Elena Grissom

Photo by: Matan Coll, CU Athletics

Racers compete in the Montana State Invitational nordic 7.5K event Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, at Crosscut Mountain Sports Center near Bozeman, Mont.
MSU photo by Colter Peterson

Photo by: Montana State University

Position:
Nordic
Height:
5-4
Class:
Sophomore
Hometown:
Park City, Utah
High School:
Park City
Prev School:
Park City

National All-Academic Ski Team (2023)
NCAA Qualifer (2023)
Finalist CU Freshman of the Year (2023)
Letterwinner (2023)

At Colorado: 2023 (Fr.)—Grissom had an impressive freshman season for the Buffaloes, taking part in all 11 races leading into the NCAA Championships and bringing home eight top 20 finishes with one top 10 performance. Her 10th place was at the 10K classic race at the DU Invitaitonal. She had a stretch of five straight top 15 races from the end of the MSU Invitational through the DU Invitational in the span of a couple weeks, and then recorded a pair of top 20 finishes in Alaska in four races to close out the regular season and the RMISA Championships. She lettered and qualified for the NCAA Champsionships and was a finalist for CU Freshman of the Year at the CUSPY awards. She also got it done in the classroom being named to the National All-Academic Ski Team.

Prior To CU—She skied for the Park City Ski and Snowboard Club from 2011-22. At Junior Nationals in 2022, she finished fourth in the 10K classic, fifth in the freestyle relay and 12th in the classic sprint races for U18. At the Western Club Championships in 2021, she was third in the 10K freestyle and fourth in the 5K classic races. She is also a member of the U.S. National Training Group in 2022 and Western Regional Elite group in both 2021 and ‘22.

High School—Grissom graduated from Park City High School in 2022. She didn’t ski for Park City High School but competed on the cross country running team and made the all-state team all four years and she was the MVP of her team for three of her four years in high school.

In The Classroom—She is undecided on a major at Colorado. She achieved high honor roll honors all four years of high school and was part of National Honors Society three of her four years. She also has a Utah state seal of bilaterally for spanish and English. She was Academic All-State for cross country running her senior year at Park City High School.

Personal—Elena Martha Grissom was born August 20, 2004, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her parents are Colin and Abigail Grissom. Her dad is a physician and mother is an attorney. She has two older siblings, sister Hilary and brother Grady. Sister Hilary was a professional mountain biker. After college she wants to attend graduate school and possibly ski for a professional team. She enjoys pottery, reading, climbing and backpacking in her free time. She volunteered for Recycle Utah for most of her high school career. She is fluent in Spanish.

Why Colorado?—”I grew up in the mountains in Utah and have always wanted to stay near them so CU seemed like the perfect place. I was also very impressed by the wide range of academic options they offer and the great ski program they have.”