|
Good Noon Day!
Attached is today's RACE PLAN and RUN ORDERS. If your name is on the run order you should be cleared for an early release at 2:45. There will be training for anyone who wants to train today immediately following the race. Charlie, Erik, Jonas, Vada, and Nahlah: I invite you to be forerunners for today's race if you can make it to the hill for the 4:30PM Start. Saturday morning practice is costume day. Wear something fun - the more personality the better! Dig out your tutus, Hawaiian shirts, wigs, onesies - whatever you have! I want to thank Eva Voyakin and her 7th and 8th grade teammates for the great idea. Thank you parents for volunteering this afternoon. Much appreciated. See you soon. Mark Sorry Eric Hemer. I know you had some difficulties on the first run but you crushed the second run WITH A SUB 20 TIME!!!! THREE SUB-20 TIMES, NOT TWO.
I stand corrected.... sometimes I am sitting when corrected, on a few occasions laying flat on my back, on my side, kneeling.... Good Evening Ski Racing Fans!
What a blustery evening for racing. Did not seem to bother our athletes one iota. So fun to look at the results and see how low your times have gotten on lanes A and B. Congratulations to Eleanor Vap and Makeen Mkaouri on their decisive victories. They were the only two skiers to post a sub-20 time tonight. Seventh grader Eva Voyakin has a natural touch for speed and it was on display tonight with her impressive second place finish. Rounding out the top five were Dana Smith, Chloe Bitney, and Caroline Claeson. Congrats girls. For the boys, Eli Kroll finished second behind Makeen after posting the fastest first run time of the day. Eighth grader Sam Moore put two nice runs together to finish third, right in front of his ninth grade teammate Henry Payne. Southwest's Maximus Davis had a nice afternoon finishing in fifth. Also worth highlighting is Hudson White's sixth place finish, tops among the 2021-22 rookie class of boys. Thank you parents for standing strong in gale force winds to gate judge, course work, start racers, organize racers, write down times, distribute and collect bibs, and cheer. A big thank you to the coaches as well, for your work this evening and all season. Your excellent coaching skills were on display tonight. I could not help but think back to almost two month ago when we held our first race of the season. Our athletes have become excellent skiers in a very short span of time. Three more training sessions. Remember, wear a costume in the morning if you can pull something together. If you can't, just come dressed as usual. That'll be me. Good Night. Mark Good Afternoon:
Tomorrow's RACE PLAN and RUN ORDERS are attached. See separate tabs for each. A big thank you to the parents for filling most of the race worker positions. We still have need for one or two more people to assist with bib distribution and two to four more to help with scoreboard recording. If there is a parent who would like to help organize racers into the proper start order, we could use help up top as well. Fun job amidst all the excitement and chaos of the start arena. Just shoot me a text or email if you can fill the remaining spots. [email protected] or 612-275-8392 Athletes, if you are planning on racing, please double check to see that your name is on the run order. I pulled anyone who raced yesterday at Wild Mt, with the exception of our 7th and 8th grade boys who raced for MAST. They can race in both races. The run orders are sorted by schools. If you name is missing, I can still add you to the run order. Just send me an email at [email protected]. If you are not racing and your name is on the run order, you can let me know that as well. Section racers: I hope you can come out to support the JV racers. We will train immediately after the race concludes on lanes A, B and C. The field tomorrow is small. The race should run quickly. Inspect both courses during the first inspection. We will allow you to quickly slip and re-inspect in between runs, just to refresh the track and refresh your memory. Hope to finish up by 5:45 or earlier. You are welcome to stay and train after the race. LANES 1, 2 FOR FIRST PRACTICE SESSION. LANE 2 FOR SECOND SESSION. LANES 1 AND 2 AGAIN FOR THIRD. Thanks. See you tonight. MARK Good Evening MAST Families:
A great day at Wild Mt today. Thank you coaches. You have been so dedicated all season, coaching six days a week, giving up Saturday nights to provide additional training opportunities, focusing your full attention on our athletes, and guiding their development into highly competitive racers. We have the best coaching staff anywhere. Thank you coaches. And thank you parents. I am deeply grateful to the parents who worked the race, worked the tent, organized the food and beverages, and cheered on our athletes. MAST takes on a lot of race worker positions and you came through. The Section IV Meet Manager, Joe Dalman, asked me to "tell all of the Mpls Nation thanks for all the support." I thank you as well. First the good news. Two boys and two girls qualified to compete at the MN State Alpine Championships next Wednesday. Andreas Drekonja finished in 7th place and Charlie Smith was not far behind in 9th. Gabby Harritt and Kate Moore both qualified as well. Gabby finished in 13th place and Kate in 16th. There were several other terrific performances worth mentioning. Lia Rulf has only been racing for only three years and weighs just a few pounds more than a newborn puppy, but she skied her way into 22nd place today. Reese Kuehn and Elli Arbeiter handled the pressure of racing in their first Section IV Championships and finished in 32nd and 33rd place respectively. Parker Hunt had a terrific first run, finishing in 13th. Washburn boys Jack Bajek, Levi Ehlers, and Beckett Wedren have been leap-frogging each other all season long and pushing each other to improve on a daily basis. Jack won the battle today finishing 32nd. Levi was close behind in 34th and Beckett was hot on their tails in 35th. Now the heartbreaking news. Nahlah Mkaouri finished .34 seconds out of 17th place, which would have sent her to State. She skied fearlessly and put together two beautiful runs nonetheless. The Hastings boys team ran away with first place, finishing with 437 points. Woodbury finished second with 370 points. Stillwater was third, but only a half a point behind with 369.5 points. And SW was fourth, with 367 points. The SW boys were only three points away from second place and qualifying for the State Meet. Argh! The Washburn boys also put forth a great effort, finishing in fifth place with 356 points.... only fifteen points away from qualifying. And on the girls' side, the Washburn girls finished in third place in team scoring, only 25 points out of second. Be proud girls. You skied incredibly well against two powerhouse girls' teams. Hill-Murray is the best girls team to ever compete in Minnesota, and the Stillwater girls are perennial contenders to not only win their Section Championship but a State Championship. I have no doubt that you can close the gap with one more year of training under your belt. Our athletes did everything they could this season to challenge the best teams at the Section IV Championships. They trained six days a week, worked the drills, watched video, absorbed coaching, and competed with intensity. We demand a lot from you and you rise to meet our expectations with every challenge. All of the coaches are tremendously proud of you. If you are suffering any disappointment tonight, may it be short-lived. Ski racing is an unforgiving, brutal sport. Much like life in the middle ages... okay, not really, but you get the point. Tomorrow morning, wake up, wash up, eat a good breakfast, and put your mind to making more improvements on the hill. And maybe to studying hard in school as well. I want to end by saying thank you to our seniors. You have led this team with joy, enthusiasm, maturity, kindness, and continuous hard work. The coaches look forward to telling everyone all about you and your inherent goodness at the banquet. For now, a simple "thank you" will have to do. A few more days of training remain. Take advantage of this opportunity. Mark Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Good Morning Section IV Athletes, Spectators, Parents, Coaches: A few updates regarding the day. First, Jean Hutchinson Legler prepared a sign up to supply food items and MAST support for tomorrow’s race. Here is the link. https://signup.com/go/vCKvfhV Second, we still need race workers:
Let’s get these filled today please. Send me an email or text if you can fill one of these roles. [email protected] Third, I prefer that the athletes rest today rather than train today. They can tune skis, do homework, watch some video, visualize, eat a healthy supper, go to bed early. At 7PM Daniel and I will be hosting a meeting through MPS google meets for the athletes and alternates. Please log in using their MPS email. You should have received a link and invitation to join the meeting in your MPS email inbox. Here is the link just in case: meet.google.com/ndk-fekk-juv Fourth, we have a busy day tomorrow with an early start. Meet the bus at Washburn at 6AM. ATHLETES: Please be dressed to ski when you arrive at the bus. I want you to have a good warm up and if you are already dressed when we arrive at Wild, we can get onto the hill earlier for warm ups. We will need to bib up in the chalet... tape your paper bib number onto a MAST bib. This takes some time, so please have your gs suit already on your body when you arrive. Parents: please email me if you can work the race. Parents/Athletes: please text me if you are riding with a parent to Wild instead of the bus. I have heard from a few of you already. Thank you. Does anyone need a ride home from Wild? Does anyone have room to bring an athlete home from Wild? Let me know via email or text. Thank you. Mark 612-275-8392 [email protected] MAST Update Week Thirteen
Sunday, February 6, 2022 Good Morning MAST Athletes, Families, Coaches: Yesterday, we had our second to last Saturday morning training and our fifth and last supplemental training session. I took great joy in watching you ski. Your improvement in just twelve short weeks is quite remarkable and speaks to how hard you worked and how deeply you focused on making small improvements each practice. We have eight training/racing dates remaining on our calendar. Please take advantage of these. We will be revisiting all six of the fundamental skills you have been developing. More improvement is possible. Keep up the hard work and finish the season strong.
Visit our website where the remainder of our schedule is posted: www.mplsalpineski.com. Feb 11 JV Age Class Championships at Hyland A. Who Is Racing? Are You Entered? Attached is a list of athletes who have stated their intentions to race on Feb 11. If you want to race and your name is not listed, please state your intentions no later than Monday. State Your Race Intentions HERE. B. Race Workers Needed We will need race workers for this last race. Our athletes have worked hard this winter, and it would be very nice to give them another high-quality race experience to measure their progress since they first clicked into their bindings back in November.https://signup.com/go/GJGWrhh Team Gilboa Post-Season HS Training Opportunity Team Gilboa is offering post season high school training program. This will enable you to continue skiing gates and solidify the improvements you have made this season. Program dates: Feb. 22 - Mar. 17 (15 sessions) Practice days/times: Mon. - Thur. 4:00-6:00pm Location: Hyland Hills, North chair Cost: $350 If you have questions, contact Scott Skavanger (Scully) at 612-850-1991. Sign Up Here: https://teamgilboa.sportngin.com/register/form/931532202 See you Monday. Rest and study today. Mark Good Afternoon Ski Racing Fans, Coaches and Athletes:
Attached are the race results from last night's race. We brought 88 athletes to Welch to compete in our last Metro East Conference Race of the season. Results were solid, with some nice end-of-the-season move-ups from some of our younger racers. Congratulations to Gabby Harritt and Charlie Smith on their victories. Congratulations to the Washburn Girls for finishing first in team competition. The depth of the team is impressive. They finished first even though two of their top four skiers had bobbles on their first run and finished outside the scoring. Reese Kuehn finished sixth overall and second for Washburn. Amelia Moertel had a terrific result, finishing third for Washburn and ninth overall. The Voyakin sisters (Mila and Eva) continue to move up in the results, finishing 17th and 14th respectively. And Dana Smith continues to impress after missing last season due to a knee injury (not from skiing however). Dana finished 15th. Sierra Krueger-Wolfe finished first in the JV Girls scoring with Hayley, Elsa, Evalie and Phoenix filling in the rest of the top five. For the boys, Charlie finished first, Erik Arnold second, Andreas third, and Jonas fifth. Great skiing boys! Unfortunately, the Southwest boys could not hold off the Hastings boys for the win. When scoring includes the top eight of ten, eight racers need to put two CLEAN runs together. As the girls' showed, it doesn't necessarily matter which eight do so. So, we are going to practice this. Tonight and tomorrow, I want every athlete to treat each run as though it is a race run. For tonight, the girls will take their first run on lane 4, the boys will take their first run on lane 5. Switch lanes for the second run. I want everyone to focus on finishing both runs cleanly. Then, do it again. Lane 6 will be a corridor of some sort where you can take your practice runs in between race runs. One final thought: to be successful in competition, you need to be confident. You do not need to have a false sense of confidence, but an earned sense of confidence. If you have been attending practice, absorbing the feedback that your coaches give you, and putting in the miles on skis, you have done what it takes to earn your confidence. Now bring it to the course sets on race day. Be determined, but also be confident. You have done everything thing you need to do to be as successful as possible on race day. So, attack the course knowing you can ski it just as well on race day as you do in practice. I want to thank all the parents who worked the race. Terrific job in very extreme conditions. When I drove out of the Welch parking lot, my truck read negative 11. No wonder I felt chilled to the bone. See you tonight. Rope tow gloves tonight. Rope tow gloves tomorrow morning as well. Still room on the buses to attend our last supplemental training session. Sign up here: Supplemental Training Mark Good Morning:gg
:g
See you at Welch. Mark Wednesday, February 2, 2022 Good Evening: Tonight, we need to submit our run orders for the Section IV Championship. Our athletes have been improving at a rapid pace, making the task of selecting only six athletes to fill the six start positions at Sections a very difficult one. After carefully reviewing race results from the last three weeks, the lead coaches have selected the following athletes to represent their schools on February 9th at Wild Mt. Washburn Boys
Washburn Girls:
Southwest Boys:
Southwest Girls:
MAST Boys: 1. Christopher Carlton MAST Girls:
Alternates should plan to be ready to race. Skis tuned. Bodies and minds rested. Chloe and Eleanor will be serving as forerunners. Their foreruns will be invaluable to the coaches to help determine whether there are any unforeseen issues with the courses. These athletes have worked very hard, not only this season, but in season’s past. But they have also been pushed everyday by their teammates to make every run down the hill an opportunity to improve. When each one of you pushes out of the start next Wednesday, the whole team will be skiing that run with you. Your teammates have made you better. Feel the strength of their support in each turn. Parents: Race Volunteers Needed: We need to fill the following race worker positions next Wednesday. Please email me to volunteer at [email protected]. Starter (1): You will be positioned in the start shack at the top of the course, continuously communicating with TIMING, and giving the start commands to the athlete in the start gate. Easy role to fill with a bit of instruction. You need to be able to read bib numbers, follow instructions, and speak clearly. Course Workers (2): You will continuously slip the courses to maintain the cleanest track possible. Must be able to side slip and snowplow effectively and without risk of falling. You must have good hearing so that you can hear when people are yelling at you because a racer is coming your way and you need to exit the course. You must be able to exit the course without embarrassing yourself too badly or getting hurt. Scoreboard Recorder (1): You must have good hearing and be able to write numbers legibly. Hand Timer (1): You must have a thumb (to push the stop button on the stopwatch) and be able to read numbers and speak clearly. Hand Time Recorder (1): You must be able to hear clearly and print numbers legibly. We will also need someone to video tape the race from the bottom of the hill and many people to help with breakfast and lunch, as well as tent set up and clean up. Attached are several documents related to the day. Please review these carefully for information about tent locations and rules, the schedule for the day, and more. I did learn tonight that tents can be set up as early as 6PM Tuesday night but you must be done with set up no later than 9PM. I don't see a reason to set up Tuesday night since tent locations are pre-assigned. Transportation We will have a bus TO Wild for the athletes. MEET THE BUS AT WASHBURN FOR LOADING AT 6:00AM SHARP. Please come dressed in your gs suit. You may need to boot up on the bus. If you will NOT be taking the bus, please send me an email. Athletes will need to ride home with their own parents or a teammate’s parent. If you need a ride home, reach out to one of your teammates for a ride. If you can’t find a ride home, email me and I will see if I can help connect you to a responsible parent. Parents: If you are willing to offer a ride home to another athlete, please send me an email. School Absence Athletes: please talk to your teachers THIS WEEK about your absence on February 9. Make sure you get your work done for that day AHEAD OF TIME. Finally, plan to have a Section IV Team Meeting sometime Tuesday after school. Stay tuned. We have a big race tomorrow. I am excited to see all of you compete at Welch. Be confident in your skills. You have worked hard and made great improvements. Fire out of the start with a smile on your face and a fierce determination in your heart. Sleep well. Mark   |
Archives
October 2024
Categories |
RSS Feed