Carolyn Freeman Ocariz was born in Dallas and grew up on Swiss Avenue, where her parents lived for 25 years. She moved with her parents and brother to Minnesota when she was middle-school age. Up north, she became a competitive cross-country skier, attending the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay on a ski scholarship. Their ski team made it to the NCAA championships three times while Ocariz was a member.
Ocariz met her husband, Santi Ocariz, on the ski team and they are now semi-professional skiers. Two weeks ago, she won the American Birkiebeiner Classic Ski Hayward, Wisc.
She and her husband are now attempting to become the first people to roller ski across America to raise funds for a nonprofit, Food for the Poor. They began in Charleston, S.C. last week and currently are in Georgia. Roller skis are 4-to-5-foot long skis mounted on roller skates that most cross-country skiers use for training during the off season. You can follow their journey and help with their cause at skiacrossamerica.com.
Thanks to Carolyn’s dad, Fletcher Freeman, an attorney and former Dallas County Justice of the Peace, for sending us these pictures and sharing his daughter’s story.
