On Wed. February 13th, The Orono Alpine Ski team competed in the State competition held at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, Minnesota.
According to the Olympic Games, modern downhill skiing dates back to the 1850’s in Norway. However, downhill skiing came to Orono in the winter of 1981-82. From there, many generations of skiers have competed across the district and the yearly state competition.
The qualifiers for this years state competition included; Cordelia Sherwood, Riviera Wook, Kyler Burrows, Camille Kuznik, Ginny Morrison, and Harper Randolph, who competed as a team. Along with Aaron Kuznik who competed as an individual representing Orono.
The girls section team was made up of five sophomores and one senior. The team was composed of a lot of younger talent which has been different for the Orono team.
“It was a great experience for me because I got to know the younger teammates so much better and I am so proud of all the girls for finishing so well so I could end off my ski career strong,” senior skier Ginny Morrison said.
Skier Aaron Kuznik finished 15th overall for the boys. While the girls team finished second only falling behind first by one single point. Cordelia Sherwood led the girls team by finishing seventh overall.
“Being the only guy is a little intimidating when you see the rest of the teams at state, but I feel like I am representing all the guys on our team when I am there,” skier Aaron Kuznik continues, “Making state is really important to me because it means I can compete against the best guys in the state and see how I really stack up against them. It also pushes me to work harder because I know that if I want to do well next year I need to work hard at practice.”
One point in a ski race is incredibly close. One turn around a single gate can make a huge difference for the team.
“To come in second place missing first by one point is a very close race. It is all decided on place points, so if there are 75 skier’s in the race, first places would get 75 points, second place 74 and so on. So if one of our skier’s would have placed a head of another in the final result, it would have given us another point and that point could have meant the racer was won by a tenth or even a hundredth of a second,” coach Heidi Butler said.
With temperatures at two degrees or less including a light snowfall, team felt the nerves and chills.
“To battle some of the nerves I just look back at all the times I have skied well and channeled that energy! As a team this year we all wanted to ski strong and just ski in a way that we felt good! I think we were all really hoping and skiing to try and win, and we ended up being so close!” racer Cordelia Sherwood said.
During the off season, many skiers train and continue the right mindset for the next year’s group of racers.
“Next year I think our team is going to be stronger, and I think that I can do better at state. My goal next year is to place in the top 10 at state and I think if I work hard and ski fast I can do it,” Kuznik said.
