From Holly:
Hello West Parents and Supporters!

We are nearing the home stretch of the season and for many of your kids, the regional races will be the last race of the season. We previewed the courses at Kincaid today and its in great shape. I am very glad that we can have at least one race at the main venue this year! As always, there are many pertinent details about the upcoming weekend. I will go in chronological order:

Tomorrow, Thursday~
Pre-race prep day. We will be waxing. All skiers should bring BOTH skate and classic skis to wax. If you have extra wax benches, forms, irons, extension cords, etc that would be a great help. The earlier you can bring them, the better. Kids can bring running shoes as there will be a short, optional jog. Most of the athletes will be taking a day "off." Please encourage your son/daughter to be in the weight room for the mandatory 2:30 meeting. If you are interested in seeing a start list, it is posted on the NSAA website, anchoragenordicski.com

Friday, Individual Classic Race, boys 7.5k, girls 5k~
Those registered to race will have an early dismissal from school at approximately 9:45. People who aren't racing aren't excused from school. The bus is scheduled to arrive at Kincaid by 10:30 in time for a noon start. NOTE TO POTENTIAL WAXERS: I am expecting the wax to be more difficult than it has been in past races. Any help testing and waxing would be much appreciated. The last weather report I saw called for a low of 16 degrees and a high of 35. I am guessing that we will be using either a sticky hard wax or klister! The starts are two skiers leaving every 30 seconds. The order is Boys A&B, Girls A&B, Boys C-f, Girls C-f.

Athletes are expected to ride the bus to and from Kincaid. On Friday night there will be the final spaghetti feed at the Mcmahon residence (?)

Saturday, Skate Relay Day. Boys 4x5k, Girls 4x3k~
The bus will leave West at 9am. The order for the day is 10:30 Girls Open, 10:35 Boys Open, 11am Girls A&B, C-D, Boys A&B, C&D, E-I will follow all together. There will be awards after the completion of the race for both days. On Saturday we are scheduled to help clean-up Kincaid along with Service, East, and South. It would be great to have helpers.

Lets end this season with a BANG. Volunteers, cheerers, any way we can boost team spirit is highly appreciated. Once again signs, noise makers, etc, etc are completely welcome. Come wearing school colors! (You know you like them!)

FYI: We have some special seniors, most of whom will be racing their last high school race. They are:
Fiona Worcester, Jordan O'Connell , Jenny Wooly, William Tuovinen, Jeff Wiltsey, Nat Wilson, Matt Cameron, Cale Jorgensen, and Sean Doody. Please let me know if I forgot to mention anyone.

Banquet:
It isn't too early to begin thinking about the end of the season banquet. Both Louisa and I are leaving town shortly after ski season. We will set a date for the banquet soon. If anyone has ideas for a venue large enough for 70 skiers and their families please let me know. Also, if anyone wants to create and be on a "banquet committee" that would be great. I think that the end of the season banquet truly has the potential to set the tone and motivation for the upcoming year. I do not have time to plan the whole thing with State and Junior Olympics on the horizon. The team captains will also be doing a bunch of the planning.

State:
Many skiers have shown interest in traveling to the State meet in Fairbanks to show support for our team. I think it would be great to have a bunch of teammates there. However, there are many logistics that go into making this work. Many of you have asked me a bunch of questions, hopefully this will help you.

West administrators said that if both the parents and coach excused team members to travel to state it would be okay to miss school. This is a personal decision between you and your son or daughter.

Fairbanks in far away and those of us going to compete are flying. Due to the distance this trip entails transportation, lodging, and food- don't forget supervision. I will be completely engrossed with waxing and organizing the 12 racers who are competing at State and will NOT be responsible for any other West Ski Team Member. I would love others to show up but all of my energy is directed to the racers. Other members of the team will not be allowed to stay in the varsity rooms or eat the varsity food. Please understand this is not trying to be exclusive, but rather give the athletes the focus and space they need to perform their best.
So, I think it would be great if there was a parent (preferably whose son or daughter isn't competing) who would be willing to do a bit of organizing for those who want to attend in support. Please let me know if you are interested so I know who to direct people too. If you are wanting more details about the state meet check out asaa.org. Go to cross-country skiing.

I think that is all I have to say right now. (Sorry for the saga) Please come out and volunteer, cheer hard. The kids have been working hard and they deserve lots of support. (Photographers are always needed too!)

Call the hotline often and see you soon,
Holly

---

Hello Parents!

(This email doesn't necessarily apply to everyone..... read on if you wish)

Today, as you may have already heard, the State Championship meet was moved to Fairbanks. Yes, this is quite unfortunate seeing that (ironically) we got a lot of snow today. But, as the race organizers pointed out, it could easily be lost to a warm spell and we don't want to cancel state altogether.

Most of the kids are ecstatic that State is in Fairbanks. To them, this means traveling and staying in hotels together. As great as this is for tean bonding, etc, for coaches and parents this means lots of planning, work, and expense. Don't get me wrong, I am excited about this opportunity but need to figure out the logistics.

One of my greatest disappointments is that the whole team will not be able to come out and support us. Many ideas have run through my head................ A cheese bus, a huge caravan of parents taking kids who are not competing but would like to go anyways............ I'm not quite sure yet. I was thinking that this may call for a parents meeting? Here are a few of the other things on my mind:

~Gear transport? I'm not sure if we can fit everything on an airplane.
~Cooking? Luckily the Wedgewood has kitchenettes so we won't have to go out to meals. However, this means buying groceries and cooking meals. I obviously won't have the time to do this and as much faith as I have in your kids, I don't want them to be in charge of meals either.
~Other kids...(4-year seniors esp) Transport, accommodations, etc
~Race support, waxing, etc

A few minutes ago I received an email saying that the Wedgewood, the condo where we will be staying is filling up quickly. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if all of the rooms are gone this morning. So, here is what I need: If you are fairly certain that your son or daughter will be making the state team book a room! We can figure out the details later. The rooms there are big and can fit many people in them. If we had enough rooms, I was thinking we could charge other kids on the team a small amount to put a sleeping bag on the floor of a room and with some brave chaperones they would be able to enjoy the weekend as well. (Don't worry, I'll be keeping your kids in line!)

So, please get to a phone as soon as possible. Don't wait to decide who you will share the room with, there is plenty of time to figure that out later. If you end up NOT wanting it, i'm sure there will be an other ski family that does. I just want West to be taken care of first. The reservations number for is 1-800-528-4916. Let's continue the support and spirit! If you're not sure whether you want to come or not, COME!

Regions Update: We are waiting until Saturday to decide upon a venue for regions. If there is enough snow, it will definitely be at Kincaid. If not, we'll plan other wise. I'll let you know as soon as i do.

This weekend is the Valentine's Relay, the last race of the regular high school season. Its supposed to be a fun one, costumes and all. I hope to see you out there. Let's make a HUGE West presence! (Oh, if for some reason your son or daughter won't be able to make it, please let me know by today seeing that we are putting teams together and don't want to let anyone down)

If you have any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions I'm game.

Sincerely,
Holly

---

Dear Parents and Volunteers,

Thank you very much for all your help and support this weekend. It was great to see West out in full force! There was a very high level of participation and it was great to see some new faces. I have received many comments about our team's spirit, hopefully that can continue to grow with your support!

I would like to say a special thank you to the continued waxing support from Patrick McGownd and Rob Chapman. Sarah Schoen, (my housemate) for playing "assistant coach of the day" and to Jane Sauer for organizing all of the volunteers. My list could go on and on- my point is, this was truly a group effort!

There is no high school race this weekend but there is a Besh Cup in Fairbanks. As I wrote earlier, it would be great to have a higher level of West participation at the out of town races. Please let me know if you want any details. They can also be found at anchoragenordicski.com Full results from this weekend are posted there as well.

Now for the good news! The alumni association finally got back to us. (Some parents wrote a grant last year-Thank you!) The ski team was awarded 3,000 DOLLARS!!!!!!! I am very happy seeing that this is a significant chunk of change that can be added to our sucessful December fundraiser, the skiathon. Maybe we should have a meeting at some point to decide how this money should be spent. There has been a lot of talk about team warmups, that is a good possibility.

FYI: If we don't get snow soon there is talk about moving state to either Soldotna or Fairbanks. It was originally scheduled to be at Kincaid. Obviously, that is not an option at this point and time. I would like to start thinking about accomodations since many of the rooms will book up fast. It would be nice to have a team house or something like that. Please advise if you have a contact or good idea.

I think that is all for now. Think snow and wash your hands!
~Holly