Note from John

The Maine Coast Waldorf HS Ski Team spent this past Saturday competing at the WMC Championships in a one day race series in Fryeburg. The light snow and cold temperatures made for a great day of skiing at Stark's Hill. The Classic Boys race started the day and our boys had a solid start with Tucker winning, Nick in 6th, Eli in 15th and Davis in 17th. For the Girls Classic race Louise and Fiona were solid in 3rd and 11th, also scoring were Wilson in 16th and Ava T in 29th. In the afternoon Skate race the Boys again were lead byTucker a very close second, Nick in 6th, Eli in 14th and Dylan in 18th. The Girls skate race closed the series, Louise again leading the team in 3rd followed by Fiona in 12th, Wilson in 22nd and Ava T in 30th. For the day the Boys were second to a very strong Freeport team and the Girls ended in 4th. We are hopeful the Girls will regroup from illness and be in good form for the upcoming State Class C Championships at Quarry Road in Waterville.

This season has been a challenge as our team is larger than years past. This is a good sign, however the large group requires more attention to ensure everyone gets the proper level of support. We have nine new freshman as well as two guest skiers from Morse High School, and thankfully Sam K is back again this year to help with coaching. We started the year with two plus weeks of dryland training before getting early skiing at Pineland before the Christmas break. This year's ski camp was back at Rangeley, again thanks to the generosity of the Pierce family. The snow came the day the camp started and we had four great days of cold weather skiing.

The WMC race season opened the week after the break with a 5K skate race at Pineland. The season started great with Tucker and Olivia winning their races, Louise and Nick were both in fourth, Eli, Dylan, Fiona and Ava H were the scorers helping the Boys to a first and the Girls a second place finish. The next race up was the popular Telstar Relay Race. The history, the fun, and a deep field make this race a season highlight. This year our first team of Tucker, Nick, Louise and Olivia had a great battle with a strong Gould team, and although we came up a little short, it was a great race with lead changes throughout. We had two teams starting in the A wave, Eli and Fiona joined Morse skiers Jenny and Makail and finished a strong 14th, also our B team of Dylan, Davis,Caitlin and Wilson were second in their race. The second WMC race at Pineland was not held due to no snow.

Our next race was the WMC Relay at Starks Hill. This was a Boys and Girls team race. We tried to even out our teams and had good results as the Boys two teams were 2nd and 3rd and the Girl's were 1st and 6th. The next WMC race at Libby Hill was a skate race in challenging soft new snow. Nick won his first High School race, Olivia won the Girls race and Louise finished in 3rd followed by Caitlin and Fiona, the other scoring girls. Tucker, while taking a needed rest/sick day, still managed a 7th, with Eli and Thomas as the next scorers. The Sassi Classic race at Black Mt is one of the largest High School Races in Maine and Nick, Eli, Dylan and Thomas lead the Boys team. Louise in fifth was our top girl's finisher, Caitlin had a breakout race in 14th and Myla had her first High School race finish. Due to the cancelled WMC race we added the Maranacook Wave race for those who could make this fun unique race with a start for each HS Class. We had great finish results with Tucker, Jenny and Makail winning their class, Olivia was second and Nick 5th, Louise 6th and Caitlin 6th in their respective class. This could be a fun race to add next year. The last regular season WMC race at Stark's was one of the team's best result of the year. Both Boys and Girls teams won their races, Tucker added another win followed by Nick, Eli, and Thomas. Olivia also added another win followed by Louise in 4th, Caitlin continued her strong finishes with a 10th and Fiona a strong 14th.

Our freshman skiers all made great progress and all made it to the starting line this season, this is an achievement they can build on for next year. For the Freshman, Caitlin was outstanding and was among the top four scorers, Adams had a very solid WMC Championships with a 25th and 26th, good for a first year skier, Ava T also had a good WMC with a 29th and 30th. Eliza, Myla, Ethan, Stuart, Aiden and Max all competed in their first WMC Championship races.

With the latest new snow we look forward to another couple weeks of skiing and the Class C State Championships.