Kirsten Cooper

Position:
Alpine
Height:
5-6
Class:
Freshman
Hometown:
Eagle, Colo. (Nebraska Independent Learning/USADT)

Top Career Giant Slalom Finish: 14th (2011 Montana State Invitational)
Top Career Slalom Finish: 3rd (2011 RMISA Qualifier at Utah)

Honors

2011 4.0 Club (4.0 GPA in one or both the fall/spring semesters)
2011 Division I National All-Academic Ski Team (3.5 GPA, Participation in Regionals)

Career at Colorado—Cooper skied for the Buffaloes for one season, participating in nine races and finishing eight for the Buffaloes. She had six top 20 finishes and her best performances was a podium appearance with a third place in the giant slalom qualifier race in Montana State. Battling injuries, she retired from competitive skiing and continued her enrollment at CU and worked in the Sports Medicine office after her first year on the team.

2011 (Fr.)—Cooper competed in nine races for the Buffaloes, finishing eight and compiling six top 20 and two top 10 performances, including a career best third place finish in the RMISA Qualifier giant slalom race at Montana State. She took home her second best performance in the other RMISA Qualifier GS race, a sixth place finish ahead of the Denver Invitational. She finished off her season strong on the slalom side, bringing home three top 20 performances to close out her career, including a 17th place at the RMISA Championships. She missed the New Mexico Invitational skiing for the United States in the World University Games in Turkey. She recorded a perfect 4.0 GPA and was named to the Division I National All-Academic Ski Team.

Club—Cooper has skied for Team Summit, the U.S. Alpine Development Team and Ski Racing International since the 2004 season. She was on Team Summit from 2004-07 and then spend the 2007-08 seasons on the U.S. Alpine Ski Team before moving over to Ski Racing International from 2008 until she enrolled at Colorado. With 339 races under her belt since the 2003-04 ski seasons, she has finished 231 of them and compiled 147 top 20, 89 top 10 and 22 podium appearances including five race victories, including one victory each in each of the past five seasons.

High School—Cooper graduated from the University of Nebraska Independent Learning in Lincoln, Neb., in 2006. She also attended high school as the Desert Academy in Santa Fe, N.M. She played striker on the soccer field in high school, earning four letters and was named honorable mention All-State as a senior.

In the Classroom—Cooper intends to major in integrative physiology at Colorado and is interested in physical therapy as a possible career after college.

Personal—Kirsten Anne Cooper was born November 12, 1988, in New York City and calls Eagle, Colo., her home town. She is the daughter of Jim and Jeanne Cooper. She enjoys kayaking, running and traveling. Her favorite food is ravioli and her favorite moving is Finding Neverland. Her favorite sports team is the New York Yankees and favorite athlete is Brandy Chastain.