and Tammy Wales. She was married on July 6, 2014, to Colby Granstrom, complete with a cake shaped like a mountain with a GS course on it. The two grew up skiing together. Her brother, Sean, plays soccer at Pomona College. She began skiing at the age of four and at nine began racing at the Stevens Pass program. She broke through in the Junior’s at age 14 and joined the Mission Ridge team at 16. She chose Colorado “because Boulder is awesome and so are the people on the ski team.”