YARMOUTH — On the afternoon of the potluck dinner that traditionally kicks off the Yarmouth High ski season, members of the Nordic and Alpine teams gathered in adjacent hallways for dryland training specific to their sports.
Abby Condon, a junior who won the Class B skimeister competition last winter, stayed in the Nordic hallway, working out with green stability balls, heavy yellow medicine balls and kettlebells of different colors.
“It’s nice to be part of one team,” Condon said, “instead of spreading myself over both teams.”
The Maine Principals’ Association made three significant changes to high school skiing last spring, eliminating the four-event skimeister competition, contracting the Alpine state meets from three to two classes and awarding team titles in Nordic and Alpine but no longer in combination.
Yarmouth has won 18 overall girls’ titles – including the last nine in Class B – and 14 overall boys’ titles.
Mt. Blue of Farmington leads the state with 22 overall titles for girls and 16 for boys, including the last two in Class A.
Fellow junior Katie Waeldner, who also competed as a skimeister last winter and finished fourth in the Western Maine Conference championships, opted for the Alpine team this season.
“It was hard to really get good at one when doing both,” Waeldner said. “And it was such a big-time commitment that trying to balance it with school and everything, Alpine seemed like the right choice.”
While some lament the passing of the all-around skier able to succeed in slalom and giant slalom on the slopes, and classical and skating techniques on the cross country trails, others wonder why it took so long to recognize that the sports have little in common other than snow and skin-tight racing suits.
“It allows us to focus more on what we want to do as a team,” said senior Lucy Alexander, who plans to continue her Nordic career at Williams College in Massachusetts next winter.
“We don’t have to worry about (whether) our goals match up with the Alpine team or not because now we’re separate.”
Sophomore Greta Elder, the reigning Class B giant slalom state champion, has an older brother who ditched Alpine for Nordic and now is a cross country skier for Dartmouth College.
“I think it’s awesome that we’ve had such a record of winning the combined,” she said. “But there comes a point where, they’re different sports. We’re two different teams, with different interests, and different styles of coaching and team atmosphere.”
Even the dryland training, with no snow in the forecast or on the horizon, is tailored to specific needs. Alpiners focused on strength, stability and balance, and Nordic skiers concentrated on cardiovascular fitness, circuit training and distance running.
“For the kids who did do both and were really successful at it, I feel bad for them because it’s kind of a cool thing,” said junior John Lane, the defending Class B freestyle champion. “But I don’t really care. I always just did Nordic.”
The Class B Alpine state meet is scheduled for Feb. 16-17 at Black Mountain in Rumford. The Class B Nordic state meet is scheduled for Feb. 18-19 at Sugarloaf in Carrabassett Valley.
Unlike past winters, there won’t be the morning-on-the-slopes, afternoon-on-the-trails challenge that required a certain level of stamina and fortitude.
Logistically, you could now do all four events on four successive days instead of cramming four into three.
Condon, who began her competitive career in Alpine before switching to Nordic, is instead bequeathing her slalom and giant slalom equipment to her sister Rachel, a Yarmouth freshman.
“It wouldn’t really make sense to do both of them if there’s no competition for it,” Condon said. “Also, I think Nordic is more fun.”
Bob Morse, entering his 35th season as Yarmouth’s Nordic coach, said he built the program under the premise of encouraging skiers to try both disciplines. Until a few years ago, middle school skiers in Yarmouth who wanted to race gates were required to give cross country a whirl as well.
“I had a lot of kids who started out with Alpine and switched over to Nordic, and became Nordic champions and skimeisters,” he said.
Like wooden skis, that era now seems relegated to the past.
“There is a different feeling,” said a pensive Morse. “Time will tell how things go.”
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