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St. Cloud State University
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Nordic skier hoping to glide into nationals
By Ryan K. Dale
Published:
Thursday, February 20, 2003
Media Credit: Stefanie Beniek
SCSU fourth-year nordic skier Kay Adamson will compete in the qualifying competition for nationals at Giant�s Ridge this weekend.
The Huskies have a nordic ski team member who has a chance to make it to the NCAA Championships in Hanover, N.H. (Mar. 5-8).
That's correct, SCSU has a nordic ski team. The program is in its sixth year and has received little or no media and student support.
All that is starting to change due to the hard work and dedication of Kay Adamson, the Huskies top skier and senior leader. Adamson has increased her daily workout regime by over three hours since her freshman year and has a legitimate chance of making it to the national championships this season.
"I'm in the best shape I've ever been in," she said. "I've had to become a morning person. I'm up at 5 a.m. to train and I look forward to practices.
"I consider working out, training and practicing skiing as a hobby, not a chore."
The dedication and hours upon hours of training is what separates good skiers from the best skiers. The nordic ski team started out with 13 members at the start of the season. They now have six.
"I think it's too much work and too much dedication for them," Adamson said. "I guess they just don't know what they're getting into. It's a big step to go from high school skiing to college skiing."
Adamson was once one of those young skiers who didn't have the drive to succeed. She began skiing in seventh grade when her sister, who is two years older, urged her to come and tryout for the high school team. Adamson went to one tryout, hated every minute of it and wasn't ready for serious competition yet.
After that school year she worked out in the summer and made the team the next year as an eighth grader. As a freshman, she missed qualifying for state by one second
"I was upset I missed state by one second, but a senior beat me out and I knew I would be back," Adamson said.
Adamson did get back and make it to state, three straight years to be exact, and was All-State as a senior. The same year she was All-State, her team took second place.
After graduating from Wayzata, the Plymouth native knew she wanted to ski at the next level and also knew she wanted to be a physical education teacher. So SCSU seemed like the logical choice. It has a top-notch education program and a nordic ski team that had just completed their second season as a recognized sport.
The changes from high school competition to college were evident to her from the start. Even though Adamson skied on the varsity team for five years, she still wasn't prepared for the competition when she first came to St. Cloud. She was overwhelmed with the next level of competition and realized she needed to step up her training and work ethic.
Since then, Adamson has been keeping a journal on her daily training exercises and has seen drastic changes when she turns to the front of the journal. The hours of training have been increasing more and more with each page. When she gets to the last page of her junior season she sees that she finished in the top 20 in the Midwest Region. The top eight go to the NCAA Championships.
Adamson decided that she was going to take the next step and further dedicate herself to reaching her goal of being in the top eight.
"My goal each year is to better myself from the year before and to make it to nationals," she said. "I couldn't do it without my 'partner in crime,' Jenny Mead." Mead is a junior and is Adamson's training partner.
Jeremy Frost, SCSU's first-year head coach, also witnesses how hard Adamson works and how dedicated she is each day.
"She has a great work ethic and works harder then any other girl on the team," he said. "She has been a team leader and a great role model.
"She is our team captain and really has done the extra bit of training to push herself into a position to be in nationals."
Right now, with one qualifier left this weekend at Giant's Ridge, Adamson sits in the eighth and final spot.
"If she holds on it will be great," Frost said. "I don't like to bring it up because I don't want to jinx her. But, I know she has the desire to do well and she really loves skiing."
Adamson would be the first Husky to make it to the NCAA Nordic Skiing Championships and it would be a big boost to the program. She has already accomplished a first in Husky history. Adamson took first place at the 2003 North Country Invitational on Jan. 5 in Biwabik. In the 10k classic event Adamson won with a time of 31:28.
"It was a positive way to start the season for me," she said. "It got me pumped up and raring to go. That's the first time I thought I had a chance to make it to nationals."
So even if she doesn't make it to Hanover for nationals, she will still have her name engraved in the SCSU record book. She already has the next challenge in her life mapped out: marathons and long distant nordic events.
"Grandma's will be my first marathon and then I want to compete in the longer nordic events," she said.
This summer she will travel to Duluth and compete in Grandma's Marathon. In the winter she'll travel the region competing in races while student teaching at the same time.
"If anyone has the dedication and will power to balance these commitments and succeed by reaching her goals, it's Kay Adamson," Frost said.
Adamson is looking forward to one aspect of completing her senior season. "I'll miss being on a team and being around the girls, but I can finally have a social life," she said.
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