Junior captain Rakesh Plantz said he was pleased with how the Nordic team skied at Sections.

“I think our team did really well, considering the circumstances. It wasn’t the best conditions for the actual meet, but both teams finished sixth, and we did have one boy who got to state … so I’m proud of him,” Plantz said.

According to coach Kaitlyn Lindaman, senior Emmett Foner qualifying for State was a highlight of the meet.

“I think Emmett’s (performance) was really exciting — making it to State for the first time. We definitely have a very hard Section to make it out of, especially whether that’s team or individually, so to get that spot is huge,” Lindaman said. “I also think just in general we had a lot of first time Section skiers, so that was fun to watch them go at it for the first time.”

Plantz said the team trained at the meet course in order to be prepared for all situations that could occur during the meet.

“Specifically for Sections, we did almost all of our workouts at Theodore Wirth, which is the place where Sections happened. We’ve skied in so many conditions at that course; we know the course off the top of our heads, so it was perfect,” Plantz said.

According to Plantz, the team’s placement at the meet is inspiring as the skiers look to make goals for next season.

“I think next year we could do really big things with this team. We could win conference if it happens, get up there in Sections and we could possibly fight against the top two teams,” Plantz said.

Lindaman said the ski team won’t lose too many skiers with the graduating class of 2019, which is promising for the team’s continued success.

“If you look at our Section team, there’s some good seniors, but there’s also a lot of sophomores, ninth graders, (we) even had seventh graders skiing — so I think they’re young and up and coming,” Lindaman said. “As soon as we get that experience in, I think they can reach for higher and higher goals.”

Plantz said the team has plans for a rigorous summer training program in order to make their goals a reality.

“Next year is such an important year for us. We have such a young team, so there are many backups,” Plantz said. “I think that having that strong back of a team is what’s really going to push us to the next level because we have so many kids that we’re going to work with over the summer, and we’re going to try and do a lot more programs and get so much better.”