EDWARDS — Local Tess Johnson received confirmation Monday, Jan. 22, that she has earned a spot on the Olympic team.

Johnson, 17, is a mogul skier who has been in a tight contest this season to be one of four athletes named to the team.

“I always believed that I could (make the team),” Johnson said Monday. “But, to be honest, it’s one of those things that you never think is going to happen until it does … I don’t have words to describe the feeling.”

Among the first calls Johnson made when she heard the news was to her soccer coach, Vail native Sylvan Ellefson, who has also been through the test of trying to make it to the Olympics. Four years ago, Ellefson won nationals and came painfully close to making it to the Olympics, but fell just shy of being named to the Nordic team. …