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Good Evening MAST Athletes, Coaches, Parents and Friends: Not sure how many of you know this, but the great poet of our time, Warren G., actually wrote the original version of “Regulators” about an alpine ski team. If you haven’t heard it before it goes like this: Alpine Skiers, boot up!! It was a clear black night, a clear white moon, MAST skiers on the slope, trying to consume some gates for the eve, so they get some wins. Then rollin’ in the bus home, chillin’ as a team… How fitting, right? It was indeed a clear black night and a clear white moon, a bit cold, but many parents commented, “it’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be.” We really have become a hearty bunch, haven’t we? Speaking of hearty, MAST racers faced the cold and zipped down both courses like it was well above 3 degrees. See below for the coaches' race commentary and additional information (full results for varsity and JV, team and individual attached.) MEC Race #1 - Coach Recap & Results THANK YOU to all of our parents, alumni and coaches who worked this cold race! And, thank you, alumni, families and friends, for supporting our athletes. Fans attending our first Metro East Conference race at Wild Mt yesterday saw another very strong performance by our athletes. The Washburn Boys and the Southwest Girls both took second place to a very strong Hill-Murray squad. Lia Rulf has worked hard to get her shins on the gate more consistently and square up her shoulders and it paid off with a third-place finish behind perhaps the two top contenders for the state championship title this year. Lucy Renz, Eva Voyakin and Harlowe Petersen scored valuable team points, finishing 6th, 7th, and 8th. Ella O’Connor and Violet Mueller provided a strong one-two punch for the MAST girls with their 10th and 11th place results. Maddie Graff, Amelia Moertel, and Elsa Addy were the top three scorers for Washburn, place 14th, 15th and 16th. For the boys, Sam Moore and Wyatt Shelton were our top two finishers, placing 7th and 8th respectively. Placing 11th was Steffan Drekonja who was followed by a flood of Washburn boys who took five of the next six places. Sullivan Hunt broke up the Washburn domination with his impressive finish in 18th place. The sportsmanship award goes to Massi Bray who, upon the conclusion of the second run, informed me that Sully had beaten him AND THAT HE WAS VERY HAPPY FOR HIS FRIEND. That is the right attitude to take. Each one of you pushes your teammates to improve. Athletes, you continue to show improvement on both the technical and tactical sides of our sport. Tactically, most of you were able to keep your turn shape above the gate, completing your direction change as you cleared the gate. Technically, I saw a lot less sliding and much more carving, especially from our less experienced skiers. A couple of issues we need to continue to work hard to improve: Keep the chest/hips up so you have a more athletic stance. Some of you are breaking at the waist causing your chest to face the snow instead of “down the fall line”. Driving the inside shoulder forward as your turn shape progresses through the fall line. This will help you keep your chest more “square” to the fall line and maintain consistent pressure on the outside ski. Drive the inside knee to create equal edge angles and to assist you in clearing the gate simultaneously with your hand and shin. This will allow you to get more of your upper torso inside the gate. Move the hips “down the fall line” in the transition phase of the turn BY EXECUTING A POLE PLANT. Finally, many of you have the skills now to ski more aggressively. What does this mean? It doesn’t mean using your arms and upper body more. It doesn’t mean going straight at the gate and losing turn shape. It means that you MOVE your hips down the fall line as soon as you complete your turn, which should be when you finish clearing the gate. This is where a pole plant is helpful... even if it is just a pole tap. Skiing more aggressively is about having an intense desire to complete the turn and move to the new ski. Work the lower legs to create a new high edge angle quickly. For some of you, it might mean that you can target the rise line lower than you have previously because you are now able to make a tighter radius turn in a shorter distance and still finish the direction change as you clear the gate. We have a cold week ahead, but we will keep training. Add some layers to your clothes. Wear a face mask. Go in for short warm-ups before your feet freeze (and unbuckle your boots). If we are on the rope tow lanes, bring your rope tow gloves and use the rope tow. That will keep you much warmer. Most of all, keep working hard. Your Loving Coaches Race workers needed for Wednesday’s race at Hyland - we can’t do this without our parents and volunteers!See below for the rundown and timing for Wednesday’s race (directly from the weekly update sent Sunday.) This is an ALL TEAM race vs Wayzata, Hopkins, & Lake Crystal at Hyland Bib distributors will be near the timing shack around 3:35 for you to collect your bib between warm up runs. We know you travel from many different schools but please try to be on the snow by 3:15. 2:45 pm - Early release Washburn & SW - *All other schools 2:30 early release 3:00-3:15 pm - Arrive at Hyland 3:15-3:45 pm - Warm Up 3:45 pm - Course Inspection for Both Courses 4:00 pm - Gate Judges Meet in the Finish Arena 4:30 pm - First Run Start 5:30 pm - Second Run Start 6:15 pm - Hill Clean Up **ALL ATHLETES - please plan to stay and help your teammates sweep the hill. ATTN: GIANT’S RIDGE MLK INVITE PARENTS In an effort to keep the MLK race on schedule in frigid temps, organizers want to make sure there are plenty of course maintenance workers. We are responsible for providing 2-3 course workers and 2-3 backup gate judges, in the event of judge no-shows. Race organizers would like to have these names sooner than later. Please consider. Additionally, there are still some open spots for team provisions. Sign up here: Giants Ridge Varsity MLK Invite 1/18/25 Thanks for your help and support! COACHES and SUPPORT TEAM, Mpls Alpine Ski Team (Jen Peterson - Communications) Key Contacts if you have questions (preferred to replying to this e-mail): CORE PARENTS for each school (for questions about registration, season schedule, etc): Washburn/Page Erik Addy [email protected] 952-270-0934 Southwest/Anthony Bill Bray [email protected] 507-301-7109 MAST-All Other Schools Owen Moldow [email protected] 612-730-4818 COACHES (for questions about ski equipment, sizing, skiing instruction and technique). Head Coach Southwest/Anthony Boys Joel Hedrick [email protected] 612-716-3186 Head Coach Southwest/Anthony Girls Paige Alampi [email protected] 612-718-1440 Head Coach Washburn/Page Boys Matthew Polland [email protected] 612-220-1010 Head Coach Washburn/Page Girls Eleanor Goodnow [email protected] 612-723- 9559 Head Coach MAST Boys (All other Schools) Daniel Polland [email protected] 612-558-0526 Head Coach MAST Girls (All other Schools) Andréa Savage [email protected] 612-508-6214 FOLLOW MAST: MAST Facebook MAST Instagram
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