GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Even with snow in the forecast this week, it won't be enough to save the start of the local high school ski season.
Cannonsburg, which has still yet to open for the season, was supposed to be the host site on Tuesday for the first conference race of the year for several teams. However, with half the hill exposed, that race has been postponed, and coaches have been forced to get creative to keep their season alive.
Fittingly, KC McGovern, the Head Coach for East Grand Rapids' Ski team, showed up to our interview Monday morning wearing a hat that said 'Pray for Snow.'
“It's the mantra nowadays, you know," he said. "You have to pray for snow and chase it. So, if anybody out there's got a little religious bone in their body, please pray for it, because we need it badly.”
We're into the second week of January, and the first week of the high school ski season.
No snow means no local races, so those prayers have yet to be answered.
Fortunately for McGovern, or unfortunately, they've been down this road before.
“Honestly, I don't think in the past five years, we've had the first race go off as scheduled the first week," he said. "So it's something we're getting, you know, we're getting a little bit more used to.”
McGovern even said, last year, their first race of the season at Cannonsburg had to get pushed back to the final week of January.
Looks like history is repeating itself.
McGovern is now in his 24th season as the team's head coach — a season that only spans seven weeks as it is, which the State Championship scheduled for the final Monday in February.
However, that season has been cut short again.
Several teams were supposed to kick off the season on Monday at Boyne Highlands for the Harbor/Petosky invite, but that was canceled.
As we mentioned, Tuesday's conference race at Cannonsburg has also been postponed.
Lauren Kiska, a freshman on East Grand Rapids' team, explained the impact from the athletes' perspective.
“It's hard because we have like, meets or competitions coming up, and I know that we probably won't be able to do that, especially when there's not a lot of snow," she said. "It's just not good.”
McGovern added some extra context to their unfortunate situation.
"If you have an injury, the season is pretty much over for these athletes," he said. "It's hard to to come back from even a minor injury. You miss a couple of races and that's the season."
Just like others in the Greater Grand Rapids Ski Conference, McGovern's team has been making adjustments on the fly to stay race ready, like traveling up north to train on the weekends.
“That's kind of what it's come down to," he said. "If you really want to be super competitive in the state, you need to travel to find snow.”
McGovern said some teams have already taken it a step further and decided not to race locally anymore.
That's not necessarily the route McGovern wants to take, but if this trend continues, he cannot rule it out.
"We're going to have to start thinking about what we do," he said. "Is it all up north racing? Or what is it? Because, to be competitive with the schools that are up north, we need to do everything we can.”
McGovern said, based on the current outlook, he isn't even sure if next week's planned race at Cannonsburg will happen either.
So, the team will have to wait until they travel 170 miles north Nub's Nob in Harbor Springs on January 19 for their first race of the year.
