FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2001-2002 Most Improved High School Skiers of the Year
Adelsman's Cross-Country Ski Page, better known as Skinnyski.com, is proud
to announce the results of our 3rd annual Most Improved High School Skiers
of the Year contest. Nordic High School coaches and assistants were encouraged to
nominate that cross-country skier on their team that made the biggest improvements this
season. In many cases, this is not necessarily the best skier on the team.
We commend all of the skiers that were submitted this year; it once again
wasn't an easy decision to select the top skiers.
Toko Wax and Hoigaards join us
in honoring these skiers, and have graciously contributed prizes including
a Toko Thermo belt for the winning skiers, and wooden wax forms for the respective nominating
coach.
Female winner: Sarah Haverkamp, Freshman, Henry Sibley High School
Nominated by Coach Tom Gustafson
Tom Gustafson's write up on Sarah:
"I would like to nominate a first year skier on our
team named Sarah Haverkamp for being this years most
improved skier. Sarah is a ninth grader who is in her
first year ever on skis. I convinced Sarah to trade
in her figure skates and try nordic skiing. Sarah had
been a successful runner that fall and decided to give
it a try. During her first days of practicing I knew
she would be an o.k. skater as she could figure skate
and looked somewhat proficient on rollerblades. But
then came actual snow (what little we had). Sarah had
only a few ideas of what to do and fell over a dozen
times. With limited training opportunities she made
use of every chance, as her determination made her
train very hard and consistently in order to "figure"
out a new passion. Sarah made every practice this
year (even when we were skiing on a shaded bike path
next to a hill) and would not stop skiing until the
coaches told her to finally go home.
In her first race, a double pole derby on a lake,
Sarah finished somewhere in the middle and struggled
just to finish. During the season she continued to
improve making massive gains on other more experienced
skiers both on our team and other schools, dramatically
improving her times and finish places in a race. You
could start to see her long practice hours paying off.
Her skating was getting better, but in classic races
she really didn't do much but double pole around as
that was really all anyone could do while training and
racing on lakes.
The first time Sarah actually skied on hills was at
our conference meet at Telemark. During her warm-up
she fell about 8 times and came back in, looking
petrified of what she now would have to race (i.e.
"The Wall"). Remarkably, Sarah ended up by finishing
fourth overall in the conference (this includes
Lindsey Weir's 1st place finish). One week later the
confidence of her conference finish allowed her to
qualify for state in the pursuit, as her classic time
and skate finish were nothing short of phenomenal for a
first year skier who didn't even know how to get kick
and glide before the conference meet. In my mind
Sarah has improved like no other athlete in my 20+
years of coaching and helping young people develop."
|
Runner Up Nominees:
- Brynden Manbeck, Grand Rapids
- Megan Peterson, Park Center
- Jeanine Twomey, Sprint Lake Park
- Kris Halet, Champlin Park
- Katie Benson, Bemidji
Male winner: Danny Johnson, Senior, Detroit Lakes
Nominated by assistant Jay Richards
Jay Richard's write up on Danny:
"I feel Danny Johnson should be recognised for the most improved high school skier for the year 2001-2002. He has made a huge improvement over many other skiers in section 8 in qualifying for the state meet as the top pursuit skier on a non-qualifying team. Danny realized that state was a possibility for the year 2002 after finishing 15th in Section 8 in 2001. He dedicated himself during the off season to building up fitness by running and lifting weights. During the fall he ran cross country and improved during the season to qualify for the state meet. At state in AA, he finished 33 out of 134.
Danny began the current ski season around the top 10 in the section, outside of the Grand Rapids skiers. His goal was to qualify for state, but he knew he would have stiff competition in 2002 from a number of 2001 state qualifiers: Gold from Little Falls, Olson from Mora, and Hammerburg from Apollo. He also faced close competition from four Bemidji skiers, strong classic skiers from Alex, a tough Woodward in Brainerd, and was nipping at the heels Bischoff from Fergus Falls. Throughout the year he placed behind these skiers at each meet but was slowly gaining time with each passing event.
As an example of his improvement, at the Mesabi invite, Brainerd's Woodward was 7th overall in the skate and Danny was 34th, at almost 1 minute behind. At the section 8 championships Danny put 30 seconds on Woodward in the pursuit. At the DL invite meet earlier in the year, Bischoff had nipped Danny at the line to win by just a half second. At Section 8 Championships he put almost a minute on Bischoff in the skate race and a minute and a half for the pursuit. Nistler from Bemidji was a skier that Danny chased the whole year. At Sections, where he and Nistler both put in great classic performances, Danny caught him in the pursuit to beat him for the first time all year. There were 10-12 skiers who were close to placing in the top 7 through 20 overall based on the seasons progress, including Danny. He put everything on the table and pulled out the top pursuit spot, outside of the Grand Rapids skiers. He beat skiers he had not beaten the whole year. Danny dedicated his training to peaking for the Section 8 championships by training through earlier races in the season. High school skiers sometimes have difficulty doing this, but Danny stayed focused and was determined to follow through the training plan so he could cash in at sections. His hard work and determination payed off and we can look for Danny to surprise a few people at state. "
|
Runner Up Nominees:
- Bryan Gastonguay, Burnsville
- David Anderson, Maple Grove
- Will Mitchell, Forest Lake
###
|