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[dropcap]E[/dropcap]vergreen High School is 50 miles from Winter Park. It’s an hour and fifteen minute drive to the mountain and the same back “down the hill,” the term the kids and coaches of the ski team use.
The commute is nothing like those of other Colorado high school ski teams, teams like Aspen and Vail, whose schools reside a stone’s throw away from their respective resorts.
There is no bus for practices, just willing parents and dedicated student athletes. Parents travel an average of 2,500 miles a season for four months to make ski dreams possible.
The Evergreen High School ski team is comprised of kids from twelve different schools across the Denver Metro area, with kids traveling from as far south as Colorado Springs. Half are from Evergreen and the other half are split among the eleven other schools. They stack a 72-person team, an even split of girls and boys, and a very uneven split of alpine and cross country. Nearly 60 are alpine athletes. A few are skimeisters.
Powerhouses like Summit, Aspen, and Battle Mountain continue to take the state title year after year. The Summit boys and girls team have 29 championships together. Evergreen has none.
The obstacles they face seem instrumental in this lack of state titles. With no bus and a far commute, on-snow practice time is severely limited. The alpine team sees 12-14 days of practice on the actual slopes, whereas mountain located teams have half days at school and ski almost every afternoon of the season.
But the Cougars don’t let the disadvantaged circumstances affect their effort. Dry land practices at Red Rocks and fitness centers are held four times a week, and with that, what they lack in ski practice they make up for in conditioning and teamwork.
“Our emphasis is on the team first, individual second, which isn’t always the case with skiing since it’s an individual sport. But it’s important for us,” said alpine coach Kirk Petrik. “Because we have kids from many high schools and each racer is new to each other, we don’t have any cliques.”
The Nordic team waits until the evening to ski the beginner slopes of Loveland, or head to Addenbrooke Park in Lakewood when there is snow in town. But the biggest setbacks for the cross country athletes aren’t the location or limited practice spaces.
“People just don’t know we exist. Getting the word out is so tough,” says seventh-year Nordic co-coach Holly Boggs. “But the ones who do know about it embrace it. The families are amazing and so willing to make practices and races happen.”
And despite all the difficulties, hiccups, and inconveniences, the team still churns out top athletes. Senior Owen Tallmadge came in third place in Slalom at the 2015 state championships, behind two Battle Mountain stars Sands Simonton and Quintin Cook.
The boys alpine team came in fourth overall last year, and second in 2014, while the girls alpine team finished in 5th in 2015. The Nordic team, with its size, sees less success than the Alpine Squad, though 2015 graduate Luk Platill placed second in Nordic last season.
The Nordic team competes in their first race in mid-December, while the Alpine team will start in the New Year on Jan. 8.
“The kids just love it,” said both Boggs and Petrik.
For Evergreen, and its metro makeup of skiers, one thing remains the same as its competitors: it’s all for the love of the sport.
Defending champions:
State championship: Feb. 26-27
