The Boothbay Region High School Nordic skiing team has finally gotten a chance to begin practicing outdoors after nearly two weeks of roller skiing.

“This year's team should be competitive in the Mountain Valley Conference as we have an athletic group of students,” said Coach Nick Scott.

The girls and boys teams will each have five athletes – Summer Chamberlin, Olivia Paolillo, Riley Sullivan, Haley Goodwin and Hannah Cola for the girls; and Blake Erhard, Henry Drapeau, Mason Erhard, Ryan Russell and Bayly Gaughan-Carrasco.

Scott said Blake Erhard is a returning All Conference Team selection and will be one of the best skiers in the MVC. Chamberlain will be leading the girls as she did last season and is gunning for the All Conference Team. Mason Erhard and Ryan Russell are the only newcomers and Scott said if they manage to perform on skis as they have on roller skis, they will be successful.

“The real wildcard for us is whether or not we can get quality practice time during the week while we are at school. This early snow is really helpful and we are hopeful that it will stick around for a little while … our first race is on Saturday (Dec. 16) at the Sugarloaf Outdoor Center.”