Hopewell Junction's Eden Kruger wins junior national ski championship
The surroundings become a blur as Eden Kruger races along the course, skillfully navigating each bend and bump that could slow her momentum and showing remarkable poise even while things are flipped upside down.
“It was really stressful at first, but it’s gotten easier,” the Hopewell Junction native said. “You learn to set priorities and get things done.”
She was talking about travel and schoolwork, of course.
Because Eden has had to juggle the responsibilities of being an eighth-grade student and a competitive skier, the latter of which requires her to spend months away from home and split time between schools. She has made it her normal to straddle two worlds, and in both she has found a comfort zone, quickly adjusting each time to either role.
The 13-year-old is a bubbly, fun-loving kid who plays two sports at Van Wyck Junior High School. Well, during the spring and fall. The other seasons are spent in Vermont and Lake Placid, the phenom training intensely six days a week, lifting weights, and dedicating herself to skiing.
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“She’s always been mature and independent, but we’re amazed at how well she handles it,” Lee Kruger said of her daughter’s hectic schedule. “So often she has to pack up and be on the go, and she’s on the road for a while, but she’s able to come home and blend right back in.”
She has, in fact, aced both courses.
Eden sped down a slope last month, deftly whipping around its contours and performing acrobatic feats to the amazement of onlookers. Literally, this time.
She won gold at the U.S. Freestyle Junior Nationals, taking first in the Under-15 moguls skiing final in Steamboat, Colorado.
“I was really excited when I found out I won,” she said. “I felt my run was OK, but I didn’t think it was great. I had won the qualifier and I was so nervous thinking that if I didn’t win the final, it would be a huge disappointment.”
Instead, Eden impressed the judges with her speed and smooth turns, and wowed everyone with her inverted maneuvers, including some flashy backflips. The high scores for “jumps” and “air” lifted her to a 71.92, which edged second place by 0.64 points in a narrow competition.
“It takes a tremendous amount of sacrifice and dedication just to be able to compete at this level,” her mother said. “Seeing her succeed makes us extremely proud.”
Eden has compiled quite the resume in recent years and reached the podium in five other skiing tournaments this winter, including winning the Killington “A” Classic in Vermont. Those achievements made her one of the 35 girls in her age group to receive an invitation last month to Colorado.
The field was whittled to 20 through a qualifying run, and the final was held March 16 on the 191-meter Voodoo trail at the Steamboat Ski Resort. Eden finished ahead of Ava Keenan and Mahlia Torres, both of whom are touted prodigies.
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The prize for victory was a cowboy hat and a pair of expensive ID One skis, which Eden said she “loves.”
More rewarding, though, was the boost in confidence and the elevated profile, as wins like these are a step toward a lofty goal.
“It feels great and gives me hope for the future,” she said of being among the best young skiers in the country. “I want to eventually make the US Ski Team and I’d love to go to the Olympics.”
Planes, trains and ski lifts
Lee and Christopher Kruger both ski and their older children, Gavin and Alexa, were competitive mogul skiers. So, it was natural that Eden followed in their tracks.
She was no stranger as an infant to Stratton Mountain Resort. Well, their daycare facility. But Eden has vivid memories of herself there as a 4-year-old, comfortably making her way down the bunny hill.
There soon was an inkling she could become a good skier, noticing the ease with which she moved compared to the other small children. She got into mogul skiing at 7, her mother said, entering the kid events at tournaments her siblings competed in.
That’s when others took notice of her talent.
“When the Killington coaches started trying to get her to their mountain, I was like, ‘Huh, they must see something in her,’” Lee Kruger said.
The family has a condo in Stratton Mountain and skies regularly at the nearby resort, but coach Kris Pepe convinced them to make the 80-minute commute from there to Killington and have Eden train more seriously as a competitor.
Eden was “super confident,” and her parents accepted that invitation, and the challenge. Within a year, she was winning tournaments and earning acclaim. But, with that, the bar was raised.
Training would expand to include yoga and gymnastics to improve flexibility and acrobatic skills. Lee Kruger lauded the staff at Dutchess Gymnastics for taking Eden on as a pupil, “despite knowing she wasn’t really there for gymnastics.” But she showed a natural aptitude for that, too. Those somersaults translated well to the inverted truck driver grabs and back tucks she performs now so fluidly in the snow.
Eden first boarded for a month in Killington as a sixth-grader. She has lived there during the winter the last two years, attending Killington Mountain School, an academy whose school is configured around a demanding training regimen, seeking to cultivate the talents of elite young skiers.
She lifts weights and does yoga in the morning, before ski practice. Then a school day and meals are sandwiched between another workout session.
“It’s a lot to take in because the environment is so different from Van Wyck,” said Eden, who is a straight-A student at both schools. “At (Killington), it’s a lot more independent in terms of homework. It’s hard to balance everything during competition season, but the teachers are lenient because they know we travel.”
The travel included a trip to Aspen last winter when the northeast didn’t get much snow. There also are trips to British Colombia for glacier skiing and summer training at the Olympic Ski Jumping Complex in Lake Placid. That’s in addition to the flights and rides to tournaments.
“At first you get worried and it’s nerve-racking as parents, but you eventually get used to it,” Lee Kruger said of Eden being away from home for extended periods and traveling frequently. “She’s responsible and has shown a lot of maturity, and we trust the coaches to look out for them.”
As difficult as it is to be on the move so often, Eden said the change of scenery can be “fun” and she enjoys those adventures.
When she is home in the fall and spring, there is an almost seamless transition into her community and classrooms and friendship circles. Eden still even has the energy to contribute as a member of the field hockey and girls lacrosse teams at Van Wyck.
The teachers there, she said, “are understanding” and allow her to catch up on the curriculum. She’s doing so now and will be in average-kid mode for the remainder of the school year.
But in June, Eden said, she’ll head back to Killington, “and then I’ll be in Lake Placid and Canada during the summer.”
Again, skillfully traversing both courses.
Stephen Haynes: shaynes@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4826; Twitter: @StephenHaynes4.
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Hopewell Junction NY teen wins junior national ski championship
