MAST Post-Season Update #1: Thank You.... Hyland Season Pass Sale.... State Meet Summary... Banquet

MAST Post Season Update 1
Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Good Morning MAST Athletes, Parents, Coaches:

Well, that was a whirlwind of a season. I have not added up the number of practices and races yet, but it was a lot.  Sixty plus at least. I will give you an exact count at the banquet. Thank you to every one of the coaches who came out to the hill night after night to help everyone become the best skier they could be this season. Our lead coaches all have full time jobs and yet they somehow found the time and energy to come to the hill six days a week to offer their expertise on ski racing. Thank you to their spouses and significant others who put up with their absences over our fourteen-week season. I mean it, thank you!  
Thank you to the volunteer coaches who gave countless hours of their time and talent on the hill as well. We could not have a team without your help. Great work.
Thank you to the dozens and dozens of parents who volunteered behind the scenes and on the hill at races. I am especially proud of how many volunteers MAST provided to work our races. You shined. Our races went very smoothly. You gave our athletes high quality race events. Thank you.

Hyland Season Pass Sale
Hyland Season Passes for the 2022-23 season are now on sale. The cost is $449 for an individual pass. The sale price will increase to $474 in April and then again to $499 sometime in the Fall (most likely November 1). You can purchase your pass online or you can purchase your pass through MAST. If you purchase your pass online directly from Three Rivers Parks/Hyland Hills, you will pay MN state sales tax on your purchase.  If you purchase the pass through MAST, you do not need to pay the sales tax.     
To purchase the pass through MAST, please send a check made payable to Mpls Alpine Ski Team in the amount of $449.00. Hope White has graciously agreed to collect and track season pass payments. Please mail your payment to:

Mpls Alpine Ski Team 
Attention: Hope White
4945 Clinton Ave S
Mpls MN 55419

Please include a note indicating the name of the athlete for whom you are purchasing the pass. If you are new to MAST or have a current sixth grader who plans to join the team next year, please feel free to purchase his or her pass this month.   

We need to send a check to Hyland for all passes purchased this Spring by the end of March, as well as a roster of athletes. So, the deadline for getting a check into Hope's hands is SUNDAY, MARCH 27.  

MN State High School Alpine Championships
The MN State High School Alpine Championships were held on Wednesday, February 16.  Four MAST athletes qualified for the State Meet: Charlie Smith, Andreas Drekonja, Gabby Harritt, and Kate Moore. We had excellent training on Tuesday morning.   Beautiful weather.  Great snow. We trained with the Hastings and Hill Murray teams.  Our athletes had a lot of fun and looked great.  It was a pleasure watch them ski. In fact, all of their training runs are posted on Sprongo. The race was exciting. The field this year was very strong and deep. Charlie Smith had a strong first run, posting the 26th fastest time in a field of 88 boys. Andreas, who was only a half a second behind Charlie, stood ten spots back in 36th place. That is a tight race and a deep field of strong skiers.  On the second run, Charlie made an amazing athletic recovery as he came off the pitch on Helsinki. Unfortunately, that one mistake cost him valuable seconds and he fell back to 38th place overall.  Andreas had a strong second run on a very difficult course and posted the 31st fastest time to finish in 29th place overall. An excellent result.  Gabby and Kate did everything they could to put forth their best performance. Unfortunately, they ran into some difficulties. Kate fell on the steep pitch of Helsinki and slid too far down the hill to be able to hike and finish her run. She was not allowed to take a second run. Gabby got thrown out of the track as she entered the compression coming off the pitch and lost a significant amount of time.  But she skied very well on her second run, posting the 41st fastest time. Both Kate and Gabby gained valuable experience this year, as did Andreas. Next year.... and they will be bringing teammates with them who will benefit from their experience.    

MAST Banquet
A banquet date has not yet been set, but it is coming soon. I won't go into all the factors holding up a decision around the date and venue, but between COVID and the possible teachers' strike, we are fighting an uphill battle. Right now, it looks like the banquet will be held on one of three dates:
Sunday, March 27--most likely late afternoon/early evening.
Sunday, April 24--most likely late afternoon/early evening.
Sunday, May 1... most likely evening.
Please try to keep these date open in your calendars. As soon as we have a decision, we will let you know. We will need volunteers. We are not done yet asking for your help. I apologize for the holdup, but we are dealing with some circumstances out of our control right now.

The Future of MAST and Parent Volunteers
Once we get through the banquet, the MAST Board and coaches will be looking at the question of how we can keep MAST operating long into the future. We need to beef up our parent involvement for not only next season, but for the years ahead. Every year we lose valuable parent volunteers to MAST as their youngest athlete graduates. These roles need to be filled by new parent volunteers. This pattern keeps our program strong year after year. Going into next season, we have some very big shoes to fill. Parents, please give some serious thought to getting more involved with the administration of MAST. Future MAST Updates will outline our volunteer needs in detail. And if you have a talent or skill that you think might be helpful, please reach out to me as well. Carpentry? Electrical wiring? Website design? Movie editing? Bookkeeping? You would be surprised by how many needs we have, and how varied.

Thank you again for a wonderful season. I miss being on the hill with you. I hope you had at least half as much fun as I did.  Keep skiing. There is a lot of season left. Re-visit the drills and just have some fun. And if you are skiing at Welch some weekend, feel free to let me know you are there. I will join you for a few runs if I am available.   

Peace,
Mark Conway
612-275-8392