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Olya Wright, powering up the hill in the photo above, has been putting together quite a cross country ski season so far. To date, Olya has won the two Junior Varsity Nordic ski races she has been entered in. This week’s high school cross country ski race has been canceled due to the extreme cold weather, but the Vikings will be out practicing on a limited basis. Photo courtesy of Baylee Johnson
The Two Harbors/Cook County (THCC) Nordic ski team traveled to Spirit Mountain on February 4 for their second meet. Six Cook County skiers joined 17 Two Harbors skiers to make up the team. The team hasn’t been able to interact much during this COVID-19 year but took advantage of an opportunity at this meet. With the pleasant weather conditions, the team kicked off the day with an outdoor team building exercise of charades: with noodles, a coffee pot, an airplane, and Olympic skier Jessie Diggins being acted out. This year there is a limit to the number of teams allowed at a race due to COVID-19. So, this meet was a dual meet with two teams racing in the morning and two racing in the afternoon. Marshall and Proctor teams raced in the morning, THCC and Hibbing teams raced in the afternoon and the results of all races were combined. The fresh snow made conditions more challenging, but our skiers rose to the occasion and skied well. Freshman Olya Wright took first place in the Junior Varsity girls’ 5.7km freestyle race and eighth grader Kaleb Berka took third place in the Junior Varsity boys’ 5.7km freestyle race. Junior Cece Chmelik skied the Varsity girls’ 5.7km freestyle race and eighth grader Naomi Tracy-Hegg skied the Junior High girls’ 3.3km freestyle race. Seventh grade newcomers to the team, Emma Crook and Mary June Wharton, have improved their skills learned from Y-ski and skied strong in the Junior High girls’ 3.3km freestyle race. Both were hesitant to compete this year but after each race say they are energized by the positive energy at the meets and can’t wait until the next one. This coming week’s race has been canceled due to the cold weather. Practices will be low key due to the cold conditions so skiers will get a little rest. However, the team is looking forward to hosting the next race at Pincushion on February 18 where they get to ski on their home turf. Let’s hope for more snow to freshen up those ski trails before then.
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