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Alumni Spotlight
Jillian Vogtli '96
New Yorker
Growing up in western New York in the town of Ellicottville, due south of Buffalo, Vogtli started skiing at age 10 at Holiday Valley (right in Ellicottville) "on great big moguls," she says, "which seem like a big maze when you're little." She moved to Park City, Utah, after graduating from SUNY Brockport in 1996 with a degree in recreation and leisure studies. Since, the former high school and college soccer player has been working on getting her doctorate in natural health. Outside of sports, Vogtli has her own jewelry company, which she started in the fall of 2003.
Recent results
Vogtli's best career marks are sixth in the World Cup moguls standings in 2003-04 and 2004-05, and also a sixth at the 2005 World Championships. The 2004 and 2005 U.S. moguls champion, Vogtli won her first World Cup event in February 2005 in Inawashiro, Japan. She missed the cut for the 1998 U.S. Olympic team, as it qualified seven moguls skiers for Nagano: four men and three women. Vogtli was the fourth-best U.S. woman at the time.
Knee problems
At a training camp in the fall of 1998, Vogtli destroyed ligaments in her left knee (ACL and MCL), after which she couldn't straighten her leg because her meniscus had flipped the wrong way. She later had reconstructive surgery in Salt Lake City. Vogtli then injured her right knee on April Fool's Day 2001 in the finish area of a head-to-head moguls event. Her competitor headed straight for Vogtli after crossing the line and Vogtli opted to hit the fence instead of the athlete. She underwent surgery to repair her right ACL and meniscus two days later. With the help of aggressive rehab, Vogtli returned in time for the 2001-02 season and qualified for the Salt Lake Games.
Skiing to cycling
To cope with her burnout following the Salt Lake Games, Vogtli turned to her other passion: track cycling. She made a serious effort to pursue the sport for the 2004 Olympics, but failed to make the team for Athens. She competed at the 2003 U.S. Nationals in the 500m time trial, finishing seventh. Vogtli got started with track cycling when she was rehabilitating the left knee she injured in 1998. She went to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in San Diego and started to ride with the men's track cycling team. The first time she hopped on a track cycle, she said it felt as if she was on skis, "it was so comfortable."
Other Alumni Spotlight Honorees
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