Big Sky, MT – Following seven seasons with the U.S. Alpine Ski Team, recently crowned U.S. super G champion Keely Kelleher of Big Sky, Mont., is retiring from ski racing in order to focus on being a full-time student at Westminster College in Salt Lake City.n”After spending my entire life focused completely on ski racing, I’m starting a new job as a full time student on August 25,” said Kelleher, who earned her first U.S. championship last March with her family in attendance at Whiteface Mountain, N.Y. “The ski team has a partnership with Westminster that allows athletes to pursue their education. It’s a great way for us to transition out of the sport.”

Kelleher cut teeth with the Big Sky Ski Team in Montana then enrolled in Salt Lake’s famed Rowmark Academy, which has produced numerous top U.S. Ski Team athletes. During her tenure, Kelleher was honored as the Most Improved Technical Skier (2000), received the Northrop Award for Excellence in Speed Events (2001) and the prestigious Senior Award for Dedication to Skiing, Leadership and Ski Racing Ability. Additionally, she captured the J2 Junior Olympic gold medals for both giant slalom and combined in 2000.

“She was such a special athlete to work with,” said Rowmark Program Director Todd Brickson. “I haven’t experienced very many athletes as driven as Keely. She was an incredible competitor, but also a great teammate. I’ve already been recruiting her to do some guest coaching with our athletes.”

Post grad, she rocketed through the North American pipeline, landed a spot on the national squad in 2003 and was tracking toward the World Cup level when a crash at the final fall training camp in Colorado knocked her out for the season with a broken right leg. Ultimately the rod placed in her leg was too big and caused serious complications. According to Brickson, most athletes would have given up.

“It was supposed to be a six month turn-around and back to snow, but it turned into three years of surgeries,” said Kelleher. “Mentally and physically, constantly recovering is draining, but I was always looking forward to racing. It’s what kept me motivated. I love ski racing.”

After earning her first World Cup start in December of 2007, Kelleher would score her first points the following season in St. Moritz, Switzerland. She landed two other top 30 results later that season and exited the 2009 winter looking toward a birth in Vancouver, but leg pain continued to hamper her progress.

“When all the other girls were putting down six or seven runs on a training day, I’d be holding back tears after four, but I just kept telling myself it was going to go away when the season finally started,” she said. “Then the first weekend of World Cup rolled around and I had the best result of my career with 20th in the Lake Louise super G. I was headed off to Val d’Isere [France] for the next set of races and things were looking positive.”

Then suddenly, a crash in Val d’Isere resulted in a sprained right ankle, furthering the compacted pain she’d been fighting throughout the season’s preparation period.

“It was a lot to deal with, but that’s what we do – it was still fun,” Kelleher said. “I’ll always remember those long travel days just goofing around with my teammates. We were always able to find humor in every situation and at the end of the day, we were ski racing. We were able to meet some of the most amazing people and discover incredible places because we were skiing. The view from the start at Cortina [Italy] is a place not many people get to see and I’ll always be thankful for that.”

Kelleher thanked her family, coaches, teammates and sponsors Big Sky Resort, Lone Mountain Sports, Atomic and POC for sticking with her through it all. “It’s incredible the amount of support that goes into ski racing. My family is amazing and stood with me every step of the way and continue to do so,” said Kelleher. “I was pretty fortunate to have some awesome sponsors along the way too, who I’ll always be connected with.

“I’ll always value Keely as a competitor and as a friend,” said long-time teammate Stacey Cook, of Mammoth Mountain, Calif. “We’ve been racing together since we were J3’s and then made every step up together. We made the ski team together and landed our first Europa Cup podiums together – it won’t be the same on the road without her.”

Prior to her first day of classes, Kelleher says she’ll spend the summer giving back to ski racing by coaching in Alaska, Oregon and possibly Chile – after a three week surfing trip to Mexico with friends.

“It’s a good transition into becoming a student,” she said. “But the best way for me to give back is to help get more kids stoked on ski racing. Alaska is a super specialized camp, were we’ll be working on body position off big jumps then I’m off to Mt. Hood and hopefully Chile before school starts.”