In working with Justine Dufour-Lapointe and Mikaël Kingsbury, Ski and Snowboard Club Vail mogul program director Freddy Mooney has witnessed Olympic gold-level discipline firsthand.

And yet, Kayla Broecker‘s dual commitment to skiing and distance running is still a little eye-opening.

“Any time we’re in a hotel room and we had two hours in the morning before departing to go somewhere, I go sneak in workouts and she’d be on the treadmill,” Mooney said of his 14-year-old pupil. “Or I’m driving to the grocery store and she’s running down the road next to the houses where we’re staying. She found ways to continue her training for running.”

A couple weeks after posting a pair of top-25 finishes at U.S. Moguls Freestyle national championships in Palisades Tahoe, California, Broecker broke a talented field to win the 1,600-meter run at the Husky Invitational by 18 seconds. On a cold Tuesday afternoon, the Summit freshman went wire-to-wire in 5 minutes, 14.74 seconds. Just for context — her solo effort at altitude was just 10 seconds shy of the program freshmen mile record set by former state cross-country, track and nordic ski state champion and current CU runner, Ella Hagen.

“I was just like, oh have fun with this, you’re just a freshman — you have other opportunities and chances to get better at the sport,” Broecker said of her mindset. After bursting onto the statewide scene when she finished second by 0.5 seconds at the 4A state cross-country meet last November, Broeker is poised to contend in both the 3,200 and 1,600 meter runs at Jeffco Stadium this May. Given the physiological demands of a mogul ski run more closely mimic the 100-meter dash, it’s a pretty rare pairing.

“Moguls helps me work different muscles which also can help me in running,” she said. “I kind of use both to make me better at (each) sport.”

During the winter, Broecker said she cross trains on the bike or in the pool on high-volume ski days. When the mogul sessions are shorter, she runs longer. While running is her favorite sport, the SSCV FIS team member was thrilled about her progress on snow, too.

“I started doing back tucks, I made nationals, so I was super proud about that,” she stated.

In Tuesday’s race, Broecker clipped off her goal pace of 78 seconds a lap with metronomic precision. When she came through the halfway point, she had a two-second lead on another skier who likes to run far: Eden DeMino.

The Battle Mountain sophomore, who won the Colorado state slalom title in February and was fifth in state cross-country as a sophomore, boldly tracked Broeker. Always a gutsy competitor, DeMino said her objective was to hang on for as long as she could.

“I know she does skiing, too,” DeMino said of Broecker. “I haven’t like, looked at times or anything, so I don’t know how fast she’s going, but it’s definitely in mind. I was just trying to see what I can do.”

Fifty yards behind DeMino, a group of four Summit athletes flanked fellow Husky Caroline Provencher. Provencher is pulling off another wild dual sport assignment this spring, squeezing in workouts whenever she’s not scoring goals for the No. 1-ranked Battle Mountain girls lacrosse squad. Tuesday’s fifth-place finish was her first mile “in a while.”

“It was good to get back. It felt a little bit like cross-county, especially going up against Summit,” Provencher said after running 5:45.25. “It was good to see them again and have a competitive race.”

Summit’s Leah Noble and Lily Benbow surged after DeMino on the final curve. With 100 to go, Noble took off, catching DeMino at the line to take second in 5:32.89 to the Husky runner’s 5:33.01. Broecker crossed the line alone.

“I was kind of just hoping to see where I’d place and compete with these girls,” she said.

A conversation with Broeker reveals a serious but smily, humble yet bold racer. Mooney said his pupil “speaks with her athletic achievements and is very quiet other than that.”

“She’s reserved,” he said. “But on the inside, she’s totally a driven athlete.”

This story is from VailDaily.com.