A year after launching an alpine ski team, Durango High School is ready to complete its squad.
DHS athletic and activities director Adam Bright announced a new varsity Nordic ski team that will compete under the Colorado High School Activities Association’s governance during the 2017-18 school year.
“We’re excited to take something that is big here and have them represent the school district,” Bright said.
“It’s something different when you’re competing for yourself or when you’re competing for your classmates and the 1,100 other kids in the school every day. To have more kids be touched by high school athletics, that piece is exciting.”
Durango School District 9-R posted the job opening for a Nordic head coach July 25, and the position will remain open to applications until a hire is announced.
Bright is hoping to get a pool of four to five qualified applicants with knowledge of competitive skiing.
Athletes will be able to participate in both alpine and Nordic skiing events for the Demons, with competitions held on weekdays during the winter months. Bright said an estimated eight to 10 events will be on the calendar.
Alpine events contested at the CHSAA level include giant slalom and slalom. Nordic competitions include skate and classic races. Totals from all four are added up to determine an overall team state champion. State champions are also crowned for alpine and Nordic competitions as separate entities, Bright said.
Bright knows many top Nordic athletes may choose to race strictly club events, but the school’s intention is to allow athletes to participate in both the DHS races as well as functions with the Durango Nordic Ski Club, a longstanding program that takes young skiers to elite meets across the region.
“Kids who are Olympic-caliber racers will always do the club things, where the high school program might be a good fit for a kid who raced for a while and maybe gave it up but wants to get back into it,” Bright said.
The ski club participates in the Rocky Mountain Nordic league with weekend races, and results lead to top athletes being selected for the RMN team for junior nationals.
“The points system is based on a racer’s best four races out of eight – four weekends of racing with two races per weekend,” said Nancy Agro, a board member for the Durango Nordic Ski Club.
“So, if kids miss a weekend race, they have less races to throw into the mix for points. So, kids will need to choose how important a CHSAA race or an RMN race is in deciding which one to attend if they are trying to compete at nationals.”
Agro said the ski club is happy to see multiple options for young skiers, and she noted that members of the ski club competed on the alpine team at DHS last season.
“It is great for kids that want to letter in a varsity sport,” Agro said. “The more kids on skis the better.”
Bright was named to the ski committee for CHSAA. He has experience with ski teams from his previous job at Middle Park High School.
“A ski resort town ought to have a ski team. It made sense,” he said.
“If we can get races at Purgatory or the Nordic Center and build it up, we can look at qualifying to host a state championship in the next three or four years. That’s the ultimate goal. We would see a nice economic boom with all the athletes traveling to Durango for an event like that.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
