K.C. Oakley

K.C. Brette Oakley (born May 5, 1988) is an American freestyle mogul skier and a member of the United States Ski Team. She started competing on the World Cup circuit in the 2011-2012 ski season after finishing first in the NorAm Cup standings at the completion of the 2011 season. K.C. was born in Hollywood, CA and lists her hometown as Piedmont, CA.

K.C. began skiing at the age of 13 for the freestyle team at Alpine Meadows (ski resort) for her cousin and founder of Alpine Meadows Freestyle Team, Clay Beck. She became a "weekend warrior" making the three-hour drive from the San Francisco Bay Area to Lake Tahoe every weekend for training. She competed in freeskiing and moguls at first, but at the age of 17 turned her focus to competing exclusively in Moguls skiing.

In addition to winning the 2011 North American Grand Prix Cup, she won Silver Medal at the 2011 U.S. National Championships at Stratton Mountain Resort capping off her most successful season in her young career.

In K.C.'s 2011-2012 FIS World Cup season, she finished with 7 top-10 World Cup results, qualified for all World Cup Finals, finished 9th overall in the World Cup rankings, got her first World Cup podium with a third-place finish in Calgary, and was named World Cup Rookie of the Year. She finished the season at U.S. National Championships in Stratton, Vermont, where she placed 3rd in single moguls and won the dual moguls competition making her the U.S. National Dual Moguls Champion.

In 2013, K.C. continued to make every World Cup final and added 6 more top-ten results to her accomplishments. After dealing with exertional compartment syndrome in her lower legs for the previous two seasons, she decided to go through with the surgery.

K.C. missed the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, due to nerve injury in her lower legs.

K.C. is the winner of the 2015 FIS Freestyle World Cup in Deer Valley, Utah. Going into the 2015-2016 ski season, which begins in Ruka, Finland on December 12, K.C. is ranked 9th in the FIS World Cup and is the top ranked U.S. female moguls skier.

In between training and competing, K.C. attended University of California, Berkeley, where after 3.5 years, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with an emphasis in Business Communications. K.C. was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority where she was roommates with famous lung cancer victim and coxswain for the University of California Women's Crew Team, Jill Costello, who died June 24, 2010.

In 2013 K.C. began working towards her MBA in graduate school at Westminster College (Utah)., which she was awarded in July, 2015. K.C. is the first U.S. Ski Team athlete to complete a master's degree while a full-time competitor.

In addition to her olympic pursuit, K.C. serves on the advisory board of Jill's Legacy www.jillslegacy.org, an advisory board of young people formed shortly after Jill Costello's death, who are advocating the facts about lung cancer, and determined to change the 15.5% survival rate of the world's number one cancer killer, solely due to the impact left on them from Jill Costello. ...