You are at the top of the mountain, the cold air is managing to get through your spandex racing suit and thermals that you thought would be keeping you warm; your mind is racing a mile a minute trying to focus on why you are there. Finally, they call your number and school’s name; you pop off your skis and walk up the stairs. Next thing you know you are in the start house with huge butterflies in your stomach. You then hear the words, “Racer ready? Go!” The minute you hear, “Go!” the adrenaline kicks in. You start as soon and as fast as you can without losing control, pushing your body and mind’s boundaries you try to remember everything you and your team strategized prior to the race during slip, which is a course inspection to give the racers an idea of what to expect prior to racing the course. Less than a minute later you are out of breath, and are finished with your first run through. Then you repeat once more and you feel a huge weight lifted off your shoulders.
Meet the Coaches of the West Milford Ski Team
There are currently two coaches for the West Milford Ski Team, head coach White and assistant coach Heerschap. Head coach White has been coaching the Ski Team for eight years, six of those years as an assistant coach, and two years as head coach. When asked what he wanted to get out his team for the season, he responded with, “To be as successful as possible, to raise each skier’s personal level of skiing and to have fun doing it.” Coach White, who has been skiing for almost 38 years, learned to ski at a young age at Mt.Peter and Craigmeur and started taking lessons in kindergarten. What led Coach White to pursue coaching was his combined love for skiing and working with kids. Coach White has a very active lifestyle. Besides skiing, White enjoys hiking, fishing, waterskiing, scuba diving, snorkeling, ice and roller hockey, soccer, volleyball, swimming, boating, bird-watching, tree-hugging, and nature loving. Prior to coaching for the team, Coach White raced for fun while he worked at Club Med.
Coach Heerschap has been coaching for two years as an assistant coach. When asked what he wanted to get out of his team for the season he responded, “To have fun and qualify for the state championships.” Coach Heerschap taught himself how to ski seven years ago at HunterMountain because it was very similar to ice skating. What made Heerschap take up coaching was his love for skiing and working with students. Coach Heerschap participates in a lot of other sports besides ski team. He partakes in mountain biking, road biking, hockey, golf, and waterskiing.
Meet the Captain
There are two teams for ski racing, Boy’s and Girl’s. The Girl’s team consists of Captain Krista Campbell (Senior), Lindsey Perez (Senior), Gillian Grahame (Sophomore), and Melanie Dowling (Sophomore). The Boy’s team consists of Joe Barone (Senior), Michael Stabile (Junior), Collin Timony (Sophomore), Matt Perez (Sophomore), Liam Harrington (Sophomore), Luke Van Over (Sophomore) and Timothy Wong (Sophomore). It is currently unknown which boy is going to be on the Boys JV team due to not enough spots on varsity. The current record for the Girl’s team is 1-6. The Boy’s team currently holds a record of 5-5.
The West Milford Ski Team Captain Krista Campbell has been racing for four years on the West Milford Ski team. What got Krista involved with racing was her father and Donna Weinbrecht, 1992 Olympic Gold medalist for moguls from West Milford. When she was little her dad always wanted her to try racing and she had joked about those kids she would see skiing in tight suits. When she got to high school she met Donna Weinbrecht and Donna’s sister at her grandparent’s yacht club, where the Weinbrecht sisters owned a boat as well. Weinbrecht told Krista it was a lot of fun and she should just go for it. Krista joined Freshman year not knowing anything about ski racing, but she is glad she joined the team. When asked about her favorite Ski Team memory Krista said, “Last year’s winter pep rally the Ski Team had no idea what to do. Last second they decided that they wanted to put me on skis and carry me over their shoulders in front of the whole school to the song “Thrift Shop,” that the captains chose. It was last minute, but it worked out well. It was also scary, but after that everyone was talking about how cool it was.” Krista’s goals for the girl’s team is to finish races as individuals and as a whole team, “If we could make it to state, that would make my year knowing that four girls who barely make a team were able to make it together.” Krista’s goals for this season are to finish every race with acceptable times and not to fall.
