According to Nordic head coach Doug Peterson, the team’s latest meet last weekend in Mesabi, MN drew competition from across the United States. It is the biggest Nordic race for high schoolers in the nation. The top ten skiers from both the girls’ and boys’ teams were selected to compete at this race.

“It’s the largest race in the country for high school skiers, so there were 900 kids there, Peterson said.” It’s a good judge of where we’re at right now.”

Peterson said the race is an opportunity for the skiers to practice racing on the state meet course and to get a feel for competing in a larger race.

“It was a good eye-opener for those kids that had never been there before. Plus that race is the state meet course, so it’s important that we get on it and ski on it,” Peterson said.

Sophomore Mimi Kniser, who skate skied at the meet, said she enjoyed the race, but there was a lot of competition.

“It was really hard, but also really fun. It was pretty much the same as our other races, except there were way more teams,” Kniser said. “Usually there’s four or five teams, but this time there were fifty teams.”

According to Kniser, the increased competition and pressure at the meet pushed her to ski faster.

“It felt more intense and the people there were really good. (It) made me feel like I wanted to try harder because everyone else there was so good,” Kniser said.

Peterson said the skiers’ performance at this meet is used to evaluate where the team is at going into their peak training period.

“We finished right in the middle of the group,” Peterson said. “(This race) gives us an idea of what we have to work on for the next three weeks before Sections. That’s really why we do it … to get that larger picture.”

According to Kniser, her main goal is to improve steadily throughout the season and she is motivated to train harder in order to achieve that goal.

“For the rest of the season, I just want to get better every race,” Kniser said. “Trying hard at practice (is important) because you can try as hard as you want, and so the harder you try at practice, the better you’re going to get.”

The next Nordic ski meet is a skate race at 3:45 on Jan. 10 at Theodore Wirth Park.