STATE!!

What an emotional roller coaster of a day.

Tuesday was the Section 3 Nordic Ski meet for Jordan and the Burnsville team. The Burnsville team has come a long way since the beginning of the season. In addition, Sharmila Ahmed, the lone senior on the team made her way home from competing in Sweden just in time to compete in the section meet.

The team felt confident that they had a shot for the top spot in the section, but it is always tough to know where all the teams stand because of the lack of head to head racing. St. Paul Highland Park will be tough as they have 5 seniors on the team that did fairly well at last years section final.

Jordan was the sixth skier to go out on the classic leg (15s intervals). Going by on the first section she looked relaxed and calm and had the skiers in front of her in her sights. By the first long climb she had passed at least one skier, before cresting the hill. We would not see her again until a near the end of the race. As we focused intently on the final downhill in the distance we could see what we thought was a Burnsville skier bombing down the hill. About 30 seconds later we saw that it was Jordan pushing strong up the long gradual climb towards us. As she crested the hill next to us and headed toward the finish she had a sizable gap to the next skier. The remaining Bursville skiers finished in the order that they went out.

We went back inside to relax grab some lunch and impatiently wait for the result to be posted. After what seemed like an eternity the results were up and Jordan was sitting in 17th place. Jordan made the comment after the race that after she had passed the first skier that it was hard to stay focused on pushing hard for the remainder of the race. She was clearly upset so Andrea and I gave her time to gather her emotions and calm down a little. She knew that she would probably need to finish in the top 1o to make it to state and didn't want to rely on the team to get her there. A close look a the classic results revealed that she was only 25 seconds out of 10 place. If she had a solid skate race she could pull it off. After she calmed down a little I explained to her how close the group was in front of her and she understood what she needed to do.

Although the team skied extremely well, they were down by 26 points to Highland Park after classic. Jordan now knew that her only realistic chance of going to state was to "kill it" on the skate. After a few encouraging words from a few parents and the coaches Jordan prepared for the next race. As Jordan went out to warm up and get staged for the start, Andrea, Grandma, and myself walked out on the coarse to view the start and the first part of the race.

Sharmila was the first off the line and quickly settled into fast pace. Vivian was next, needing to close the 39 second gap to second place in front of her. Jordan would go out 3:09 back from the leader just behind a group of 5 or 6 skiers. We watched as Jordan left the line and you could see that she had the large group in her sights. Within the first couple hundred meters she had caught the group and already passed a couple of skiers. She would pick off a couple more by the start of the long climb and slowly build a slight gap by the crest of the hill. As before as soon as she crested the hill she would not be seen again until the long downhill at the end of the race. The first skier to bomb down the hill would be Sharmila with a commanding lead. To our surprise Vivian had moved up to second place with another large gap to third ahead of the two Highland Park girls. We counted the skiers as the flew down the hill, 5, 6, 7,... and flying down the hill in the number 10 spot was Jordan with a decent gap to 11. We knew that baring a fall she should be able to hold onto that position to the finish. As she pushed up the last climb we could see that she was gaining on the Highland Park girl in front of her. Coach Harvey gave her encouragement and pointed to the Highland Park skier in front of her and told her to chase her down. Although Jordan gave it her all the gap was too much to make up and she finished solidly in 10th place just 1o seconds behind Highland Parks #3 skier. Tori, Burnsvilles #4 skier was about a minute back and clawing her way up the final climb. She was blocked by two skier just in front of her and unable to get by. She made one final charge near the finish but unable to get past. The three remaining Burnsville skiers (Christa, Jane, and Kjersten) finished strong to round out the team.

The team ultimately would wind up a mere 2 points shy of the team title. I don't like to do "what ifs" but if Jordan could have passed the Highland Park girl they would have tied in points and would have won the "tie breaker" based on total time. Also, if Tori would not have gotten blocked out and passed the two skiers who finished only 2 seconds in front of her they would have one. I hope everyone has put those two scenarios out of their minds, because all the girls put forth everything and had nothing left at the line.

One final note: Things are looking great going forward for the Burnsville Girls Nordic Ski Team. The top 6 skiers for next year are: Three 10th graders, two 8th graders, and One 11th grader.