Spartans Ski Celebrates Second Consecutive Division-Winning Season
Individual performances guided the Spartans to another division-winning season.
The Spartans girls and boys teams consisted of 11 competitors, lacking any seniors. In fact, it was sophomore Brianna Ottoson who received a first place individual award in the girls PVIAC south division.
Junior twin sisters Emma and Maggie Stevens also secured placements in the girls south division awards, with Maggie taking home third place and Emma in fifth.
Both Emma and Maggie have been skiing for the Spartans since their eighth grade year and have won the south division three times out of four.
Both Stevens sisters and Ottoson also competed in the MIAA state championship.
The Stevens were not the only pair of sisters on the team, as freshman Grace Gile and sophomore Ava Gile also had a sibling rivalry going on throughout the season.
Another family connection on the team was through Brianna Ottoson and the two coaches: Eric and Marcy Ottoson.
Eric Ottoson, known by the team as “Coach Swede,” is the girls coach while Marcy Ottoson is the boys. There were ten girls on the team and one boy, freshman Cypress Conroy.
Though a small group of competitors, both Stevens sisters credit their success to being a part of a team effort.
“Many people see skiing as an individual sport, but in high school it is just as much a team sport,” Maggie said. “To win a race as a team, you need four people to do well. So, when everyone is giving their all, you will have a higher chance of coming out with a win.”
“We were lucky that our team is made up of a great group of talented skiers,” Emma said. “We consistently had three other girls that contributed and gave us the 4th time that we needed to win!”
Emma expanded on the 4th-run strategy the team used and needed to get wins.
“Normally people would think ski racing is an individual sport, which it is outside of high school,” she said. “However, in high school it is a team sport as well since you need four times or finishes to even be in contention for the team award. Maggie, Bri and I consistently finished in the top 10 for each race, but each week we needed a 4th time.”
For Ottoson, this strategy ended up paying off as she continued to progress throughout the season.
“Once I started putting the things my coach told me to work on into races, it all started to really click, and I started to make some good progress,” Ottoson said. “By the end of the season, I was skiing the best I had all year. Everyone made tremendous progress and it really showed.”
Ottoson also worked to improve the mental aspect of skiing, which helped to calm her nerves and ski better.
“Remembering to have fun at the end of the day was a really important thing for me,” Ottoson said. “I tried not to go into races nervous, and not being worked up really helped me. I found myself skiing better when I wasn’t so nervous.”
Emma also found herself more nervous towards the beginning of the season, but quickly overcame those nerves and finished the season strong.
“At our first race I was nervous, which was normal,” Emma said. “I ended up falling at the end of the slalom course, but in the end I was able to finish each race in the top 10 for the rest of the season.”
Emma added that the key to her confidence improvement was to “go through the course to inspect it” and “visualize what the course would feel like.”
However, according to Maggie, the weather also had an impact on the courses and races.
“Skiing changes everyday,” Maggie said. “Unlike many sports, ski racing relies on the cold and snow, but we know from living in New England that it changes day-to-day. One day you will have that perfect weather and come in the top 5, but the next race it could be raining with soft snow. It’s a real gamble for each race.”
Despite these challenges, Maggie competed well in the State Championship, placing 7th for the giant slalom and 12th overall.
Coming off of strong years, all three girls are excited to get a shot at winning a third consecutive south division title next season.
