FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

State Meet Proposal Tabled, Spring Meeting Update

Coaches,

I just got off the phone with Rich Matter, the MSHSL staff person who oversees nordic skiing. He informed me that the MSHSL will NOT be looking at any proposals that change section or state meet formats for the next two years. Needless to say, I was caught off guard, as I was calling him to finalize our strategy in getting the word out to Region Secretaries, and schedule meetings with each of the 16 regions. He apologized to me, because he knew this was coming, and said he was naïve in thinking that our proposal might not fall under their ‘moratorium’.

I can share more at the Spring Meeting next Saturday up in Mora, but I wanted you all to know, in case your driving force for attending was to hear how you could help in getting this proposal passed. Rich did want to make sure I knew that this in no way means that the proposal is ‘dead’, just delayed. He, in fact, is very much in favor of the proposal, and will do what he can to help its’ passage. The earliest this will now be presented to the Regions and MSHSL Board will be spring of 2019, for possible implementation in winter of 2019-2020. This also coincides with the first year being out from under the contract at Giants Ridge.

My energies now will be directed toward that end, finding the best possible home for our State Meet for the near future. Please come Saturday to share ideas and thoughts to that end, as well as the agenda items sent earlier. If you plan to stay for lunch next Saturday, please RSVP by Monday night, so I can tell the folks at Mora how many to prepare food for.

Thanks for listening, and lets view this as an opportunity to hold more sprint relay events within our conferences, and invites, and get the kinks worked out. Perhaps this will be good news in the long run.

Sincerely,

Doug Boonstra