The season has come to an end for many winter sports. Among them, nordic, or cross country skiing. At the recent state tournament, the boys team finished in 10th, while the girls team finished in 12th.

This season concluded the high school nordic careers for senior captains Isabel Doherty, Matt McDonald, Peter McGinn, and Victoria Princi. The captains all finished well this season with Princi finishing top 20, and the others finishing in the top 10 in the final individual standings in the league. Doherty is now the leader in WA Girls Nordic All-Time rankings with 1,575 points.

“Even though [states] is so nerve-wracking, it’s an incredible team event. The bus ride is always a blast and our spirit for the event is always top-notch,” Princi said.

Even though his run at states wasn’t his best performance, McGinn still finished the high in the final standings, and is happy to have made new friends through nordic and gained the leadership experience that comes with being a captain.

“Everyone on the team puts their best effort forth to get to know each other, and eventually, we all become friends through different team bonding events,” Princi said. “Coach Norander and the captains always prioritize fun with a balance of competitiveness as well. ”

All skiers, no matter their team, find ways to connect with each other and make friends from all over New England.

“After the race when all the stress is gone there’s random fun stuff like a flash mob when all the athletes from all over Massachusetts stop being competitors and go back to being friends,” McGinn said. “Even though I had a bad race, the entire experience is very enjoyable because of the light-hearted atmosphere.”

One of the fun things that nordic does is separate into groups based on the Harry Potter houses. They also go on weekend trips to different places around New England and play sharks and minnows on skis.

“The team makes a super fun and positive atmosphere that I haven’t found on any other sports team,” McGinn said. “The coach [Andrew Norander] is also amazing because he cares about everyone on the team and makes sure that we are all having fun and enjoying ourselves while creating relationships with everyone.”

Norander is super proud of all the hard work that the students have put in this season, and is looking forward to building off of the great season that some of the first-year skiers had.

“Seven [first-year skiers] made it to states which is very unusual. They finished the race and they did a very good job. So I’m very, very happy” Norander said.

With many of the first-year skiers being freshmen or sophomores, this leaves time for development for them to get even better than they were this past season.

“I’m hoping that those new nordic skiers keep developing [next season]. They had a great first season, and I hope to build off of that for next season.” Norander said.

Veterans and coaches always make sure to motivate the new skiers to become the best that they can be.

“Nordic is a hard sport, but I love to inspire others to join so they can get to enjoy it as much as I do.” Doherty said. “Getting to ski through the woods in a beautiful snowy forest with friends while having the chance to race against some of the best skiers in the state was truly a memorable experience.”