In 2009, the ski-loving Koch and Wangen families of Maple Grove shared a dream: a high school downhill ski racing team. But the course to the now-thriving Northwest Alpine Ski Team (NWAST), a multi-school varsity team sanctioned by their home district, was far from easy.
Back then, John and Kara Koch had two children in Maple Grove schools, a daughter in seventh grade and a son in fourth grade. “The reason I wanted to organize a sanctioned downhill ski-racing team is so kids, my own and others, could race for their high school,” says John Koch. His friends and partners in NWAST development, Jennifer and Doug Wangen, had a boy and twin girls in the district. “We wanted to get involved to promote the sport and to get kids to love to ski,” says Jennifer. “If you live in Minnesota, it’s good to have a sport that gets you outside in winter.”
They began with a year as an unofficial ski racing club, but that was only the starting gate. In taking the club to a varsity sport, the biggest difficulty might have been figuring out everything they had to do, Koch says. School district offices, school boards and the Minnesota State High School League each presented obstacles: “Competitive alpine skiing wasn’t widely known at the time.” Sometimes the families came up against a simple lack of interest. “Skiing is a life-long sport,” the families countered.
And they prevailed. Thanks to their hard work and persistence, NWAST won approval by all of the necessary athletic directors and boards and became registered with the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) in 2010. Jared Wangen (now 20) and Mackenzie Koch (now 19) were founding racers for NWAST. Since then, NWAST has been welcoming seventh- through 12th-grade students from Maple Grove, Osseo, Park Center and Elk River to the exciting world of downhill ski racing.
Practices are at Hyland Ski Hill in Bloomington, conference races are at Trollhaugen and Wild Mountain. Invitationals are at Afton Alps and Giants Ridge. If that sounds like a lot of activity to organize and pay for, you’re right. Maple Grove helps with some coaching and activity fee expenses, but busing, drills, gates, banners, tournament tents, generators and many other expenses are paid for by the booster club.
The team is actively recruiting members. “You don’t have to be a racer to join,” says Scott. Another misconception is that the sport is prohibitively expensive. “We do fundraising for the team and some for individuals,” Wangen says. A yearly ski-swap allows racers, and others in the community, to buy reduced-price equipment.
Emma and Elizabeth Wangen graduated in 2015, each having had the opportunity to serve as captain of the girls’ varsity team. Connor Koch was an All-Conference skier in seventh and eighth grades, and qualified for State in eighth. Be warned: It’s a sport of physical and emotional challenges and extremes. “The highs are wonderful, but the lows can be traumatic,” says Connor Koch.
And about that other challenge—the often icy, frequently precipitous, always demanding downhill race course itself? Koch describes it this way: “You’re at the top of the hill, poles over the starting wand. It’s just you and the clock. People are lined up, all along the hill, watching you. It’s up to you, you and this event. When you cross the finish line, it’s a wonderful thing.”
Information about joining NWAST can be found at the ski team website here.
