Brownsville native Duda to represent country in moguls skiing

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It must be something in the water at Brownsville.

The small town has produced plenty of former collegiate and professional athletes, and the list continues to grow with cross country and track & field runners Gionna and JoJo Quarzo competing at North Carolina State, which won multiple national titles in cross country; Tessa Dellarose winning a national championship in soccer at the University of North Carolina; Jelani Stafford, who went to high school at California but is a Brownsville native, playing football at the University of Connecticut, which won the Wasabi Fenway Bowl; and Derrick Tarpley Jr., who plays for the University of Pittsburgh baseball team. Tarpley was drafted by the Oakland Athletics but attended Youngstown State before transferring to Pitt. Another Brownsville athlete, Skyler Gates, is headed to the University of Virginia for volleyball. Gates is a junior in high school.

Jessie Duda is about to join that list.

The 19-year-old who was born and raised in Brownsville, will be competing for Team USA Jan. 7-9 at the 2025 FIS Freestyle Junior Ski World Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan in moguls skiing.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard officially announced the 12 athletes (six men and six women), including Duda, who qualified to represent the United States via press release on Tuesday.

Duda went to school in the district until the end of eighth grade, before attending a ski academy in Vermont for high school on a scholarship.

Duda is currently enrolled in college at Westminster University in Salt Lake City, Utah, on scholarship.

Duda faced several trials and tribulations on her way to qualifying at the U.S. Selections on Dec. 14-15 in Winter Park, Colo., as she had the norovirus, which is also known as winter vomiting disease.

“After my first run, I started puking and it occurred every 10 minutes,” Duda said. “I couldn’t even keep water down. I barely slept and couldn’t eat that first day. The second day was what is called a ‘duals day,’ which is a head-to-head competition with another athlete, and I won four of those duals to qualify.

“I was in the round of four to determine the spots on the podium. I didn’t win but I did enough to qualify. I had competed in international competitions before, but this was definitely the hardest one to qualify for.”

The trip will be anything but a vacation for Duda, as her flight took over 24 hours due to layovers, and she doesn’t plan on sightseeing once she lands in Kazakhstan.

“It is definitely not a vacation,” Duda said. “The goal is to bring home gold, and I have an opportunity to get a big recognition from the United State ski team as well.”

Duda has competed internationally in Canada, Finland and Sweden, but this will be her most intense event. Skiing has always been part of her life.

She was skiing around the same time she started walking as a one-year-old. Duda began her competitive career with the PA Freestyle Ski Team at Seven Springs when she was 6.

Duda was skiing on the weekends at Seven Springs while her dad, Mark, was the coach. She had interest from schools that could provide a full-ride scholarship, which took her to the ski academy in Vermont. She was offered a scholarship at 13.

Duda competes domestically for Wasatch Freestyle, and plans to continue to ski competitively until she can’t.

“You can’t make a lot of money in moguls skiing, but I have a goal of making the U.S. ski team, competing in the World Cup and hopefully the Olympics,” Duda said. “I do have a few sponsorships.”

Duda hasn’t made a decision on what she wants to study in college, but has an interest in the medical field. For the time being, she will focus on skiing and let everything else sort itself out.