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We had another wonderful night of training at Wild Mt. Cold temps, no wind. Hard snow. Great attitudes and lots of terrific skiing. It is incredibly fun to see how much you have improved since our first trip to Wild on December 1. Thank you to all forty of you who attended and to the six other coaches who gave up their Saturday night to make this training event happen. And thanks to the coaches and athletes who got up early to train yesterday as well. Great lanes, great snow, and a lot of good training.
We have a big week of racing ahead. Three races at three different venues in two days. Our coaching staff will once again be split up in order cover all the races and training with sufficient coaching. Race Run Orders for the Gitche Gummi Invitational and the Afton Invitational The coaches have selected the teams for the two invitationals on the schedule next week. We are allowed to enter 10 skiers per squad for the Gitche Gummi Invitational and 8 skiers per squad for the Afton Invitational. We will also take 1 alternate per squad. Should someone come down with an illness the day of the race, the alternate will race. Otherwise the alternate’s duties are to ski, carry coats and cheer. You will find the names of the athletes selected to race in each Invitational in the attached spreadsheet. Note that each race’s run order is listed under a different tab. ALL ATHLETES need to look at ALL TABS/RUN ORDERS. You might just find that your name is listed on the run order for one or both of the invites. Some JV skiers are getting the opportunity to race on Thursday and Friday in the invites, so check to see if you are one of those people. Everyone selected had previously stated availability to race. If you are for some reason no longer available to race, please email me immediately at markrobertconway58@gmail.com. Hyland JV Race Intentions (as of Jan 20th at 9am) The third tab of the spreadsheet lists all the athletes who have stated their race intentions for the January 25th Hyland JV Race to date. If you are on the run order for the Afton Invite and you stated your intention to race at Hyland on Jan 25, plan to race in the Afton Invite. No need to change your intentions. I will know to leave your name off the run order for Hyland. Invitational Schedules The schedules for the two invitationals are posted in the fourth and fifth tabs. Note that we are moving UP the loading time for the Gitche Gummi Invitational on Thursday. Mt Du Lac is just a bit longer drive than Spirit Mt. Please be on time as we have a very tight schedule that morning.
We plan to stop for dinner in Hinckley on the way home from Mt Du Lac so be sure to bring money so you can eat supper. You should be home in time for a late dinner following the Afton race. Waivers for Mt Du Lac and Afton Finally, if you are attending one or both invitationals, YOU and YOUR PARENTS need to complete a WAIVER for EACH ski area that you will be going to. The Mt Du Lac waiver and the Afton waiver are attached. Please put these signed waivers in an envelope and bring them to practice this week. Race Workers Needed This Week at Mt Du Lac and Hyland We will need to supply some gate judges for the Mt Du Lac race on Thursday. If you plan to attend this race and would be willing to work as a gate judge, please email me as well. You will get a free lift ticket to Mt Du Lac and you might be able to ride the bus. I think we have room for a few parents. Shoot me an email if you can help. Last year we impressed the race organizers with the number of parents who pitched in to help with the race, which is why we got invited to ski in the Hibbing Invite this year and were invited back to this invitational this year. We will need race workers for the Hyland JV race—most likely gate judges and possibly scoreboard recorders. If you can gate judge or write times down on a scoreboard next Friday, please send me an email. Email me at markrobertconway58@gmail.com if you can work one of these races. Note that there is training Thursday night for all athletes NOT racing at Mt Du Lac that day. If you are racing at Mt Du Lac on Thursday, DO NOT TRAIN ON WEDNESDAY. Tune your skis and go to bed very early.... you need to get up super early and eat breakfast before you load the bus. See you Monday at practice. Spend some time watching Sprongo this weekend. Oh, TUNE YOUR SKIS. The snow has hardened up nicely and you MUST HAVE SHARP EDGES to hold in these icy conditions. Mark 612-275-8392 A quick update and some reminders.
Thanks, Mark Conway 612-275-8392 As I write this week’s MAST Update, many of you are busy working at the Great Harvest Bread Company Fundraiser. Your efforts set a record for Baker of the Day pre-sales. Congratulations and thank you. And thank you to Steve and Gail Arnold. What an amazing event. I can only imagine that the sweet smell of bread and cookies is somehow more pleasing than the eye-watering-nostril-stinging smells of our first fundraiser back on Labor Day. See, if you start the year cleaning a goat barn, everything else that follows is awesome.
I. Week Ten Calendar Monday, January 14 Hyland Training,Varsity/JV, Lanes 1,2, 3; 6:30-8:45PM, Meet on South Chair at 6:30PM Tuesday, January 15 Hyland Training, Varsity/JV, Lanes 3, 4
Thursday, January 17 Dual Meet vs Wayzata, Lake Crystal, AHA 3:30PM Inspection Opens 4:30PM First Run Start Time Friday, January 18 Hyland JV Race 3:30PM Inspection Opens 4:30PM First Run Start Time Friday, January 18 Hyland Training, Varsity/JV, Lanes 7 and 8, 5:00-7:30PM Saturday, January 19 Hyland Training, Varsity/JV, Lanes A, B, C, 7:45-10:30AM Saturday, January 19 Supplemental Training at Wild Mt or Welch, Varsity/JV, 2:45-10:30PM II. Saturday, January 19, Supplemental Training at Welch Village or Wild Mt We are holding a supplemental training session at either Welch Village or Wild Mt on Saturday. I will let you know which venue we will be using as soon as I know. Either way, the price is the same. You can sign up here: January 19th Supplemental Training Registration. III. State Your Race Intentions Thank you to all of you who have been stating your race day intentions. This REALLY helps me create an accurate run order for our races and makes races run much more efficiently. I understand that it may be hard to remember whether you have stated your race intentions for a particular date. So, I collected all the remaining race intentions into one spreadsheet for your easy viewing... just because that is the kind of guy I am. Please take a look at this document provided via email to see under which races your name appears and does not appear. If your name does not appear under a particular race, please state your race intentions for that race. If you are a top 8 Varsity athlete for your school, you do not need to state your intentions for Hyland JV races. I already know you are not racing. Also, we need to know your Race Intentions by the published deadline. January 17th Hyland Dual Meet Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 14th, 9PM January 18th Hyland JV Race Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 14th, 9PM January 24th Spirit Mt Invitational Race Sign Up Deadline: Friday, January 18th, 9PM January 25th Afton Invitational Race Sign Up Deadline: Friday, January 18th, 9PM January 31st Welch Dual Meet Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 28th, 9PM February 1st Hyland JV Race Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 28th, 9PM IV. Race Workers Needed MAST is hosting the January 17th dual meet at Hyland. Once again, we need supply the bulk of race workers for this event. Gate Judges, Course Workers, Race Announcers, Scoreboard Recorders, Bib Collectors, and Fans. Here is a link to sign up to work the Jan 17th race at Hyland. Given how cold it was at race time last week, I would like to double up on gate judges this week, for a total of eight gate judges. If we can get eight gate judges, then each person only needs to stand on the hill in the cold for one run. Jan 17 Hyland Dual Meet Race Worker Sign UP For the JV race at Hyland on Friday, Jan 18 we need four gate judges... if we get four, then each gate judge only needs to judge one race run. Please send me an email (markrobertconway58@gmail.com) if you can gate judge on Friday, Jan. 18th. The gate judges meeting will be held at 4:10 in the finish arena. V. Welch Village Release of Liability Waivers Reminder: If you plan to train (January 19th) or race (January 31) at Welch Village, athletes/parents need to complete and sign TWO release of liability waivers. Thank you to all of you who have already done this. If you still need to complete these waivers, here are the links: Welch Village Day Ticket Release Welch Village Race Release VI. Race Results Last Friday, 36 athletes attended the Welch Invitational while 63 athletes competed in the Hyland JV race. I want to thank all the coaches and parents who made it possible for us to split our attention in two directions for the day and evening and the dark of night. We had a long but successful day at Welch. The conditions were very difficult—steep pitch, tight course sets, and polished ice. I am so proud of our skiers. They came to the race with sharp edges that could hold on the ice. They took the free skiing warm up session very seriously in the morning. They employed the correct tactics to ski the tightly set turns with maximum speed. And they maintained their focus when the race went four hours longer than originally scheduled. We had some very strong results. The Southwest girls placed second in the team event and the Washburn boys placed third. Each team took home a very large trophy for its school’s trophy case. Individually, we had some excellent results as well. Rachel Tanner placed third overall in a field of 130 girls and Ahnika Berg finished seventh. Addie Streble skied well to finish in 14th position and Anna Smalley and Avery Taylor put down fast runs to finish in 29th and 31st respectively. Three boys finished in the top ten: Luke Conway (2nd), Logan Griggs (5th), and Ryan Arnold (10th). Ryan had a breakout performance Friday. He has been skiing extremely at practice but struggling to bring that same level of skiing into a race. On Friday, Ryan raced like he trains and his top ten finish was his reward for his persistence. Congratulations Ryan. Everyone needs to know that as you improve in training, you might struggle for a period to ski just as well in a race setting. This is normal. Like Ryan, you need to stay the course (yes, a terrific pun) and good things will happen eventually on race day. Zach Bion finished twelfth on two runs that included not one but multiple acrobatic recoveries on each. Great effort and determination Zach. Alexander Heath and Isaac Trockman finished in the top twenty-five. Very strong results for both skiers. In the Hyland JV race on Friday, our skiers performed very well. Eight boys finished in the top 21: Henry Moore (2nd), Calvin Lamosse (4th), Emmet Sutton (6th), Lucas Casperson (9th), Jackson George (13th), Kai Lamb (17th), Andreas Drekonja (18th) and Lewie Bent (21st). Great skiing boys. Chloe Cumming (6th) and Elle Miller (13th) were our top finishers on the girls’ side. Well done Chloe and Elle. You will see from the results that Minnetonka stacked a lot of girls in the top ten. Don’t let that discourage you. Many of those girls have years of racing experience under their legs. Keep working hard and you will all close the gap. That’s all for now… . See you at 6:30PM tomorrow on the South Chair. Mark We are entering the heart of our season. There is much to discuss tonight. Training, racing, and our big fundraiser with Great Harvest Bread Company. I will be sending a second email later this weekend with an update about camp. Let me start with our fundraiser next week, the Baker of the Day Great Harvest Bread Company Fundraiser.
We are trying to raise $10,000 for our team. If everyone pre-sells $100 in baked goods we will easily reach our goal. It is hard to express how important this fundraiser is to our team. For nineteen years, the parents and coaches of MAST have provided a quality ski racing program at a fraction of the cost of local club programs. Team Gilboa, for example, charges a team fee of $1950.00 to join the U16 USSS program. This fee covers training and coaching four days a week at Hyland and coaching at races. If you want to race in a race, you will also need to pay for lift tickets and race entry fees at races and membership fees with US Ski and Snowboard. In contrast, for an activity fee of $75 and a team fee of $175, our athletes get coaching and training six days a week. Race entry fees and lift tickets for races are covered by the team. Transportation to races is covered by Mpls Public Schools thankfully. We charge extra for the Giants Ridge Camp and Supplemental Training. Consider the value: $460 for three full days of training and a race day, transportation, lodging, and coaching. Moreover, we work hard to get new skiers into used equipment at an affordable price--or free whenever possible, just so they can try the sport. Last night I uploaded several hundred video clips from the Giants Ridge Camp onto Sprongo. The high-quality video camera I used to shoot the video was purchased with money we raised two years ago when we were the Baker of the Day at Great Harvest. There are currently 12,364 videos clips uploaded to our MAST Sprongo account that is paid for using fundraising money. I am also composing this message to you on the computer we purchased with those same funds. At the same time that I am composing this email, our athletes are training in gates we purchased with MAST fundraising money and the ten two-way radios that our coaches are using to communicate with each other on the hill are the fruit of our fundraising efforts over the years… as are Willie, Sally and Becca, our new paid coaches. So... we need to raise money to cover all our expenses and grow and offer a quality program that is affordable to more people. The Baker of the Day fundraiser is our opportunity. Please make the most of this. Baker of the Day Co-Chairs Jodi, Abbey, and Jean will be at Hyland practices next week to collect order forms and pre-sale money. Please sell to your neighbors, family, friends, and perfect strangers this weekend. Then, bring your order forms and money to practice this week. For more information on how to participate and to download the order forms, CLICK HERE. I. Week Nine Calendar Monday, January 7 Hyland Training Varsity/JV Lanes 2, 3 5:00-7:30PM Tuesday, January 8 Dual Meet vs Mound-West-Tonka and Armstrong/Cooper 3:30PM Inspection Opens 4:30PM First Run Start Time Wednesday, January 9 Hyland Training Split Varsity/JV Lanes 7 and 8 5:00-7:30PM Varsity Training 6:30-8:45PM JV Training Meet On South Chair at 6:30PM Thursday, January 10 Hyland Training Varsity/JV Lanes 7 and 8 5:00-7:30PM Friday, January 11 Welch Invitational 9:00AM Load Bus at Washburn HS 11:45AM Inspection Opens 12:30PM First Run Start Time 1:45PM Second Run Start Time 3:30PM Awards 4:30PM Depart for Washburn. Bring a sack lunch or money to purchase lunch. Friday, January 11 Hyland JV Race 3:30PM Inspection Opens 4:30PM First Run Start Time Saturday, January 12 Hyland Training Varsity/JV Lanes A, B, C 7:45-10:30AM Sunday, January 13 GREAT HARVEST BREAD COMPANY FUNDRAISER II. State Your Race Intentions We have SEVEN races scheduled over the next three weeks. I need EACH ONE OF YOU to STATE YOUR RACE INTENTIONS FOR ALL SEVEN RACES, with one exception—varsity racers do not state your intentions to the JV races at Hyland. The Welch and Afton Invitationals are for Varsity skiers. However, some varsity skiers will be declining the invitation to race in these Invitational Meets, so I want JV racers to also state your race intentions for the Welch and Afton Invitationals. Should we need to fill our varsity teams with JV racers, I will contact you if a start position opens up for you. Please know that you will be missing one day of school to attend the Welch Invitational. You have early releases for the JV race on Friday and the Hyland races on January 8th and 17th. You are out of school on January 24th and 25th. You received via email a list of athletes who have already stated their race intentions for the next seven races. Thank you for doing this. Here is a link to STATE YOUR INTENTIONS. Also, we need to know your Race Intentions by the published deadline. January 8th Hyland Dual Meet Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 6, 9PM January 11th Welch Invitational Race Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 6, 9PM January 11th Hyland JV Race Sign Up Deadline: Tuesday, January 8, 9PM January 17th Hyland Dual Meet Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 14th, 9PM January 18th Hyland JV Race Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 14th, 9PM January 24th Spirit Mt Invitational Race Sign Up Deadline: Friday, January 18th, 9PM January 25th Afton Invitational Race Sign Up Deadline: Friday, January 18th, 9PM III. Race Workers Needed We need race workers for the two Hyland races on January 8th and January 17th: Gate Judges, Course Workers, Race Announcers, Scoreboard Recorders, Bib Collectors, and Fans. We will also need a small number of race workers for the JV races. Please look for a separate email asking for volunteers later this weekend. IV Welch Village Release of Liability Waivers Many ski areas this year are requiring all skiers to sign release of liability waivers. In order for our coaches and athletes to train or race at Welch Village this year, all racers need to complete TWO waivers on-line. If you plan to race on January 11th in the Welch Invitational or January 31st in the Dual Meet at Welch, you need to fill this out THIS WEEKEND. ACTUALLY, PARENTS NEED TO FILL OUT THESE WAIVERS AND SIGN THEM. Welch Village Day Ticket Release Welch Village Race Release V. Supplemental Training We are cancelling the Welch Village Supplemental Training Scheduled for Saturday, January 12. The Great Harvest Baker of the Day fundraiser is the next day and I want everyone to be well rested to make the most of this day. Our next Supplemental Training is scheduled for Saturday, January 19th at Wild Mt. We may move this training to Welch Village to give you an opportunity to train on steeper terrain. Stay tuned. I will let you know when registration opens for January 19th. That’s all for now… Mark |
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