Sheridan High School Nordic Ski Team blazing own trail

By Scott Green Link to the video

SHERIDAN, Wyo. — Montana doesn’t offer snow skiing as a sanctioned high school sport. But Wyoming does – both nordic and downhill – and the Sheridan Broncs are blazing their own new trail.

With the click of a binding, the Broncs are racing to new heights. Barely into their third year of Nordic skiing, they hosted their first race last weekend on the Cutler cross-country trails.

“It was just so cool. It was awesome. There was just so much positivity and energy," senior Justin McDowell told MTN Sports before practice this week.

“Yeah, that was super cool to see all the hard work that everyone put in," said junior Kayley Alicke. "The coaches, the athletes, the athletic director and the groomers. It’s super cool to see skiing growing in Sheridan.“

The two-day race was unfortunately whittled down to one due to high winds Saturday. But Friday served up perfect conditions, albeit not without a few spills.

"I fell on that hill and smacked my stomach so hard that I was cramping all the way through that,” senior Kindell Baker said pointing toward the course post-race.

Sheridan’s girls placed sixth. The boys earned the highest team finish of their young program placing second.

As for weekday practices, the team is challenged by daylight issues, especially with a 40-minute commute on certain days. But early darkness only dims workouts as teammates actually hit the trail with headlamps. That's unless there’s enough snow in town — there is this week — to groom a track right there on campus.

Will Dominguez has downhill skied all his life and took a break from Nordic a couple years ago. But now he’s drawn back.

“My buddy talked me into it and I just couldn’t resist because it was a lot of fun my sixth-grade year so I decided to stick with it.” the freshman said with a smile.

Another encouraging angle to the Nordic team: It's becoming contagious for some who’ve never even skied, others who’ve never really been athletic and some who’ve moved from warm climates.

“I grew up (in) Texas and we didn’t have skiing there. So, when we moved here I guess I kind of knew about it but not really," said Kayley Alicke.

Her dad Falk is now the team's head coach with a lighthearted story on how that came to fruition.

“My wife kind advertised me wrongly as this awesome skier," he said with a laugh. "So, they asked me to help them in the middle school program and I fell in love with it.”

The middle school program did so well with numbers that the high school agreed to adopt Nordic skiing in 2022. Prior to that, a handful of high school students actually co-oped with Cody. Due to the distance between the schools, skiers like McDowell didn’t practice together but met up for races.

“The team was super welcoming. They have a pretty small team as well, but we just raced under the Cody ski team name and used their uniforms,” he said.

Now these Broncs [have] their own uniforms and showcase their own identity while gradually gaining traction.

Link to the video