Park’s girls nordic team raced in their section race Feb. 3. In an attempt to make it to state, the team ended up in third place, just one spot short of qualifying. They were neck and neck with Hopkins trying to achieve second place, but ended just three points behind.
Freshman Adeline Stewart said the team started preparing for the race well beforehand with a specific plan to ready them for sections. She said preparation consisted of both relaxation and exercise.
“We did a lot of workouts the week before the sections and then rested for three days before the race. That way we were fresh and ready to go the day of the actual race,” Stewart said.
Sophomore Indigo Schoneman said a fun team tradition they have before races is putting glitter on their cheeks as a way of showing team spirit.
“We have this tradition of choosing a different glitter color to put on during the bus ride to each race because it helps get everyone hyped up,” Schoneman said. “For this section race, everyone got to pick whatever glitter color they wanted and were able to match with their friends.”
According to assistant coach Kara Bancroft, the skiers are ambitious and able to achieve their goals themselves. She said the skiers could work on keeping their heads up and staying self-confident.
“Our skiers are pretty self-motivated, but I always try to help them believe in themselves as much as (the coaches) do. Our athletes are capable of great things when they truly believe in themselves and the work they’ve put in,” Bancroft said.
According to Schoneman, the most challenging parts of the race were the downhills after challenging uphills. She said the hills were icy from many other racers having skied on the course and the warm weather from the days before.
“I skied in the pursuit race which means I had to race a 10k throughout the day and so did many other people. This caused many of the up and downhills to be either slushy or icy which makes it difficult to ski,” Shoneman said. “Even though the temperatures did drop for the race today, earlier in the week it got up to 50 degrees, which put the snow in rough shape.”
Stewart said her strategy for this race was to go as fast as she could during her classic ski race in the morning to attempt to keep a higher spot on the ranking for her skate race in the afternoon. She said she does this because she tends to be faster in classic.
“Because I am a stronger classic skier, my strategy was to go as fast as I could during the classic race and then try to keep spot higher up in the skate race,” Stewart said.
According to Bancroft, she was most proud of how every skier gave it their all at the section race and pushed past whatever was stopping them. She said she knows the day took a lot out of every skier but all of the coaches were proud of what the skiers were able to accomplish.
“Everyone gave 100% at the section meet. They were nervous, some of our athletes were sick, all of them had to make arrangements to miss school and make up any tests/assignments, and none of them complained,” Bancroft said. “What the skiers did today was far from easy, but they all showed up and pushed to do their best.”
Although Park girls nordic did not qualify as a team, Park’s relay team and three pursuit skiers will be going to state Feb. 12 and Feb. 13 located near Giants Ridge.
