Congrats and looking ahead

Results from Class B States in Fort Kent are now posted on the Race Results tab.

Congratulations to the girls and boys teams, both earning the Class B Runners Up title, and a hearty congratulations to the coaches too!

Here's what there is to know about the nordic team for the next week or so.

End of Season Gathering:
Please be sure you're free for our team appreciation night on Tuesday, March 6 at 7:00pm in the Community Hall.  This is the evening for our end of season gathering, where we will look back at the season, say many thank-yous, and enjoy dessert.  Skiers, parents and interested siblings are most welcome.

Photos:
In the next day or two, we will post where to send any photos from the season, to be included in the slideshow.  Please look through your photos now and get prepared to send.

Optional Races:
With states behind us, the regular high school race season is now complete.  Coming up next weekend (Saturday, March 3) is the U16/Eastern High School Qualifier, which is scheduled to take place at Black Mountain in Rumford.  For those that don't know what this is, the qualifier is a "two race in one day format" (classic in the morning, skate pursuit in the afternoon) to determine who is eligible to represent Maine in both the U16 festival and the Eastern High School festival.  Each of these festivals is a 3 day/2 night event of skiing and racing.  U16s are for younger skiers (born in 2002 or 2003) and EHSs are for any high school skiers.  Each state in New England (and nearby) will field a similar team of 24 skiers and they all race against each other on the festival weekends.  Note that if you make either of these teams and choose to attend the festival weekend, there is a not insignificant fee to be paid by the skier/family (probably ~ $300 plus NENSA membership).  Click here for a post on mainehighschoolskiing.com re: the qualifier.

Anyone is welcome to participate in the qualifier.  In addition to the link posted just above, interested skiers should keep an eye on www.mainehighschoolskiing.com for any new info and updates that may be added.  Do note that this is not a MCWS team event, so the registration fee ($20 early or $23 day of) is not covered by your MCWS team fee.  All skiers participating in the qualifier will need to submit their own registration (online registration form found on the qualifier info page on mainehighschoolskiing.com).

John Tarling has graciously agreed to wax for our skiers participating in the qualifier, so please extend an extra thank you to John for his help.  Good luck to all that elect to ski in this race!  Remember that if you make one (or both) of these teams and intend on participating in the festival weekend(s), you must have a check in hand and be prepared to pay for the festival weekend(s) on March 3, the qualifier day.

For those that do make either the U16 or Maine EHS team - those festival weekends are:
U16 - March 9-11 at Gore Mt, North Creek, NY
EHS - March 16-18 at Black Mt, Rumford, ME

Scholarship:
There are scholarship funds for attending these festival weekends.  Check out the post here for more info - Nordic Scholarship - taking careful note of the application deadline.

Practices:
Since the regular high school season is over, there will not be any more official after school practices.  As long as Pineland is open (it's currently closed), skiers are welcome to arrange their own transportation and ski on their own (passes are still good).

It's possible that John may come out to ski a couple afternoons a week.  If/when this happens, Susan will let let skiers know at school and/or post on the blog.  If John does this, he will be volunteering his time because he is really nice, so be sure to thank him :)

Uniforms:
Everyone should return their CLEAN uniform to Susan this week.  Kids skiing in the qualifier next weekend may keep their uniforms until after that race.