{"id":1685,"date":"2025-04-02T14:35:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T19:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/?p=1685"},"modified":"2025-04-09T12:31:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T17:31:41","slug":"jcccs-very-own-lisa-elsener-wins-gold-at-the-2025-special-olympics-world-winter-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2025\/04\/02\/jcccs-very-own-lisa-elsener-wins-gold-at-the-2025-special-olympics-world-winter-games\/","title":{"rendered":"JCCC\u2019s Very Own Lisa Elsener Wins Gold at the 2025 Special Olympics World Winter Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Photo by: Vaughn Wheat.)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Lisa Elsener has spent her entire life working hard to be the very best she can be. She has set records, won medals, and competed nationally across the world in a list of sports that goes to the floor. With that being said, you wouldn\u2019t think she\u2019d bat an eye at snagging a gold medal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was shocked. I didn\u2019t even know I was winning gold\u2026 it took a minute to hit me,\u201d Elsener said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In March, Elsener, a 35 year dining service employee at JCCC, placed 1st in the Alpine Skiing, Novice Super G, F04 Final. Her recorded time was 00.51.83. Elsener has been competing in the Special Olympics for 46 years, since she was eight years old.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe worked very hard to accomplish that run that gave her the medal,\u201d Lisa\u2019s coach, Kristie Ried said. \u201cLisa is a very good athlete, she thinks nothing of going out and running a half marathon. I, of course, would drive it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This was Elsener\u2019s fifth time competing at the international level, and she is a member of the JCPRD Stormin\u2019 Rangers. She has previously been to New Zealand, Alaska, Utah, and Louisiana to compete in figure skating, swimming, and speed skating. Elsener was also admitted into the Special Olympics Kansas Hall of Fame in 1990 for her achievements.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite thing about skiing? All the fans that were there to see me get gold,\u201d Elsener said. \u201cIt means a lot to me to compete. I feel like I gained a lot of confidence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Behind her competitive nature, Elsener is described by her coach and peers as being a caring and selfless individual. She represents Johnson County through her kind spirit and athletic achievements, and in return, Johnson County named March 3 to be Lisa Elsener Day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was Elsener\u2019s fifth time competing at the international level, and she is a member of the JCPRD Stormin\u2019 Rangers. She has previously been to New Zealand, Alaska, Utah, and Louisiana to compete in figure skating, swimming, and speed skating. Elsener was also admitted into the Special Olympics Kansas Hall of Fame in 1990 for her achievements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1008,"featured_media":1713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,8],"tags":[199,198],"ppma_author":[126],"class_list":["post-1685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","tag-kristie-ried","tag-lisa-elsener"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Seth Lampton","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/slampto1\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2025\/03\/Lisa-Elsener.jpg","coauthors":[{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/slampto1\/","display_name":"Seth Lampton"}],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Featured<\/a>","Sports<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Featured<\/span>","Sports<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Kristie Ried<\/a>","Lisa Elsener<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Kristie Ried<\/span>","Lisa Elsener<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on April 2, 2025","modified":"Updated on April 9, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on April 2, 2025 2:35 pm","modified":"Updated on April 9, 2025 12:31 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":126,"user_id":1008,"is_guest":0,"slug":"slampto1","display_name":"Seth Lampton","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f2e586f19d0db2ca6e0f54eba249df3470c40ec567565bda6e765754ffc14994?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"Seth","last_name":"Lampton","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2025\/03\/Lisa-Elsener.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1685"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1716,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685\/revisions\/1716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1685"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}