Sophomore captain Caroline Green glides through the melting snow of a November afternoon on the Nordic team’s first outing of the 2015 season.

Green said the first time skiing this year excited many participants because of how long there was no snow on the ground.

“We have done a lot of dryland training this year because of the lack of snow and everyone was ready to go out and ski for real,” Green said.

According to Green, the new members of the team must get out on skis before the first meet in order to succeed.

“We have a lot of people that are new to skiing on the team this year and being able to teach them how to ski before the first meet is a necessity,” Green said.

According to senior captain Conrad Phelan, now that a lot of ski resorts and trails either have snow or make snow, the season will start to speed up.

“Now that it’s finally cooling off, the places that we ski open up and that will help give us a jump start into the season and speed up compared to the slow start we had,” Phelan said.

According to Phelan, although the warm weather slowed the team’s progression into the season, it allowed them to get in better shape before the season.

“Without snow, we can create a good preseason endurance base, which will help throughout the season, giving us an edge against other teams,” Phelan said.

Assistant coach David Lindberg said many of the coaches anticipate finally getting out on the snow to teach all the new skiers about the sport.

“We have a large number of new skiers this year, especially seventh, eighth and ninth graders who need the preparation to be ready for the first meet,” Lindberg said.

According to Green, the team routinely has team-building activities to mesh together as a team even before the first meet.

“Last week as a team we had a pasta party to help get the team to group together and get to know each other before the season really ramps up,” Green said.

Head coach Doug Peterson said last year the team was able to clinch the conference and this year he believes the team has the capability to do it again.

“I believe we will win the first meet. We have a good group of seniors this year and we are defending conference champs. That should be enough to motivate them to win it again,” Peterson said.

The Nordic team’s first meet takes place at 3:45 p.m. Dec. 10, weather permitting.

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