Maine High School Skiing

State Champion Spotlight-Kayley Bell

Details: Published: Monday, 21 March 2022 06:46

We will now spotlight state champion Kayley Bell of Caribou. Kayley won the 2022 MPA Class B Classical, Freestyle, and Pursuit at Black Mtn. She was also kayley the Aroostook Country champion. We asked her about her state meet preparations and her favorite memories.

1) What were your preparations leading up to the state meet? My preparations leading up to the state meet were to practice every day and focus on improving my technique.

2) How did you deal with the pressure and emotions that come along with competing in a state meet? I dealt with the emotions of going to a state meet by having lots of fun with my teammates while staying focused on my goals.

3) What was going through your mind at the start knowing that the snow conditions were challenging? When at the start line and looking at the course on the first day, the only thing that was going through my head was “How am I going to get around the puddles?” It was a totally new experience on that type of course, and I just went for it.

4) What are some of your best memories from ski racing this past season? Some of my best memories from this season are getting to spend time with teammates. Many of us also did Cross Country this fall, so being able to hang out and train together again all winter was really special.

5) What were your goals for this season and did you achieve them? What led to all of your success?

State Champion Spotlight-Emma Charles

Details: Published: Friday, 18 March 2022 06:42

We will now spotlight state champion Emma Charles of Mt. Blue. Emma won the 2022 MPA Class A Classical, Freestyle, and the Pursuit. She was a state champion DSC 0003 Original during all four years of her high school career. We asked her about her plans for next year and about all of her successes.

1) What were your preparations leading up to the state meet?

I spent the weekend before states doing races that qualified me for Junior Nationals, so I had to do a lot of recovery on the two days between those races and states. I made sure to stretch every night and only did short, easy workouts. I would normally do some race-prep intervals the day before a race, but because I needed to focus more on recovery, I did a much more abbreviated version of what I usually do.

2) How did you deal with the pressure and emotions that come along with competing in a state meet?

I wasn’t terribly nervous for states because I had confidence on the Black Mountain course and had my teammates to get excited to race with. Knowing that the conditions weren’t perfect, I decided to only focus on what I could control in the moment and not worry about what was coming up ahead on the course.

3) What was going through your mind at the start knowing that the snow conditions were challenging?

State Champion Spotlight: Alex Hemingway

Details: Published: Thursday, 17 March 2022 07:05

Our next state champion spotlight is Alex Hemingway of Mt. Abram. Alex won the 2022 MPA Class C Classical and the Pursuit at Black Mtn. We asked him about his alex hemingway classical state meet preparations and about his success.

1) What were your preparations leading up to the state meet?

Leading up to the state meet I was forced on training and getting the energy up to 100%

2) How did you deal with the pressure and emotions that come along with competing in a state meet?

Didn't really have any, just had the mindset of I'm just going to give it my all.

3) What was going through your mind at the start knowing that the snow conditions were challenging?

They were challenging but knowing we had good wax and fast skis for the conditions was reassuring.

4) What are some of your best memories from ski racing this past season?

State Champion Spotlight-Owen Redfield

Details: Published: Wednesday, 16 March 2022 07:29

We next spotlight state champion Owen Redfield of Yarmouth. He won the 2022 MPA Class B Freestyle at Black Mtn. We asked him about his success and Owen his state meet preparations.

1) What were your preparations leading up to the state meet?

During the summer I made sure to focus on many distance workouts and continuously push myself to become stronger and better. Leading into the season I always made sure to push myself hard during workouts but also know when to take it easy. On the day of the race, I stayed properly hydrated and well-rested and kept myself in the right mindset to race.

2) How did you deal with the pressure and emotions that come along with competing in a state meet?

Before the race, I was feeling very nervous knowing that I had to race well in order for my team to win. To do this I would only think of how I would ski parts of the trail and where to push myself and where to pace myself. I made sure to keep a smile on my face before the race to amp myself up and to get my teammates amped as well.

3) What was going through your mind at the start knowing that the snow conditions were challenging?

On the first day, thoughts of having to lead the pack and racing through very wet snow scared me a lot and led to me having a poor race. The second day I thought of how these conditions were so much better and how happy I would be with myself if a raced well which led to my successful race.

4) What are some of your best memories from ski racing this past season?

State Champion Spotlight-Joey Rouhana

Details: Published: Tuesday, 15 March 2022 06:53

We next spotlight state champion Joey Rouhana of Falmouth. He won the 2022 MPA Class A Classical, Freestyle, and the Pursuit at Black Mtn. We asked him Joey 1 about his successes and what his thoughts were at the start line with the wild weather.

1) What were your preparations leading up to the state meet? To answer the question more generally, I have been ski training 6 days a week for the past year in preparation for this season. The weekend before the state meet, I had two big eastern cup races in New Hampshire, so in the two days I had to prepare for the state meet I was really just focused on recovering; a lot of stretching, staying hydrated, and resting.

2) How did you deal with the pressure and emotions that come along with competing in a state meet? At this point I have had a lot of experience with pre-race nerves and how I deal with them. There can be a lot of pressure or nerves before a race like this, but I just try not to think about it too much until I am on the start line. Then I can use the nerves to get me psyched up for the race.

3) What was going through your mind at the start knowing that the snow conditions were challenging?