Wisconsin High School Preseason Preview

November and December are the times that try high school cross country ski coaches souls, at least in the Midwest, or at least in Wisconsin. On one hand programs begin anew with fresh bodies, enthusiasm, and hope. Usually there is some mourning of senior losses and then the evaluation of prospects begins. Proper training, some early season skiing and the yo-yo of coaching emotions begin all over again. Ski a little (if lucky), dryland a lot, drill, video, talk wax, clothing, patience, and team; all for one and one for all, and keep the faith baby, snow is one the way. Hard times, but fun. On the other hand, the crystal ball for high school prediction can be especially fuzzy, somewhat like kick waxing at 32, many options, some more successful than others, results only discernable through time and testing.

As Wisconsin coaches evaluate their teams and season goals, from a recent survey several themes become clear; programs are growing and most coaches are concerned with skiers becoming part of the larger culture of skiing and being able to include racing as a segment of this lifestyle. Friendship, fitness, and perhaps some results along the way all would be nice. Relationships and team connections come across as strong as who ranks where and who did what last week. Perhaps the early preseason goodwill feeling will give way later to the Vince Lombardi school of thinking, but many coaches seem content with being connected with kids and showing them a few things about a sport that seems to dictate a pride in marching to a different drummer. All that being said, there are some indications of the snowy dogfights to come this year.

On the boys side Hayward again is the force of the Badger State. With a great heritage of success, training venues galore, vast organization under head coach, Bill Pierce, and his veteran band of assistants, and with an ever increasing number of recruits, any other team in the state is going to have to be on their "A" game with all the pieces in place at the State High School Championships at the Schwan Center in Spooner, February 10-11, 2006 to tweak and dislodge this powerhouse. As many know, with a Freestyle/Classic pursuit format, anything can happen; bad wax, team illness, academic distress, and born under a bad sign, are all possibilities? But reality says that depth, experience, hard training, and high local expectations will deal out hopeful thinking by the nearest competitors.

Junior Olympian and last year's state champ, Kyle Fredrickson, will again be considered the team leader, but nipping at his heels and slipping in front at the Christmas Classic Junior Olympic Qualifier 10 km Classic was Matt Pierce. As an All-State runner, Pierce has the aerobic credentials to keep things interesting in the Hurricane stable and is matched in capacity by third man, Jesrin Gaier, a top Midwest Junior mountain biker.

However, other programs have their bright spots and hope to disturb the Hayward game plan with a few surprises. The number two team in '05, Madison West, faces a rebuilding year with the loss of their second man, Bryan Garfoot, to graduation. However, team leader, Ansel Schimpff with an eighth at state will return with help of freshman brother, Birken. We'll see if a third can be developed to match the brothers. Being coached by the Russian Ski School of Yuriy Gusev may be an asset.

The number three team of Bloomer also looks for changes this season with the loss of senior Carl Gladitsch. While Cole Landgraf will more than be able to pick up the slack, how the rest of the team improves will be the telling of the story about retaining their podium ranking of last year.

My favorite dark horse would have to be Lakeland to move into a top three-team position. With all of their top scorers back, including number six at state, Zeke Fashingbauer and number ten, Doug Kozeluh, things look good. Getting a number thee on the team into a upwardly -bound-other -team -damaging spot is where reality hurts. Hopefully hard training and good health will result in positive expectations.

Of course the perennial overachievers from the south, Waukesha West, returns their top nine scorers (Don't they ever graduate down there?) with who knows what in the freshmen wings. Not to be counted out because of a lack of snow, they have experienced, hard-nosed coaches who seem to thrive on snowy road trips and large teams.

Although not able to score highly as teams last year, Ashwaubenon has the young leadership of Daniel Putman, Wausau Newman with Chris Bowler and Pete Allman, Wausau's Sam Bratz, and Kevin Wald and Rhinelander's Jeff Cook. All those strong individuals will be joined by experienced motivated coaches and developing teammates, so who knows. Spooner has the return of junior Ole Odden to offset the loss of last year's third place Santiago Ocariz to UWGB. Place your bets.

The girls profile is perhaps even more muddied. Lakeland looks to be the favorite on paper with the return of their top three, which need some support in case of unforeseen eventualities. Senior Heather Bassett will be joined by Juniors Joanna Pace and Alice Fehlandt to make another run at a state title including the relay title in Madison, January 14, but the team is looking for closer competition from its four, five, and six skiers to be feeling comfortable with past successes. As the season progresses in the critical January races, the truth will be known.

Hayward looks to be in great shape from their early season results, even with the loss of Karlye Wisdom , Rebecca Morales, and Ara Wittwer. Ready to step up are Maria Grossi, Jenny Narveson, Amanda LaCoy, and Michelle Narveson, and if that isn't enough, freshman, Molly Burger isn't shy and seems to be skiing hot from the get go. Very interesting. Having an experienced coaching staff that claims over 100 years of racing, training, and raising endurance athletes can only be an asset, although collectively they don't look that old.

Last year's third place team, Waukesha West is looking very impressive on paper. As Wisconsin's 2005 D-1 Cross Country Champions, they have taken four of their top seven runners and turned them into skiers. Laura Koch, Alyssa Beste, Erica Class, and Megan Dugan may all be riding the euphoria of a state win into ski season with thoughts of snow filled bigger and better results for this year. And they're not the only ones able to lend a hand. Lots of potential and a fairly large pool of skiers to draw from which only increases intersquad competition and raises the team bar. Lots to keep an eye on with this group.

Of course Wausau Newman has a quality team of girls and returns two of their top three in Rachel Riske and Dani Owen.  Wausau West has promise in the sisterly form of Eileen and Lara Burke with great numbers to fill in the other spots.  Wausau East has Caitlyn Schoenfeld, Laura Maguire, and Kristin Sanft who train with the West skiers under the direction of coaches Tracy Gorzek, Greg Kresse, and Jim Gallagher, all veterans.  Of course Rhinelander, Iola, Spooner, and Ashwaubenon also have state hopes and will be preparing well for the season.  The biggest question of the season may revolve around last year’s freshman phenom, Ashawaubenon’s Melanie Hoffman who took a fantastic pair of classic skis and whomped the rest of the field on the first day, while holding on to third in the skate race to take the overall pursuit title.  Impressive and of course all the knowledgeable spectators are interested in seeing if she can repeat for another round.  Early season results look promising, but also vulnerable.  With the right training and a bit of luck she’ll be there at the end of the season.

The old crystal ball will surely sharpen the closer we get to the state meet February 10-11 at the Schwan Center in Spooner.  With 10-15 races between now and the state meet a lot can happen; skiers develop, skiers tire, skiers get on fire, skiers get beat and depressed, illness sets in at the wrong time, a surprisingly poor wax job appears and BOOM! What do you get?  Stay tuned, lots can happen.