Gallery • 3 Photos

Melissa Nie

Captains Maddy Breton and Lauren Dieperink and senior Henrik Schleisman pose for a photo as they wait for their race to start.

It’s a forty-minute drive to Elm Creek Park, but the members of the Nordic Ski team found ways to bond with each other on the bus en route to their second meet of the season on Dec. 5. Games of Photo Roulette, in which players are shown a picture and they must guess whose camera roll it belongs to, helped make the minutes go by faster, filling them with laughter.

“We have a lot of bonding on the bus which is good. It can be hard to be out in the cold like in the middle of winter but I think our community is really strong and that helps to cheer everyone up,” junior Isabel Toghramadjian said.

Team members were generally optimistic about going into the meet.

“It’s going to be a really great short race. We’re easing into it, but we’re going to win,” captain Maddy Breton said.

Captain Lauren Dieperink agreed: “I had fun on Tuesday, so I’m excited for another meet and that it’s not 5k. I like the shorter races.”

The recent bouts of snow that Minnesota has experienced has been a curse to some, but it is a boon for the Nordic team.

“It’s exciting that we got a lot of snow so early in the season because usually our first couple meets are canceled because there’s not enough snow. So we’re having plenty of time to practice on snow which is good. We have a lot of promising new team members so I’m excited to see how the season turns out,” Toghramadjian said.

Upon their arrival at Elm Creek Park, skiers set their large equipment bags next to ones from competitors like Blake, Breck, and Minnehaha Academy before heading into the lodge. Upper School girls raced at 4:20 p.m. and boys lined up twenty minutes later. Team members made sure to cheer for each other as people entered the final stretch and crossed the finish line.

After the meet, skiers headed back up to the lodge to warm up and put their equipment away. Thoughts on the competition were positive.

“It was a very fast course. Very icy, though. I fell into a ditch. Besides that, I think it was really great. Me and Lauren crossed at the same time,” Breton said.

“It was good to see all the new skiers. Even people who are new to skiing went out and did their best and did really well, so it was nice to see that people are jumping in feet first,” Toghramadjian said.

The next Nordic meet will be Dec. 10 at Hyland Park Reserve. Make sure to come out and support the team.