Good Evening MAST Fans!
Thank you to all the parents who volunteered to work tonight's race. You did fantastic work. We have another MEC race on Monday and a Hyland race on Wednesday. If you didn't work today's race, please consider volunteering on Monday or Wednesday of next week. The race went very smoothly today because we filled all the race worker positions. The course conditions were very fair from the first racer to the last. The gate judging was excellent. No controversies. The disqualifications that were scored were fairly given. Congratulations to our three girls teams: Washburn 2nd, SW 3rd and MAST 4th. I was very pleased with how you came out on the second run and attacked the course. You made some nice adjustments: stronger outside ski pressure, better line, and a more aggressive approach as in "I'm not going to let this pitch or the tighter turns kick my butt." Reese Kuehn finished in fourth place overall and posted the fifth fastest times on both runs. Nice consistency. Eva Voyakin was our fastest girl on the first run, posting the fourth fastest time. She ended up fifth overall. Great results girls. Kate Moore and Lucy Renz also finished in the top ten. Kate in 7th and Lucy in 8th. Elsa Addy deserves some recognition. She made the biggest improvement from the first run to the second: 29th on the first run and 20th on the second. That second run was truly the best run of her racing career. Remember that feeling Elsa. On the boys side, Parker Hunt had a strong day finishing fifth. Right behind in sixth was Levi Ehlers. Our only other boy in the top ten was Jack Bajek who finished 8th. Nice racing boys. We had a number of boys who showed just how much improvement they have made this season by posting a strong single run. That is how it works: make big improvements in training, succeed on one run in a race but fail to hold it together for two runs. Know that eventually your much improved skiing will result in two great runs, back to back. Celebrate the fact that you had one really good run and remember what those turns felt like. Do not get discouraged. Eli Kroll has been working hard in practice and posted the 17th fastest time on the second run, much improved over his 30th place finish on the first run. Will Cherveny went the other way: 19th on the first run and then had some trouble on the second run and posted the 41st fastest time. Sammy Hokanson and Sam Moore also flip-flopped: Sammy was 30th on the second run and Sam was 30th on the first. Sammy had some difficulties on the first run and Sam had them on the second. In fact, Sam put so much energy into his skis as he came onto the flats that they shot him straight up in the air on his tush. He will learn to control that energy and send it down the fall line eventually. Look out then. The boys teams did not fair well in team scoring. Learn from your mistakes. Keep your confidence. Review the fundamentals. Support each other. You are really good skiers. You are going to figure it out. And we had some really nice results in the JV girls scoring. Sloane Petersen finished first among JV Girls. Sammy Abellera-Wright was fourth and Evalie Hedrick was fifth. Very nice skiing girls. Here are the links to sign up to work the races next week. Monday, January 15th at Wild Mt (Noon Start) Wednesday, January 17th at Hyland (4:30PM Start) See you on the hill tomorrow. Video is posted on Sprongo. Please tag yourself. But not tonight. Go to bed. Mark MAST Moms Ski Night
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!! MAST MOMS SKI NIGHT! Gather your gear and join new, veteran, and alumni MAST moms for a Sunday night ski and social gathering. WHO: All MAST moms are invited, regardless of your skiing ability WHEN: Sunday, January 21st at 6:30 p.m. WHERE: Buck Hill Ski area. Meet on the lower level of the Buck ’54 Bar & Grill (It is in the building just North of the main chalet off the main parking lot) WHAT ELSE: Show up and gear up at 6:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale at 7 pm for $35 onsite, or online tickets are $25 for skiing from 7-9 p.m. WHAT IF? You don’t want to ski? Join us Après ski! We’ll have drinks at the Buck ’54 Bar & Grill upstairs starting around 9p.m. NO NEED TO RSVP! Just show up! Good Morning:
Attached are revised results from Jan 8. Sammy Hokanson accomplished something in a race course that I have never seen before: he straddled the finish eye AND cheese wedge. His right ski tip and boot did not pass through the finish gate so we have to disqualify his second run. Consequently, the Washburn boys took a 35 point swing and move back to third place. The SW boys stayed in second and the Wayzata boys moved to first. As I mentioned last night, we do have buses for Afton. They are expected to be at Washburn and SW at 2PM. I sent an early release request to the ADs for 1:45. Hopefully they show up. Please make certain that you have signed the Afton Waiver. Sign Afton Waiver Here WE NEED RACE WORKERS PLEASE.
Practice Tonight: 3:45-5:30 and 6:30-8:45. No 5-7:15 Practice. Remember that the athletes racing at Afton have an optional practice from 3:45-5:30 tonight. Come directly to lanes 4 and 5. Everyone else practices at 6:30 on Lane 5. 6:30 practice will start on lane 5 instead of South Chair tonight. Wear rope tow gloves tonight. Plan to use the rope tow. Come directly to Lane 5 instead of going to South Chair for the 6:30 practice. Thank you to everyone who worked our race yesterday. Your help is very much appreciated. One thing we might be asked to do by Hyland: carpool to the race. We created a parking fiasco for Hyland. Our numbers filled the two main parking lots and they had to use the remote parking lot. This usually only happens on weekends so they may ask us to carpool on our race nights going forward so take some pressure off their parking limitations. See you at practice. Mark Happy Race Day!
Thank you to EVERYONE who has volunteered to work today's race. We still need: 3 Gate Judges 1 Finish Ref 2 Starters--one for boys and one for girls. Training Provided. The Starters will be at the start communicating with the Timers in the timing building. The Starters will tell the Timer the bib number of the person in the start and the Timer will tell the Starter when they are ready for the next racer to go. The Starter then gives the Start Command: "Racer #XX, Ready, Go".... the racer then has ten seconds to exit the start. The Finish Ref stands at the finish line and records the bib numbers of every athlete who CROSSES the finish line in the order that they come across. The Finish Ref also watches for any issues that arise at the finish line (i.e., missed gate, crossing the wrong finish line, racer over takes near the finish line, etc.). Here is the link to sign up: https://signup.com/go/tFOPWjU Secondly, we will attempt to take team photos tonight at 4PM. SW athletes will go first. Then Washburn. Then Roosevelt/South/Edison. Look for Janna Franboni (Stella and Beckett Wedren's mother) around the finish arena a little before 4PM. See you soon. Mark Good Evening:
Hopefully everyone is tucked in and dreaming about making the perfect carved turns. Attached are the race results from tonight's race. Congratulations to Gabby Harritt and Levi Ehlers for their very impressive first place finishes. Congratulations to the Washburn girls and Washburn boys for their wins as well. The last three gates of the course in Lane B was tricky. It tightened up. A good learning experience. When you get course reports on a tough section of the course, it is important to adjust your tactics accordingly. In tonight's example, it would have been wise to focus on targeting the rise line higher than you would have liked as you approached the final 6 gates of the course. This would have meant that you would have given up a straighter line to the finish, but it would have possibly allowed you to ski the last three gates more cleanly, i.e., carrying your speed to the finish line instead of jamming the skis to make the last one or two gates. Well done though. Keep working hard. Learn from every race. PS.... I did receive confirmation that we have buses for Wednesday to Afton. Let's hope they are on time. Thanks Mark Dear MAST Athletes, Parents and Coaches:
The race season is upon us. The next four weeks will go by very quickly. Please read all emails and updates and reminders carefully. Doing so will keep you informed about the what, when, who, where, and how of all that is happening each day. I. Race Worker Sign Up Parents: we need race workers. Many race workers. Please sign up to help. Links are also posted on the homepage of our website. We are waiting to learn what positions we need to fill on Jan 26th at the Wild Mt Invitational. As soon as I know, I will let you know how to sign up. For now, we have plenty of race volunteer roles to fill. Jan 8 24 Hyland Race Volunteer Sign UP Jan 10 24 MEC Race #1 at Afton Volunteer Sign UP Jan 15 24 MEC Race #2 at Wild Mt Volunteer Sign UP Jan 22 24 Hyland Race Volunteer Sign UP Jan 30 24 MEC Race #3 at Welch Village Volunteer Sign Up II. Race Day Lift Tickets and Season Passes To Welch, Afton, Wild Just a reminder that the MAST team fee does not include the cost of lift tickets to AWAY races. After each race, families will receive an invoice from MAST through Team Snap asking you to pay for the lift ticket we purchased for your athlete to participate in that race. Many of you will be getting an invoice for the $31 lift ticket to Welch on January 4th. There will be invoices for those racing at Afton on Wednesday ($39 lift ticket), Giants Ridge on January 13th, Wild Mt on January 15th, Wild Mt on January 26th, and Welch on January 30th. If you have a season pass to Afton, Welch, or Wild Mt: PLEASE LET ME KNOW VIA TEXT OR EMAIL: markrobertconway58@gmail.com or 612-275-8392. I won’t buy you a lift ticket if you have a pass. Plan to use your pass to secure your ticket. III. Week Nine Calendar Monday, Jan 8 Race at Hyland 3:45PM Inspection Opens 4:30PM First Run Tuesday, Jan 9 Hyland Training: Race Prep for Athletes Racing 1/10 at Afton 3:45-6:00PM Lanes 4, 5 Hyland Training: For Athletes From All Pods Not Racing at Afton 6:30-8:45PM Lane 5 Meet On Top Of Lane 5 at 6:30 Wear Rope Tow Gloves. Wednesday, Jan 10 Race at Afton Alps Load Bus? or Cars? at 2PM 4:00PM Course Inspection 4:30PM First Run Hyland Training: All Pods 5:00-7:15PM. Lane 7, 8 Wear Rope Tow Gloves. Thursday, Jan 11 Hyland Training 3:45-6:00PM. Pods 9, 11, 12. Lanes 1, 2, 3. 5:00-7:15PM Pods 7, 8, 10. Lane 2, 3. Wear Rope Tow Gloves. Friday, Jan 12 Hyland Training 3:45-6:00PM Pods 10, 11, 12. Lanes 5, 6, 7. 5:00-7:15PM Pods 7, 8, 9. Lane 5, 6. Saturday, Jan 13 MLK Invitational at Giants Ridge Hyland Training 7:45-10:15AM All Pods. Lanes 1,2,3. IV. Additional Information on the Hyland and Afton Races Attached is a roster of the athletes who will be racing at Afton on Wednesday, January 10th. We could not enter everyone who wanted to race at Afton. I am very sorry about that but we are given a limit to the number of racers we can enter by the meet organizers. If your name is on this list, you are invited to practice on Tuesday from 3:45-6PM regardless of your grade level. We will actually shut down training around 5:30PM so you can get home earlier to tune, finish your homework and get to bed. If you would rather skip practice to give yourself more time to tune your ski, get your homework done, and rest then please do just that. All athletes who are NOTracing at Afton on Wednesday should attend practice at 6:30PM on Tuesday and 5:00PM on Wednesday. There is no practice from 5-7:15PM on Tuesday. Transportation to Afton: As of Sunday afternoon, we do not have confirmation that we have buses chartered for Wednesday. I will try to get a confirmation first thing tomorrow morning (Monday), but there is a strong possibility that we will not have bus transportation to the Afton race. Parents: please be prepared to drive your athlete to Afton on Wednesday. And if you can drive other racers, please reach out to your skier’s teammates with an offer of a ride. Early Releases This Week: I will ask the ADs for a 1:45PM Early Release on Wednesday (Jan 10) and a 2:45PM Early Release for Monday (Jan 8). Parents and Athletes: Please be sure that you have signed the Afton Waiver. When you click on the link, it appears that you are buying a lift ticket. Just keep moving through the process and you will soon be working your way through their release of liability. Here is a link: Afton Waiver Link V. Giants Ridge Invitational Some of our athletes are racing in the Giants Ridge Invitational on Saturday, January 13th. The Invitational actually consists of two races: a Sunrise (morning) Race and a Sunset (afternoon) Race. Attached is a roster athletes entered in these races. Alternates are listed, but alternates do not need to attend unless one of their teammates becomes unavailable. Parents are responsible for transportation, lodging and meals for their athlete. No athlete is ever allowed to transport him or herself to a high school race. A parent needs to drive. The coaches attending this event are: Joel, Matthew, Paige and Eleanor. For those not racing at Giants Ridge, we will have training at Hyland Friday evening and Saturday morning. If you are racing at Giants Ridge and if you attended the Giants Ridge Camp, find your RFID Card that served as your lift ticket at camp. GR will reactivate your card and you can re-use it at the Invitational. This might save you some time on Saturday morning. Please pay attention to the training schedule this week. It has been updated in Team Snap and on the homepage of our website: www.mplsalpineski.org. Note that on Thursday, Pod 9 is training with Pods 11 and 12 at 3:45 and Pod 10 is training with Pods 7 and 8 at 5:00. See you Monday afternoon. Mark 612-275-8392 Good Morning:
I understand that some of you might have had trouble getting the results to open last night. I am sending the results again, hopefully in a format you can open if you couldn't open the previous ones. Congratulations to the Washburn girls for their team win last night. The SW girls also proved they are ready to compete with their second place finish. Congratulations to Reese Kuehn who finished second overall and to Kate Moore who was close behind in the third spot. Rounding out the top ten were Lucy Renz in fourth, Eva Voyakin in fifth, Gabby Harritt in sixth, and Violet Mueller in ninth. The boys placed four in the top ten against a very much improved St Thomas Academy squad and the always tough Hastings boys. Congratulations to our top male competitor, Parker Hunt, who finished in fourth place even after putting on the brakes at the bottom of the pitch on the second run. Finishing in sixth was Finn Cherveny. Beckett Wedren and Jack Bajek skied very well to place eighth and ninth. Overall, our athletes skied well, especially considering the fact that you had very little time to warm up with the transportation snafu. We had a number of disqualifications that could have been avoided had the athlete hiked back one more gate to correct the fault. Three other takeaways: 1. Ruts developed on the second run. In many turns, the ruts were in the wrong place so that if you tried to use the rut to help you make your turn (which you should do if it is in the correct spot) you will end up late for the next turn. The key in those situations is to try to hit the rise line higher and cut inside the rut. You won't be able to ski as tight a line as you like but your skis will continue to carve more cleanly and you will not lose all your speed when you have to put on the brakes to make the next gate. 2. Pole plants are NECESSARY. At Hyland, you can get away with not having a pole plant. There is no other race venue in Minnesota where you do not need a pole plant to put down a fast run. So.... we will be doing 50 hop turns everyday at the start and end of practice until everyone on this team can pole plant in their sleep. 3. Outside ski....as your skis hit the fall line in the turn, your shoulders must be square, your skis must be high on edge, your outside hip needs to be aligned fully over your outside ski, your shin needs to be crushing the boot cuff to create ankle flexion, and all your weight needs to be on your outside ski. You need to maintain that position over the outside ski until your skis have fully made the direction change you need to stay on your line for the next gate. Then you pole plant and release the outside ski from its service. Next race is Monday followed by a race at Afton on Wednesday. Make sure you have stated your intentions for both races. We will be limiting the number of athletes who race at Afton. Look for an announcement over the weekend regarding team selections for the Afton race. We may or may not have bussing for Afton. Parents: we may need you to drive on Wednesday. We have awesome lanes at Hyland today and Saturday morning. Do not miss practice. Plus, we will be timing. See you soon. Mark Attached is the run order for today's race. Boys and girls are on separate tabs. I know some are on the run order but will not be racing today. That is fine.
See you soon. Mark Good Morning Athletes, Parents and Coaches:
A few last minute notes about today's race at Welch. 1. My wife told me this morning that Welch does not take cash. If you plan to purchase Welch food or drink, be prepared. 2. I have heard from some parents and athletes that they will be riding home with a parent. Please confirm this with the coach who is riding your bus so we don't leave anyone behind at the end of the day. If enough athletes are riding home with a parent, we may send the SW bus home after drop off to save the district some money. 3. When you unload the bus, pull your skis out of your ski bag and leave the bag in the trailer of the WASHBURN BUS. 4. Use the storage lockers in the chalet to store your boot bags/back packs. Do not leave any bags under the tables or against the walls. Welch is very picky about this. 5. When not in your skis, store your skis in a ski rack. No skis are to be left in the snow. 6. I believe Welch is still using lift tickets that attach to your clothing using a plastic zip tie. Welch has informed us that we need to be wearing a lift ticket to ride the lift and that if we are caught without a lift ticket we will be fined $200. So, either attach the lift ticket to your GS suit or arrange to have a teammate carry your jacket down for you. Don't stress about this. We will help each other out as we always do. Just don't ride the lift without your ticket. Ticketing All athletes will need to pick up your lift ticket at the ticket window. Last year we picked up our tickets at the indoor ticket window in the lower level of the chalet. I assume that this is the case this year. Welch wants to verify that it is you who is receiving the ticket and that your waiver has been signed. Warm Up and Inspection Once you have your lift ticket, go out and warm up. Hopefully, we will have a coach on the top directing you, but if we don't, take your first run on Long Way Home. Wedge turns. Edge sets. Outside ski to Outside Ski. Keep your speed under control. By the time you get back to the top, a coach should be there to direct you on your second warm up run. At 4:25, meet your coach at the top of the course for inspection. Joel:SW Boys. Paige: SW Girls. Matthew: Washburn Boys. Luke: Washburn Girls. Andreas: MAST Boys Mark: MAST Girls Finally, here is some technical and tactical advice for you to consider while inspecting and mentally preparing for your runs tonight.
Mark Well done Athletes. More commentary coming soon! Video is uploaded to Sprongo, some videos have multiple athletes in one video, so be sure to watch the whole video to find yourself.
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