Update 21: Friday, February 5, 2021

2/5/2021

MAST Update 21
Friday, February 5, 2021

Dear MAST Athletes, Coaches and Families:

The Updates are coming fast and furious now. You are so lucky.
I am happy to report that a small group of Edina racers will be joining us tomorrow. Seven boys and five girls from the Edina Hornets will race in the varsity race and eight girls will race in the JV race. This will raise the competition level a bit since Edina is a perennial state qualifying team. Please welcome our Edina neighbors. Thank you to all of you who signed up to work the race. We could still use a few gate judges for the JV race. Attached is the race plan and run orders for Saturday. It will be cold so we will move through this as quickly as possible.
Introducing Abbey Showalter-Loch, our MAST Race Day Concierge.
I am pleased to announce the promotion of Abbey Showalter-Loch to the esteemed and coveted position of Race Day Concierge. A photo of Abbey is attached so you can identify her more easily on race day. Remember the eyes. For those coaches and parents who will be working the races, Abbey is the person you will see to get a lift ticket, learn where and when to report to fulfill your role, and receive any additional race day information. Abbey will typically be stationed somewhere near the timing building when racing at Hyland or just outside the finish arena/netting when racing elsewhere. I have had the honor of knowing Abbey since she was a young teenage lass. There may not be a nicer person walking the earth. Once you meet her, you will surely agree. In fact, you will want to volunteer just to have the opportunity to check in with Abbey at races. That is how nice she is.
Ski Tuning Instruction On Sprongo
Daniel and Joel made a three-part SKI TUNING INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO. All three videos appear in the Sprongo Playlist titled—get this—SKI TUNING. Look for it. Watch it over and over. Then tune your skis. I wish we could have held in-person tuning clinics as we have in the past, but that would have been imprudent this year. So, if you do not know how to tune your skis, PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO.

Tuning equipment is expensive, but so are your skis. If you take care of your skis by sharpening the edges and waxing the bases regularly, your skis will not only perform better, they will last longer. Also, attached is the MAST Guide To Ski Tuning. The video and the tuning guide should help you get started. If you have questions about tuning, please reach out to an experienced MAST family or your lead coach. If you want to take a deeper dive into the world of tuning, there are many online resources available. The more sources you consult, the more confident you will be when taking a file, stone or hot iron to your skis. PS.... never, ever use your family’s good iron to wax your skis. Your parents might get really mad!

Welch Race Update--VERY IMPORTANT PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW UP.
Attached is a list of athletes who have been selected to race at Welch Village on Wednesday, February 10. I am sorry we cannot bring every athlete who indicated a desire to race. We had a strong sign up of Washburn athletes, more than we can enter in the race. So, if your name is not listed, please do not be disappointed. Both Washburn teams are filled with strong skiers. I wish we could bring everyone, but we have to limit our numbers this season due to Covid. We selected the top 12 skiers per team from training and racing results. Spots remain unfilled for the SW boys’ and girls’ teams, however. If you ski for SW and you would like to race on Wednesday at Welch Village, please email me directly today.
[email protected].
Welch Village Race Agreement and Release of Liability: A reminder that ALL COACHES, RACE VOLUNTEERS, AND ATHLETES need to complete and sign the Welch Village Race Agreement and Release of Liability Waiver. This needs to be done online. Please do this today. If you are signing for your minor athlete, be sure to indicate this in the form. Apparently, some parents miss this detail only to have Welch withhold a lift ticket until a new waiver is completed. Scroll to the bottom of this update to see a list of parents/athletes who have signed the waiver as of this morning.

Race workers are needed, particularly gates judges and course crew. Gates judges can access their gate stations in snow boots by walking up the hill. I suggest bringing ski poles to hike the hill. It has some pitch, and the snow might be icy. Even gate judges in snow boots need to complete the waiver. COACHES: PLEASE SIGN THIS AS WELL EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT CERTAIN YOU WILL BE ATTENDING THIS RACE.

To sign up to work the Welch race: Welch Race Worker Sign UP.
To complete the Welch Liability Release: MAST High School Race Team
Speaking of racing, we had a special race on Wednesday at the early practice. The results are attached. As for our race with Hill-Murray on Jan. 29, much improved results. Both the SW and Washburn boys were victorious over the Hill-Murray boys and the Washburn girls closed the scoring gap from their first match-up with the HM girls. Additional focused training will make for an exciting Section IV Championship. In the boys’ race, MAST skiers placed 17 in the top 20. Erik Arnold placed first and Owen Hemer third. Excellent results boys. The girls showed strong improvement as well. Gabby Harritt moved from placing 6th on Jan 18 to 4th on Jan 29. Quinn moved from 10th to 7th; Kate Moore from 14th to 8th; Vada Arbeiter from 12th to 9th; Elli George from 21st to 13th; Meghan Abel from 16th to 9th; Eleanor Vap from 23rd to 15th. In three short weeks you made big improvements. Keep up the hard work. Sections is approaching and HM is worried. Just keep focusing on the fundamentals and having fun attacking the course.

Cold temps tonight. We will shorten practices a bit tonight to leave time for you to tune your skis and warm up before tomorrow morning.

See you soon.
Mark Conway
612-275-8392

Estimated Attendees: 50
Number of Signed Waivers: 19

Name of the Waiver: Winter Race Release – 2020-21

Names of Attendees who signed

1. * Maraya Bitney - Chloe Bitney (m)

2. * Aaron Cherveny - Finnegan Cherveny (m)

3. * Aaron Cherveny - William Cherveny (m)

4. Mark Conway

5. * Karin George - Elli George (m)

6. * Melissa Harritt - Gabrielle Harritt (m)

7. * Racquel Kuehn - Reese Kuehn (m)

8. * Jean Hutchinson Legler - Elise Legler (m)

9. * KRISTA MARGOLIS - Bret Margolis (m)

10. * Matt McConville - Anne McConville (m)

11. * Matt McConville - Frankie McConville (m)

12. Wendy Moore - Jaxson (Jack) Moore (m)

13. Wendy Moore - Katherine Moore (m)

14. Wendy Moore - Samuel Moore (m)

15. * Abbey Showalter-Loch - Simon Showalter-Loch (m)

16. Eli Showalter-Loch

17. Charles Smith - Charles Smith II (m)

18. * Brien Spanier - Josie Spanier (m)

19. * Anne Trockman - Hayley Trockman (m)

20. * Alicia Vap - Eleanor Vap (m)

21. fritz westphal - Julia Westphal (m)

22. * Hope White - Callum White (m)