Pittsford native Morgan Schild earns her Olympic ski team dream

Nearly three years after a career-altering knee injury, Morgan Schild realized a dream on Thursday night. The Pittsford native took third place in the FIS Visa Freestyle International World Cup in Park City, Utah and in doing so earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic moguls ski team.

“It’s a huge relief of pressure now,” the 20-year-old told the Salt Lake Tribune, “and I’m just on cloud nine.”

That’s where she usually takes her high-flying ski jumps. An emotional Schild, who is a former student at Pittsford Sutherland, collapsed into her mother’s arms at the end of the competition, the newspaper reported. She started skiing at age 5, developing her skills mostly at Bristol Mountain, Ontario County.

The Olympics run from Feb. 9-25 in PyeongChang, South Korea. American Jaelin Kauf had 81.37 points on Thursday and also qualified for the Olympics. France’s Perrine Laffont was second with 80.38 and Schild had 78.76 in the super final.

Schild formerly played softball and soccer at Sutherland. She was a goalkeeper in soccer.

She was the World Cup Rookie of the Year in 2014-15 but tore her ACL in March of 2015 while training for the junior World Championships. It took two surgeries and 22 months of rehab just to get back to training. She took third in her first competition back a year ago this month.

Nicknamed “Warpaint,” for her keen focus during competition and for her daring aerial attempts, she told the Salt Lake newspaper she plans to come out “guns a'blazing” in South Korea.

She also finished third in Wednesday night’s competition in Utah and that combined with Thursday’s result clinched the Olympic spot. She is the first member of what coaches and officials at Bristol Mountain call the “Bristol Mountain Super Six,” to earn an Olympic berth.

The group of six skiers started out on Bristol Mountain’s freestyle team years ago under the direction of coach John Kroetz, and all are currently members of the U.S. ski and snowboard teams. They are: Schild (moguls), Jon Lillis (aerials), Chris Lillis (aerials), Dylan Walczyk (moguls), Harrison Smith (aerials) and Patrick O’Flynn (aerials).

Lillis will compete in the FIS Visa International World Cup Aerials competition in Utah on Friday.

“This is a coach’s dream come true. Morgan has worked very hard to get to this place and I’m thrilled for her,” said Kroetz, who has been Bristol’s freestyle coach for 17 years.

Bristol Mountain general manager Dan Fuller calls Schild a “wonderful mentor” to youngsters when she returns for visits. “She also visits local schools to share her journey and promotes the importance of living a healthy lifestyle,” he said.

JDIVERON@Gannett.com