Heading To States For The Gates
The Hartland Ski team has kick-started into a new season and the racers are excited to see how this year’s team is. After coming so close to qualifying for state finals last year, the girls team is planning to give it their all for this season in order to make this aspiration a reality. The team has a core group of racers and many of them place in the teens and low twenties, for example: 17, 18, 19, or 20 out of 55 racers. This was precisely the case at their first meet on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015, when they placed fifth out of ten teams.
"The girls [team’s] goal is to make it to states," said senior and captain Jessica Schnabel.
The guys team, on the other hand, is struggling. They have often placed ninth or tenth out of eleven teams. In a ski race six racers ski in the varsity race and four of their times are scored. With all of the risks to fall, disqualify, or have a poor time, every run counts. Unfortunately, not every run is perfect. In future years the guys team is hoping to recruit some more skiers to offset their radically small numbers and potentially improve results. Only adding to the difficulty, Hartland's number one racer as of last lear, Kyle Petronio, suffered a damaging fall and tore his ACL, a common knee injury, at the end of the season; he is unable to race this year.
"You can’t worry about other people, you just have to focus on what you can do to get better," freshman Alex Willis said.
Even with the team doing poorly, Willis focuses on improving his own skills and consequently doing all he can to support the team.
"It really became fun when I could focus on going as fast as I can, rather than just upright the whole way down," Willis said.
Willis has shown drastic improvement. With being new to the competitive side of the sport, he has taken initiative and is doing everything he can to get better.
As the season has progressed, the girls team has gotten much better and they are still improving. The team has consistently placed fifth at the race on Jan. 20, 2015 there were only seven points separating them from a second place finish.
“I see them more than my [family] and being stuck in the cold for [so] long you get close, you have to, there [is] only so much room around the space heater,” said Schnabel.
On the Ski team the racers are as close as family, sometimes closer. As Schnabel points out, the cold and wind creates a special bond between the team members. When racers are freezing out on the hill, the extra support and body heat goes a long way to contribute to the success of the team.
