St. Olaf Nordic Team

This weekend was Olaf Homecoming and Family/Alumni visit weekend! AKA the annual golf tournament fundraiser and the Nordie/Piner picnic with delicious chili, apples, and cookies.  A few former coaches (Zach Hudson, Mark Skildum, Mike Smith, and Kevin Cook) came down to visit  which was a treat to everyone.  The teams mingled and played a little football. Coaches Hudson, Smith, and Skildum Alumni Ladies!! Sophie and Emma :) Nordie Team Also! To all you Olaf alumni/students/parents/general population.  The awesome looking headbands we've been wearing are being sold in the bookstore.  So if you need some school spirit to wear to come cheer us on during the winter, go check them out! 

One of my former coaches taught us that to race efficiently, we have to be able to "dance" on skis. One way to learn that is through agility workouts, challenging your speed and balance skills. So yesterday we skied to a parking lot and set up an agility course with cones, and then practiced racing each other one-on-one as fast as we could. Needless to say, there were a few crashes. We timed ourselves and kept track of our improvement as the workout progressed, a way to measure whether the corners we were hitting were the best way to ski the course. The course consisted of around a minute of zigzags, weaving, off-roading, curb hopping, 180s, and jumping, then a sprint to the finish to practice the boot throw. We're getting pumped to race!! Practice starts next week with an uphill run. Homecoming is this weekend! GO OLES!! Nels was ready for some serious off-roading.  180 practice Head-to-head racing!  (Notice the gorgeous fall tree)