Carly Hahn was 14 years old when she became involved in the USA Luge Association, an Olympic class member of the U.S. Olympic Committee. The Greater Latrobe High School senior was one of 10 who was selected to be on the U.S. Luge development team.
"We went through a battery of exercises and then went on a wheeled sled to go through a coned course," said Hahn, 17, the daughter of Mark and Cindy Hahn, of Unity Township. "The organization tries to find people who have a natural ability for the sport."
After qualifying for the screening camp, she traveled to Lake Placid, N.Y., where more physical fitness training took place. While at Lake Placid, Hahn not only made the development team, she also made it to the junior candidate team, a step below the junior national team, which gets to compete in the World Cup tour.
"From ninth grade through my junior year, I spent about four or five months each year at Lake Placid and Salt Lake City, Utah, with the luge team," said Hahn, who finished in the top 10 in the junior level for three years. She also has been a competitive figure skater since she was 6 years old.
Hahn comes by her love of sledding naturally. Her father competed in it for several years, wrote his master's thesis on luge, and has served as a luge official for 10 years. He was one of the officials at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002.
"During my time at Lake Placid, I lived in the Olympic training center with Olympic athletes from every sport," she said. "It was great to experience the center with other people from around the country. I loved it."
Her teachers at the high school faxed schoolwork to her. Tutors oversaw the students as they completed homework. Despite being away from school, Hahn continued to participate in activities, including membership in Future Business Leaders of America in her sophomore year, German Club as a freshman and Interact Club in 10th and 11th grades. She also competed in forensics, in which she was a three-year national championship qualifier and a two-time state qualifier in policy debate.
In addition, Hahn was a member of the German National Honor Society in her freshman year and the National Honor Society as a junior and senior.
She was named the Breakfast of Champions student as a senior, and won the Westmoreland County Women's Chairperson Athlete of the Year Award last year. Hahn was a three-year junior national championship qualifier in luge and named the top female junior athlete in the United States for three years.
She served as a playground supervisor for Unity Township Recreation last summer and is a volunteer tutor at Mountain View Elementary School. She also volunteered with USA Luge in February at Salt Lake City.
"It was too difficult to continue with luge in my senior year," said Hahn. "But I hope to become a luge official. It's a way to stay involved with the sport."
Hahn will attend Penn State University this fall and major in health policy and administration with the intention of becoming a hospital administrator.
