Senior captain Conrad Phelan shivered as he slid through the end of the course, breathing heavily with the rhythmic movement of his skis.

Phelan said despite the cold and the team’s lack of experience,  it performed adequately.

“It was a really cold day, and people were able to race pretty well, despite our team’s lack of racing,” Phelan said.

Sophomore captain Caroline Green said a lot of younger skiers stepped up at Mesabi East Invitational race; demonstrating how quickly they improved.

“We had two seventh grade girls make the cut for Mesabi and a lot of other people new to this meet,” Green said. “That showed us that even with a relatively young team we still had more young skiers who stepped up to varsity.”

Phelan said despite losing many good skiers, the team continues to thrive.

“It was a decent result, and shows us that we have some work to do,” Phelan said. “But despite the lack of some good skiers that graduated last year, we’re able to hold our own from now on.”

Assistant coach David Lindberg said the team had several racers place high in the race.

“Conrad Phelan got fourth in the skate race and Eric Hendricks placed 10th in the JV skate race,” Lindberg said.

Sophomore skier Annie Van Pilsum-Johnson said this meet is not as important for the team as conference races.

“This was just an invitational and not a conference meet. It does not affect the rest of our season but it is good practice at racing and it helps show us how we are doing compared to other teams in the state,” Johnson said.

According to Johnson, they leaped forward seven places this year, improving their chances for the rest of the season.

“This year the girls took 19th whereas last year we took 26th so that’s a good sign,” Johnson said.

Phelan said the team is still developing.

“A lot of the other teams were a lot closer to their peak potential,” Phelan said. “While we’re still on the upswing.”

Lindberg said the team will work on improving technique in practice.

“For the next race we will be working on speed and tempo insuring that we can keep up with the competition,” Lindberg said.

The next meet takes place at 3:45 p.m. Jan. 13 at Elm Creek Park Reserve.