Victoria Dybwad and Julia Schwinghamer are both freshman skiers new to the St. Scholastica Nordic Ski team. Both described their experiences thus far with the program, what it has been like training at CSS and how the team fared in their recent race.
When first asked to describe life on the nordic team, Dybwad described it as a fun team with very diverse levels of talent and skill in skiing. She described the team’s atmosphere as incredibly friendly and with very little competition between team members. Everybody on the team feels welcomed. Many students may have seen the Nordic team training in the off-season.
The team often goes on runs and roller skis to get ready for the upcoming season. Schwinghamer said, “The team trains from May to March with a one-month break in April. We
train eleven months out of the year in total. As we get closer to the actual ski season we tend to
focus more on speed workouts, rather than endurance.”
The Nordic team can often be seen running around Duluth, lifting in the weight room, doing hill bounding at Spirit Mountain and much much more. When asked about training, Dybwad said, “We prepare our bodies to suffer a lot during races and we try to push our limits a lot, but at the same time it is important to listen to your body.”
Dybwad was recruited all the way from Oslo, Norway. She described the transition between the two countries as very exciting and fascinating. Schwinghamer however was not recruited but rather chose to participate in CSS Nordic. She says that she knew the transition would be a big step up from what she was used to in high school, but she felt that she was prepared to make the leap.
On Dec. 4 and 5, the Nordic team had their first weekend of racing at Grand Avenue Nordic Center. The team did very well, with many different successes from different team members. Dybwad placed twenty third overall in the 5k race and placed first in her age division. Both Schwinghamer and Dybwad encourage people to come to watch some races this year, as well as try out Nordic skiing if you have never done so before.
Photo taken by Woods Creek Productions of Victoria Dybwad
