Nordic Ski’s first meet of the season, scheduled for Nov. 29, was cancelled.

Co-head coach John Dyste said the race had traditionally been scheduled at this time every year with the stipulation that, if it doesn’t snow, it’ll be a running meet.

“If we had snow, this wouldn’t be a running race, it would be a ski race, but they have always cancelled it because there is no snow,” Dyste said. “Since it’s not a ski race, it has turned into a running race.”

According to Dyste, the Nordic team has only participated in the past if it has snowed — and thus been a skiing meet — because participating in a running race wouldn’t benefit most of the team.

“Considering how many of our skiers are runners and they are coming off of the running season, we have never felt that it was something that would be beneficial to have a running race,” Dyste said.

Junior Maggie Klein said she was glad the meet was cancelled as she didn’t feel ready to ski yet because the team hasn’t been able to ski together.

“I was really nervous because we hadn’t had time to go out as a team on the snow yet this season, so I felt really unprepared going into the meet,” Klein said.

According to Dyste, the cancelled meet will have little impact on the team as it was a running meet, not a skiing one.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect (the season) at all because we have never attended that meet because its a running meet and we are trying to get on snow and get people out on skis, so that is what we are going to focus on,” Dyste said.   

Dyste said in the absence of snow, dryland training is currently how the team is getting into shape and learning skiing techniques.

“Because there is no snow, we use dryland training. Yesterday we were out running with ski poles,” Dyste said.

According to senior captain Libby Ramsperger, the cancelled meet will allow the team to continue focusing on their training and getting stronger.

“It helps us out because now we have more time to work on our form and stuff and getting in shape,” Ramsperger said.

Ramsperger said not having their first meet yet will be particularly useful for beginner skiers by giving them time to start getting used to skiing.

“A lot of our team is new middle schoolers, so having more time to actually get them out on skis and get them practicing and working on the important things is going to help them prepare for this season,” Ramsperger said.  

According to Dyste, the natural snow is not in ideal condition to ski on currently, but the team does have the opportunity to ski in some parks with man-made snow.

“We do have some man made loops right now and we’ve been on snow once but we hope to get on a couple more times soon,” said Dyste.

The next Nordic Ski meet will be at 3:45 on Nov. 29 at Carver Park Reserve.