The ski team’s regular season wrapped up at their regional meet, which took place at Caberfae Peaks in Cadillac, Michigan on Monday, February 12.
The team arrived the day before to train for about two and a half hours. Even with a short amount of training time, they were able to make their trip into one last team bonding experience.
“There’s never a time when you’re alone when we’re up there and it’s really nice to feel like a part of something and to always have people by you. We make the best memories,” senior and captain Olivia Phaneuf said.
Sophomore Megan Paasche qualified for state finals for the second year in a row, while the girls team as a whole finished 5th. Coach Cole Dochod viewed Paasche as not only a great skier but also one who helps teach her teammates ways to improve.
“Regionals is a lot different than our normal conference races,” Dochod said. “The team did great working together.”
Czech Republic foreign exchange student Anna Safranek, who had some experience in the past with racing, decided to pick it up again at Northview. She became very close with her teammates and was thankful for the new friends as well as new skills.
“I improved [my times] a lot because I changed my technique,” Safranek said. “Even if I don’t continue race skiing in the future I think I’m a better skier and I can be more careful.”
The meet itself consisted of the racers doing one run on each of the two slalom courses and two runs on the single giant slalom (GS) course.
“It was actually really exciting to see [the races] because at training day I was like wow [my teammates] have actually improved a ton,” said Phaneuf. “Just seeing that on training day and the race was exciting. It made me so happy.”
Freshman Cali Duckers joined the ski team with no previous experience and finally got to participate with varsity at Caberfae. She was a forerunner for the race, a skier who’s time doesn’t count but they still get to run the course before any other racers go.
“It was a really good experience. I can’t wait to do it next year,” Duckers said.
The ski family felt the sadness of the end of the season, but they remain very close, even if they don’t see each other everyday.
“It’s weird not to have them,” Safranek said.
To keep their ties close, some members plan on traveling with Paasche to her state meet on February 26 at Schuss Mountain at Shanty Creek in Bellaire, Michigan.
