Update 23: Sunday, February 16, 2020

Dear MAST Athletes, Parents, Coaches and Fans:
 
What a wonderful year!  Fourteen and a half weeks together, six days a week.  I am deeply grateful to our coaches, parents and athletes for such a fantastic season together.    Athletes:  Thank you for your enthusiasm, hard work, cooperation, and commitment.   Parents: Thank you for your support, both for your athlete and for our efforts to produce an alpine race team.  And coaches; thank you for your tireless work on and off the hill to provide the best training and racing experience day in and day out anywhere in Minnesota.  My gratitude runs deep. 
 
State Meet Re-Cap
The MN State High School Alpine Championships were held at Giants Ridge on Wednesday.  As you already know, fifteen MAST skiers qualified to compete at the State Championships. These skiers gave it everything they had both in training on Tuesday and in the race on Wednesday.   Washburn Senior Luke Conway put down the fastest times on both the first and second runs to earn an impressive victory over a tough field of skiers.   Junior Oliver Mueller also had a superb result, finishing on the podium in fifth. For the girls, Elsa Peterson took third place and was only 35/100ths of a second behind the winner.   Congratulations Luke, Elsa, and Oliver.  MAST has never put three skiers in the top five at State before, so consider yourselves record breakers. Here is a link to the StarTribue story on the race:

STATE MEET STAR TRIBUNE COVERAGE 

Other notable performances: Addie Streble skied very well to finish 25th and earn All State Honorable Mention honors and Willem Robertson skied two very consistent runs to finish 29th.  Augie Bent put down two clean runs to finish 53rdand Meghan Abel finished 61st, with Gabby Harritt right behind in 62nd place.    Like Gabby, Emmet Sutton was skiing in his first State Championship.    He kept the nerves at bay and demonstrated great technique and tactics to finish in 62nd place.   Owen, Ryan and Wilson each had one good run and then had to fight through a mistake on the other run.  Regardless, they skied very well on the runs they finished cleanly and that should be the memory they preserve for themselves.   Owen’s mistake came on the first run and he battled disappointment to ski a very fast and impressive second run.   Way to stay mentally strong Owen.   Finally, seventh grader Lucy Renz did what the sixth seed racer is supposed to do for her team.  She finished both runs cleanly and scored valuable points for her team after Avery and Elli went down on the first run.   The Washburn boys finished sixth in the team competition and the Southwest girls finished fifth.  

Our alternates Jaxson Moore, Andreas Drekonja, and Eleanor Noble-Schueller provided much needed cheer and support for our fifteen competitors.  Thank you alternates. You did a stellar job supporting your teammates all day.  Finally, thank you parents and coaches. You put a ton of work into making this experience exceptional for everyone involved.  Please know how appreciative I am for all of your support and hard work over our three-day adventure.  Training runs from Tuesday and race runs from Wednesday as well as the State Meet Award Ceremony are on Sprongo.  Check them out.  Boys individual, girls individual, and team race results are attached.
 
The 20th Annual MAST Banquet: Tuesday, March 10
Our banquet will be held this year at St. Joan of Arc Church on Tuesday, March 10.  We had to change venues this year to accommodate our larger team size.    Please mark this date on your calendar.  I suspect that we will get going around 5:30 or so, but final details will be announced soon.   We do need help with the banquet.   Lots of help.  Sabena Svedahl is our 2020 Banquet Chair.  Please contact Sabena if you can spare some time to help make this a truly special night: [email protected].
 
Keep Skiing
My heart aches because we are unable to continue skiing together. Joel tells me that there were 40-45 athletes at practice on Monday and Tuesday nights while we were away at the State Meet.  That is such an awesome report.  It means that many of you want to keep skiing as well.   Obviously, we have a lot of Winter remaining and the ski slopes will stay open for another month or more.  Please, please, please keep skiing.  Have fun but also work on your skill development. You do not need to ski gates to get better.   Work the drills you have learned this year.  Watch your videos on Sprongo, identify some improvement goals that you can shoot to achieve in the next four weeks, and get out to Hyland with your season pass and continue your hard work.   Go with a friend so you can work together to maintain and improve your skills.   We are graduating a lot of seniors this Spring—five from the Washburn boys Section team and three from the SW girls Section team).   We have some fast skis to replace next year on these teams. The opportunity is there for anyone willing to work hard and the hard work can start now.  Look for an email from me in the next day or two listing drills with instructions plus some links to websites with videos on how to perform the drills.  
 
Missing Bibs
If you have a MAST bib in your possession, please drop it off at my house or bring it to the banquet.  
 
Caring For Your Equipment In the Offseason
Once you are finished skiing this year, you will want to store your equipment properly so that it is in good condition for next season—either for you to use or for you to sell or give away.   
 
Skis: Clean your skis.  Give them a shower even. If you ski late into the Spring, your skis and bindings will get dirty.   You can rinse of the dirt and grime under a nice warm shower.   Dry them off with a soft cloth.   
 
Tune your edges and wax your bases.  Give your skis a clean edge for storage so that any small rust spots are removed and any dings that are susceptible to rust over the summer are removed.  Then put a nice coat of wax over the bases.  Leave the wax on.  Strap your skis at both the tip and tail and store in a dry, cool place.   Do not store in a ski bag.   
 
Boots: take your liners out of your boots and let them dry thoroughly.  Clean your shells inside and out with soap and water.  Once everything is dry, put the liners back in the boots and buckle them up.  Store in a dry, cool place.   

This was a tremendous season.  I look forward to celebrating your successes at the banquet. Get you homework done in advance so you can enjoy the festivities unencumbered by school stress.

More to come...

Mark
612-275-8392