Dual-sport star Persson has AHS girls golf team back in state title contention
The junior recently finished 13th at U.S. nationals in moguls skiing
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
The seasons don’t exist for Lenna Persson. The only thing that changes is how she goes about training, as the golfer and moguls skier doesn’t seem to understand the concept of taking it easy.
“I joke with my friends, and I always say ‘the grind never stops,'” she said on April 17, following a prep golf tournament she won at River Valley Ranch in Carbondale.
“I ski all winter, but I’m also in the (golf) simulator every single Monday in the winter. And then I went to Las Vegas, and I did camps in Arizona, and then I played golf almost all of spring break. In the summer, I’m doing water ramping for skiing while I’m playing golf tournaments. Both of my sports I would call year-round sports. It just keeps going.”
This never-ending grind has paid big dividends for the Aspen High School junior. She’s fresh off a ski season that marked her as one of the better up-and-coming moguls skiers in the country and is currently helping lead the Aspen High School (AHS) girls golf team on its quest for a championship after finishing as the state runner-up last spring.
Balancing the two sports is not something she has to put much thought into.
“She does it without even knowing. She is so in the flow. She manages stuff that a lot of girls her age could not,” AHS girls golf coach Shannon Day said. “Working with Lenna is the most inspiring. It makes me want to come back every day.”
Skiing success
Persson’s fateful rise up the moguls food chain began somewhat by accident. While she always had a passion for moguls, much like her father, she really wanted to become an Alpine racer with the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club.
“My whole family was late to the interest meeting because we were coming directly from a swim meet. So, we show up, and everyone is gone. Only the moguls coach is there, and she is like, ‘Here, I’ll just talk to you guys about it really quickly,'” she recalled.
“She goes, ‘Just put all the kids in freestyle for one season and see how it goes.’ And I was like, ‘OK, fine, but I’m not going to do any jumps.’ And then that season, little 10-year-old Lenna learned a 360 and was skiing in the devo divisions, and I loved it. And I’ve skied moguls ever since.”
And in that time, she’s gotten quite good at it. This past season saw Persson take major steps as a moguls skier, including when she won the open division of Aspen’s home competition in January, part of the Rocky Mountain Freestyle circuit through U.S. Ski and Snowboard.
Then, last month, she added a national championship to her name by winning the girls U17 dual moguls crown at the 2024 Freestyle Moguls Junior Nationals in Park City, Utah.
“A lot of her success is due to her mental toughness. She is able to keep things in perspective and keep a level head and be a little more objective of the task at hand. I’ve always considered her an old soul,” said AVSC moguls coach Mido Morimoto, who has worked with Persson the past three seasons.
“She is not afraid to work on her jumps. One of her biggest goals was to flip top air and bottom air in her run, and that is something she has accomplished and has done very well. It’s paid off for her.”
On top of winning the lighthearted “Freestyle Friday” competition, hosted by the Merry-Go-Round restaurant on March 29 at Aspen Highlands, Persson’s ski season wrapped up with her finishing 13th in moguls — and 24th in dual moguls — at U.S. nationals on March 23 at Waterville Valley in New Hampshire. It was impressive considering the 16-year-old’s competition was arguably the best moguls team on the planet, as the top six finishers are all current members of the U.S. national team, led by Olympic silver medalist Jaelin Kauf, who won that day.
“They are a level above where Lenna is at, but they are World Cup skiers. That’s their job. I think Lenna could be there,” Morimoto said. “She could be one of those people, but she’s got a lot on her plate, and she’s still young. She will probably end up going toward golf, which hurts my heart a little bit. Honestly, I want the best for her.”
Going head-to-head with the World Cup athletes was a season highlight for Persson, who was proud of the winter she had on snow.
“Those girls are the best. They win all the World Cup events,” she said. “I did work fairly hard over the summer, and I started skiing really well. I just kept the ball rolling, I guess, and continued throughout this season to do well and continue to progress.”
Time to tee it up
With skiing, at least briefly, put aside, the next few weeks are all about golf for Persson and her AHS teammates. With her and the team’s lone senior, Brooke O’Sullivan, guiding the ship, the Skiers will be able to make a legitimate run at the Class 3A state championship on May 20-21 at The Olde Course in Loveland.
“They all support each other. Lenna leads these girls with so much finesse. I haven’t seen it before, honestly,” Day said. “You have to go through that phase of getting into harder tournaments, being at the state championship twice, and being under pressure. And that’s where the success now comes from. You can see her steadiness in her mind and in her skills. She just trusts herself. She’s always had the capability.”
Aspen girls golf finds itself going through one of the best stretches in program history. The Skiers finished in a tie as the state runner-up last spring — when AHS hosted the final at Aspen Golf Club — the best finish the team’s ever had. Persson finished fourth after the two-day tournament, while O’Sullivan was sixth.
The two have again been a steady participant atop leaderboards this spring, winning multiple times.
“I feel that my short game is something that always needs work, but it’s improving. The past few years, I’ve always worked on my 100 yards-and-in shots because they are half swings, and I’m not used to that,” Persson said following her 76 last week at the RVR tournament. “I feel like I’m starting to get more confident in those, and I also just recently got new clubs, so my irons are feeling better, and my tee shots have been pretty solid. I’m excited to start practicing some more and dialing in those little mistakes that can make big improvements.”
The Skiers only have a few more regular-season tournaments remaining before their May 14 regional at Cattails Golf Course in Alamosa. As strong as her round was at RVR, she was also far from satisfied. A rough stretch on the back nine left a sour taste in her mouth, but she’s the type that has the ability to view her play from both sides of the equation.
It’s a big reason she’s excelled like she has, whether in the tee box or in the starting gate.
“She is getting lower, absolutely, and we always knew she was capable of it,” Day said of Persson’s scoring average on the golf course. “I’m really proud and excited for her. … She can have the mental toughness to both be unsatisfied but also proud of herself, which I think is a really cool quality.”
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