Senior Kiana Christensen Soars on the Slopes

Lucas Michaels, Staff Reporter

Navigate Left
Navigate Right
Navigate Left
Navigate Right

Here at La Salle, many know that Kiana Christensen is a good snowboarder, but what many may not know is just how good she is.

Now, as a senior in high school, Kiana is headed to state and likely nationals.

At the age of six, her father introduced her to skiing. Two years later, she began snowboarding and came to love it. She visited the mountain regularly and didn’t have her first injury until 8th grade when she fractured her lower back on a jump. She quickly recovered and was back on the slopes for her freshman year.

Upon entering high school, she was inspired by her brother, a senior who snowboarded for La Salle, to join the team. This marked the beginning of her competitive snowboarding career. During her first year competing, she won the league championship in her High School Division and took third in state for Slopestyle, which quickly became her signature event.

As a sophomore, despite fracturing her shoulder on a jump while practicing, she won first place in state for Slopestyle.

During her junior year, she won state in three events—Halfpipe, Slopestyle, and Banked Slalom—and got second in state in Boardercross. She also began competing in USASA, the United States of America Snowboard and Freeski Association, and qualified for their National Championship.

At the National Championship in Copper Mountain, Colorado, she competed against snowboarders from across the United States and won first place in Slopestyle and fifth in Halfpipe.

She tore her ACL on a jump during the summer following her junior year, so she couldn’t practice during the summer and was forced to turn down an invite to the United States Revolution Tour, but she has still managed to compete this year.

She has already won gold this year in Slopestyle and Boardercross. In fact, in a recent competition several weekends ago, her performances were strong enough to boost La Salle to first place. Permitting that her knee is not a hindrance and that she qualifies, she plans to go to nationals this year, too.

In addition to being a spectacular snowboarder, Kiana is looked up to by her teammates. Senior Quinten Pearson describes her as a “third coach,” and senior Luke Guasco says she is a “great motivator.”

Kiana is planning to attend the University of Utah next year and has already been accepted to their honors program. She felt that the University of Utah was the perfect place for her because it was one of the only schools that happened to be out of state, reputable, and close to a good mountain for snowboarding.

Although the University of Utah doesn’t have a snowboarding club or team, she is hoping to become involved in a snowboarding club outside of the school. She has not yet decided whether she will compete during college.

Kiana will be competing in all four events at the State Championship, which is from March 8th until the 11th.