|
2022 - 2023 MINNEAPOLIS ALPINE SKI TEAM END OF THE SEASON CELEBRATION BANQUET DATE & COST: Sunday, March 12, 5:00 PM to 8:30 PM $20 Per Person ($80 Max Per Family) *Under 10 Free **Please contact Mark Conway if you need assistance with the banquet fee** LOCATION: Southwest High School Atrium 3414 W 47th Street Minneapolis, MN 55410 * Enter through Door 1 - Main Entrance REGISTER HERE BANQUET DETAILS: The MAST end-of-the-season celebration will be held in the Southwest High School atrium. A light meal will be served. Please bring your own non-alcoholic beverage All attendees, show your MAST pride! Rock your MAST gear: flannels, race suits, shin guards, hats, goggles, vintage ski wear… Or, show up in MAST colors (red, blue, white). Wear anything that celebrates this community’s love of MAST and skiing. 2023-2024 Hyland Passes will be for sale. Bring your checkbook. ADDITIONAL INFO: MAST SWAG For Sale! Neck gaiters, coffee mugs, ski straps, patches and stickers will be for sale prior to the banquet. Bring cash, Venmo or your checkbook! Swag purchased earlier in the season that has not yet been picked up, will be available at the banquet to take home. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED Calling all 11th graders! Sign up to help set up and greet guests. 8th, 9th, and 10th graders! We need your help with cleaning up. 7th graders! We need your help with serving ice cream sandwiches during the program. Parents! We need your help with various volunteer roles. All VOLUNTEER SIGN UP Contact Dianne Catapano ([email protected]) or Wendy Moore ([email protected]) with any questions We look forward to seeing you on Sunday, March 12th!  Good Afternoon MAST Families: Fifteen of our athletes competed in the State Meet yesterday at Giants Ridge. We had a marvelous morning of training on Monday: sunshine, great snow, moderate temps, a forty plus second course, an excellent directed free skiing session, high spirits. Our skiers were well prepared to compete at their best. And as it turns out, many did just that. The clouds moved in overnight as did the threat of rain. Thankfully, the rain held off until the second run. As is often the case, our race results were mixed. Although Andreas made a rare mistake and had to hike on the first run, our remaining five Washburn boys had very solid first runs and were well positioned to challenge for a spot on the podium in team scoring. After run one, Levi stood in 27th, Beckett in 31st, Finn in 35th. Jack had some trouble on the first run and lost a bit of time, but with a good second run he could still finish well and help his team make a run for a spot on the podium. As could Callum, who had a very good first run from the back of the pack. Unfortunately, things didn't go as well on the second run. Levi ripped the second run only to straddle the last gate of the course. Without the straddle he would have finished 25th. Beckett smoked the pitch on his second run only to run into trouble managing the delay gate on the flats, resulting in some hiking on his part. Jack bounced back from his first run bobble to finish in 47th place. Even with his first run mistake, Jack finished 23 spots ahead of his starting first run starting position. By the time Callum took his second run, the rain had picked up, saturating the snow with moisture and severely impacting visibility. Unfortunately, Callum got tossed out of the course, allowing gravity, combined with the slippery and steep Helsinki pitch, to put an end to Callum's second run. Only Finn skied two clean runs for the Washburn boys, finishing 34th overall. Our lone Southwest boy in the competition, Parker Hunt, had a terrific result. Skiing in his first State HS Alpine Championships, Parker finished 24th overall, earning All State Honorable Mention honors. Congratulations Parker!!! You saved your best race of the season for the State Meet. We had two mishaps on the girls' side. On her first run, Ellie Arbeiter straddled a gate on the top of Helsinki on and was disqualified when she misjudged which gate she needed to loop. But from the back of the pack on run two, Ellie skied very well in spite of the rain, ruts, and poor visibility to post an excellent second run time. Lea had a solid first run and was having an even better second run when she straddled a gate in the double hairpin near the finish and had to hike. I am pleased to say though that the rest of our girls were able to find success yesterday. Gabby Harritt and Lucy Renz earned All-State Honorable Mention honors for their back to back finishes--21st for Gabby and 22nd for Lucy. Impressive. Eva Voyakin, an eighth grader skiing in her first State Championship, showed that ice runs through her veins by putting down two very good runs to finish 43rd. Not far behind in 48th was Ingrid Hartzell. Ingrid skied the best race of her career, proving that it pays to study video. After Monday's training, Ingrid watched video with the coaches and decided to make some tactical changes for the race. She succeeded in doing so and her result yesterday is proof. Impressive determination Ingrid. Ninth grader Avery Patterson had one heck of a day, skiing fearlessly down the steep Helsinki pitch on run one and with poise and determination down Innsbrook for the second run to finish 52nd. Elli George, who has been an outstanding captain for the last two years and the backbone of this quickly improving SW girls' team, ended her MAST career with an excellent second run after being less than satisfied with her first. Elli finished 54th overall. So consider these move ups for our SW girls: Gabby started 31st and finished 21st. Lucy started 54th and finished 22nd; Eva started 70th and finished 42nd; Ingrid started 86th and finished 48th; Avery started 82nd and finished 48th, and Elli started 74th and finished 54th. Even with Lia's straddle, the Southwest girls had a great team result: fifth place! Congratulations girls! Race results are attached and all video from our training day and race day can be found on Sprongo. I want to thank the coaches who worked so hard all season to make our athletes increasingly competitive. Thank you to the parents who worked all of our races and did so in some very difficult and extreme conditions this Winter. Thank you athletes for bringing your brightest smiles, fierce determination, positive attitudes, and deep seated goodness to practice everyday. I sing your praises to anyone who listens. I plan to continue singing them at the banquet. One of my biggest frustrations about high school racing is how much skiing is left at the end of our season. Just when you are figuring out technique and tactics and are poised to make another leap forward in your skiing development, we have to shut down as a team. The MN State High School League prohibits coaches from offering training to their athletes after the State HS Alpine Championships. Were we to violate that rule and continue to coach you in the weeks ahead, we would be jeopardizing your eligibility to race in the future and our positions as high school coaches. Along with some other alpine coaches around the state, I will be working to get this rule changed in the years ahead. Nevertheless, I want to encourage you to continue skiing until Hyland closes for the season. You can continue to refine your skills. Watch a Deb Armstrong instructional video and then go to the hill to try out the skill she introduced. She has dozens of short videos that will keep you busy until the lifts are shut down for the season. Watch the instructional videos on the Burke Mt Academy website that are narrated by Mikaela Shiffrin and then work the same drills that helped her become the best ski racer of all time. Search online for other great racing and instructional videos and then put them to the test on your own. Better yet, find a friend on the team and make a pact to work together to make a big leap forward. https://www.youtube.com/@DebArmstrongSkiStrong and https://www.burkemtnacademy.org/ski-racing/alpine-instructional-videos And don't forget to see what we already have linked for your on our website: https://www.mplsalpineski.org/technique--tactics.html Banquet is March 12. More information about the banquet coming soon. Just reserve the date for now. Be well. Make good choices. Carve beautiful turns. In that order. Mark
MAST Update Week Fourteen Sunday, February 12, 2023 Dear MAST Athletes, Parents, and Coaches: Our final two days of the season are upon us. We had a terrific race on Friday to cap the competition season for our JV skiers. Corrected results are attached. If you missed out on an award, I will have one for you at the banquet. Phoenix and Stella should have been in the 7th/8th grade classification and would have placed first and second. Izabella Nahas should have received a fourth place medal in the jr/sr division. Thank you to all of the parents who worked our last race. Every race worker position filled and you did magnificent work. Thank you coaches for once again doing a terrific job with our skiers. And on Saturday morning, I was the first one to park in the paid lot at 7:27am. I thought that I would be walking into an empty chalet. But no, there were a dozen MAST athletes already inside putting on their costumes for our final Saturday morning practice. What a wonderful scene! Thank you to Brien Spanier for coming out to practice and taking pictures. Be sure to look for them on our website in a few days. Some people will spend a lifetime circling the globe to get just one glimpse of a skiing dinosaur. Who knew we have them right here in our own backyard. So unappreciated. I also shot a lot of video of various animals and characters skiing down the courses. Because of the costumes, I no longer recognize everyone. I would ask athletes and coaches to please help me out with tagging the clips. I want every athlete to get the credit they deserve. I would also encourage athletes to download their videos from the season to your computers so you have them for posterity. I. Two practices remain. Monday, February 13 5:00-7:15PM All Pods Lanes: 5, 6. Bring Rope Tow Gloves Tuesday, February 14 5:00-7:15PM All Pods Lanes: 3, 4. Bring Rope Tow Gloves Coaches Will, Jack, Liam and Drew will be running practices. Look for them on the assigned lanes at 5PM. Use these last two practices to build your skills for next season, and be sure to have fun while you are improving. II. State Meet Lift Tickets If there are any ATHLETES who plan to come up to Giants Ridge to watch the State Meet on Tuesday and who would like to ski, you can purchase a lift ticket through MAST for $32. I cannot purchase tickets for parents however. If you would like to ski on Tuesday during the race, purchase a ticket TODAY BY 10PM. You (and a parents) will also need to complete and sign the Giants Ridge Event Participation Waiver. Alternates, if you could also purchase a ticket for yourselves, that would help our budget. Those who are racing have a lift ticket supplied by the MSHSL. Purchase Lift Ticket Here. Sign the Giants Ridge Waiver Here. Thank you everyone for a fantastic season. There are not enough adjectives in the English language to describe how wonderful our athletes are to coach. The coaches and I will be singing your praises at the banquet on March 12th. Be sure to attend. Details to come. Be well. Keep skiing. Hyland will be open for another month or more. Take advantage of the open slopes. Mark 
... in case you don't remember or if you thought you had or....you want confirmation....
Good Morning:
PLEASE state your race intentions by NOON today for our race tomorrow at Hyland. I need time to pull the run orders together, sort bibs, and make all other preparations for our last race together. https://go.teamsnap.com/forms/358076 Thank you to everyone who has signed up to work the race. A few race worker positions remain. Here is a link to sign up to assist: https://signup.com/go/zcyRyqD Thank you. Mark Good Morning Race Fans:
Our last race is THIS Friday, February 10th at Hyland. The HYLAND JV Championships We have medals for the top five finishers in three grade classifications: Boys and Girls 7th/8th, 9th/10th, 11th/12th. We need race workers once again for the last time this season. Let's make this another great MAST racing event. Here is the link: Hyland JV Championships SignUp 2/10/23 And if your athlete still needs to state his or her race intentions, here is a link to do that: State Your Race Intentions for 2/10/23 Remember, NO TRAINING TONIGHT. Our coaches are attending the Section IV Championships. Training resumes tomorrow. Thank you. Mark Good Evening MAST Families: Our athletes skied very well today. Congratulations to the Washburn boys for bringing the Section IV Alpine Championships back to Minneapolis and Washburn. The Washburn boys attacked the courses with confidence and heaps of enthusiasm to score an impressive victory over the formidable Hastings and Stillwater teams. The Southwest boys skied very well and finished in a very respectable sixth place. Parker Hunt finished twelfth overall which qualified him to compete in the State Meet. Our Southwest senior boys finished their high school skiing careers with some very fast skiing today. Simon Showalter-Loch, Kai Lamb, Jonah Byron, Evan Byron, and Maximus Davis put down two very good runs each to earn the Southwest boys a very respectable sixth place result in team scoring. Simon narrowly missed out on qualifying for the State Meet... by eleven hundredths of a second to be exact. The Southwest girls having been steadily improving all season and today was their day to shine. They finished in second place to the powerful Hill-Murray girls team and will advance to compete in the State Meet. The Washburn girls had a couple of unfortunate bobbles, yet still held off a very strong Stillwater girls team to finish in third place in team scoring. Gabby Harritt (8th) and Ellie Arbeiter (13th) qualified for State with their impressive results today. The final tally: fifteen MAST athletes will be competing in the MN State Alpine Championships next Tuesday at Giants Ridge. Thank you to the coaches and parents for all of your hard work on the hill today. Thank you to the athletes who came out to watch and cheer and support your teammates. Thank you athletes for doing everything your coaches asked of you, not only today, but all season long. We could not be more proud of your effort, your sportsmanship, your teamwork, and your grace. Looking forward to training tomorrow and racing again on Friday. Sleep well. Mark
Hello Athletes:
Our season comes to a close one week from today with MN State High School Alpine Championships. If you are interested in extending your season, you can do so with Team Gilboa and its post-season high school training program. Scully just sent me this email. Space is limited and fills quickly. So think about it and sign up sooner than later if you are sure you want to continue to train into March. Enjoy the sunshine. Mark Hi Mark It's that time of year. The Gilboa High School Post Season program will start on Feb. 21 and run until Hyland closes. Feel free to distribute this to your group if you feel it would be value added to them. Thanks! Registration link: https://teamgilboa.sportngin.com/register/form/430523048 The Team Gilboa Post High School Season program is designed to accommodate the High School racer that wants to lengthen their ski racing season into March. The program focuses on fundamental skill development, speed acquisition, and SL gate training with experienced coaches. The program consist of 4 weeks of Slalom training. You may use the Team Gilboa competition center (at the bottom of North chairlift) to get ready daily. There will be a meeting at 4:10pm in the competition center every practice to explain the plan for the day. Cost: $350 Training Schedule (15 sessions): Feb. 21 - 23: 4:10-6:00pm Feb. 27 - Mar. 2: 4:10-6:00pm Mar. 6 - 9: 4:10-6:00pm Mar. 13 - 16: 4:10-6:00pm Hello MAST Racers:
I want to share this excellent video from Deb Armstrong on ankle flexion. Please watch today or tomorrow. Team goal: improve your ankle flexion over your outside ski from the transition to the completion phase of the turn before our season together ends. I recommend all of Deb Armstrong's videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDTP-aUlloo&ab_channel=InTheSnow One of the athletes she interviews is Michael Ankeny who won the MN State Alpine Championship in 2007 and two months later went on to win the 2007 Jr National Slalom title. You can tell he is from Minnesota because he is so darn nice. Enjoy and learn. One more week to make another technical breakthrough. Keep practicing. Mark MAST Update Week Thirteen Monday, February 6, 2023 Dear Athletes, Parents, and Coaches: We had a very busy week last week. We have a very exciting week this week with the Section IV Championships on Wednesday and the Hyland JV Championships on Friday, Costume Training Day on Saturday, and training in between. Section IV Champs Lift Ticket, Run Order, Schedule and More For athletes attending the Section IV Championships, we need to cover the expense of lift tickets for competitors and alternates this year. Please help our team’s budget and cover the cost of your lift ticket to Wild Mt and the Section IV Championships. https://go.teamsnap.com/forms/358702 Attached is a schedule for the day and run orders. Remember, the run order for the second run will be based on where you finished on the first run. So, if you finish in 30th place on the first run, you will go 1st on the second run. If you finished 29th, you will run 2nd... and if you finished 1st, you will run 30th. This will make for a very exciting second run as we count down through the top 30. After the 30, racers will go in the order of finish for the second run, i.e., 31st will run 31st. Hyland JV Championships We will be hosting a Hyland JV Championships. Medals are ordered to award to the top five boys and girls in each grade division: 7th/8th, 9th/10th, 11th/12th. If you are competing in the Section Championships, you are not eligible to race. If you do not end up racing in the Section Championships, you are eligible to race. Here is a link to state your race intentions: February 10 Race Intentions Parents: Please sign up to work the last race of the season. I don't have the sign up ready yet, but will send it out tonight after practice or sometime tomorrow. Training/Racing Schedule Week THIRTEEN Monday, February 6 Hyland Training (Wear Rope Tow Gloves) 3:45-6PM: Pods 12/11/10. Lanes 3,4 5:00-7:15PM: Pods 9. Lane 4. Warm-Ups on South Chair. 6:30-8:45PM: Pods 8/7. Lanes 4. Warm-Ups on South Chair. Tuesday, February 7 Hyland Training (Wear Rope Tow Gloves) 3:45-6PM: NO TRAINING 5:00-7:15PM: Pods 12, 11, 10, 9. LANES 6,7. 6:30-8:45PM: Pods 9,8,7. Lane 6. Warm-Ups on South Chair. Wednesday, February 8 Section IV Championships No Hyland Training Today! Our coaches are coaching at the section iv championships. Thursday, February 9 Hyland Training 3:45-6PM: Pods 12/11/10. Lanes 1,2 5:00-7:15PM: Pods 9. Lane 2. Warm-Ups on South Chair. 6:30-8:45PM: Pods 8/7. Lanes 1, 2. Warm-Ups on South Chair. Friday, February 10 Hyland JV Championships 2:30PM Early Release 3:45PM Inspection 4:30PM First Run Start 5PM to 7PM Training on Lane 5 for Section Skiers. Saturday, February 11 Hyland Training (Wear Rope Tow Gloves) 7:45AM-10:30AM: All Pods. Lanes A, B, C COSTUME TRAINING DAY!!! SAVE THE DATE: MARCH 12TH FOR THE BANQUET! See you very soon. Mark 612-275-8392
|
Archives
October 2024
Categories |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RSS Feed