Skiers of the Week - Catch up!

It's been a busy season and we have gotten hopelessly behind on the skiers of the week! I'm going to try to get them all in this posting, it will be a little shorter but they've all been amazing!

January 30 & 31 - Mesa State
It was our fist trip to the Mesa State Invite and to Grand Mesa. All I can say is WOW! What a wonderful and beautiful place! If you are reading this and don't want to come to Wyoming for school you should seriously consider Mesa, it's fantastic!

Anyway, the races were a freestyle sprint and a 10km Classic.

For our Men's Skier of the Week we have to go with Dan. Although we think it's likely we'll want to have him as a skier of the day for Nationals you can't ignore the weekend he put together by dominating a tough sprint with rounds that were extremely close together and then following it with an extremely tactically intelligent race to take the 10km classic from 2 Western State boys who wanted to show him what was up. It was an impressive set of races that showed his ski skill as well as his tactical ability. YOU ROCK OUR WORLD!

The Women's Skier of the week will be shared by two great performances in two separate races, both complete surprizes!

First came the sprint and Sarah! Who knew she can sprint, she's never done a sprint before but I think I see a great future for her. For a little context here... We are redshirting Sarah as a freshman because we think she's got a lot more to give with an extra year of nordic training and skiing. So far this season her best points have not gone below 604 and she hasn't broken into the top 10 this year. It was clear after the first round that the sprint was something different. After the qualifying round Sarah sat in 7th place with 320 points! Wow, that alone was a great finish but she continued on, just squeaking through each round until she found herself in the finals! By then she was exhausted but still managed a 5th place! Wow, way to rock the sprint Sarah! YOU ROCK OUR WORLD!




The next day came another surprise, well actually not so much of a surprise, we knew this was coming. Anyway, after a glorious day on Saturday Sunday was snowy, windy and foggy, a little rough for a race. This didn't slow Cara down a bit! In fact she skied like a maniac and had her best points, best place, best race ever! She had already bettered her best race from last season earlier in the year but this Classic race was an announcement that she wants to be taken seriously on her skis! She skied an amazing race and at the end had taken 12o off her best race ever, was only 10ish seconds away from qualifying for Nationals, was the 4th UW woman AND placed 8th in the race! Wow! YOU ROCK OUR WORLD!

February 5 & 6 - New Mexico Invitational
Our Men's Skier of the Week has become our most dependable athlete this year. Both on and off the snow John is a joy. He's skied well and consistently throughout the season and he's been the most helpful and wonderful person off the snow. Whenever I look around to find someone to help, John is not only there but is already helping!

The weekend of New Mexico turned out to be the best season weekend for John in the last two years, possibly the last 4! He not only finished both races with flying colors he had his lowest points for a two race weekend for the last two years. He rocked the classic race, despite not getting his split as his coach crashed and slid beside him. He then came out and despite feeling extremely tired, had a solid skate race. Throughout the weekend he was helpful, cheerful and a great example of a class act. YOU ROCK OUR WORLD - for so many reasons!

The Women's Skier of the Week had to be Morgan. In the classic race she rocked, giving nothing to the NCAA girls that wanted to dominate her. She had her first sub 300 point race ever and skied like a goddess! The second day was a little different, she still struggles with skate and this course was unforgiving. At 3.5km she was in obvious pain and I asked if she needed to stop. She shook me off and kept skiing. On the second loop I watched the other girls ski by and thought that I would have along wait for Morgan and her disfunctional legs when I looked up and there she was! Less than 2 minutes behind Marie! She was skiing well and appeared to actually be gaining ground on Marie and Shanna! Not only did she manage to finish the race she controlled her legs to the point where she could ski well and relatively well. She had one of her best skate points ever and could walk after the race! As I always say, Morgan's too tough for her own good but she really ROCKS OUR WORLD!


February 13 & 14 - Owl Creek Chase
Down to last weekend and the Owl Creek Chase.

For the Men's Skier of the Week we had to go with Zheyna. He had been sick for the last few weeks so none of us were sure how he would feel but he came out with a vengeance on Saturday only 8% and 2.5 minutes out of the top guys and skiing strong and well. He had a great race and felt good, we were extremely pleased. He followed that race with a great effort in the 21km, over the mountain, punishment otherwise known as the Owl Creek Chase. He skied hard and well and his points for the race were only bettered by one race in the last 2 years. It was an extremely great effort and with the inspiration that's bond to come from his brother's Silver we expect great things at Nationals. YOU ROCK OUR WORLD!

We thought long and hard about who to choose for the women, there were several standout finishes but we finally had to give it to the women's elite team on Saturday. As coaches you never have a purely good day and although Saturday was no exception the women's team did their best to give us a great day. All 5 women skied that 5km course better than we have ever seen! Skiing hard, well, fast and just generally looking and skiing amazing! 4 of the 5 women were in the top 25% of the race and most of them tying or bettering their best classic race of the year. It was a truly inspire performance and we appreciate your effort and dedication. YOU ROCK OUR WORLD!