Nordic Skiing: Pratt, Thibodeau look to lead Leavitt

TURNER — The Leavitt Nordic ski team has a simple motto: “Keep doing what we have always been doing.”

Coach Dustin Williamson is stressing that message even more this season in what he calls a transitional year for the program, especially on the girls’ side after cousins McKenize and Brooke Varney graduated after leading the team a year ago.

McKenize finished second in the classical race at the Class A state championships, while Brooke finished 12th. In the freestyle race, McKenize finished seventh while Brooke came in 14th. As a team, the Hornets finished fourth in Nordic competition.

Williamson said he will look to Ashley Pratt and Emily Thibodeau to lead this year’s squad, and he has a simple message for the athletes coming into a leadership role.

“I tell them there’s large ski boots to fill and to live up to the tradition of Leavitt Nordic has,” Dustin Williamson said. “Not only with past successes, but also being great sportsmen, having great sportsmanship and living up to the reputation. When we have events, there’s always Leavitt Nordic alumni that come back and they show what it was like, and what it’s like to be a part of the Leavitt Nordic team. I tell them you have some big ski boots to fill, but you can do it. Work a little bit harder, put some extra work that might be needed, but just live up to the Leavitt Nordic tradition.”

The Leavitt Nordic program has won four girls’ Class A championships in the past 10 years — in 2005, 2006, 2009 (co-champs with Mt. Blue) and 2012.

Williamson said there’s an adjustment period for athletes making that transition into a leadership role, but, he said, the hard work pays off.

Pratt, a senior, is used to a leadership role. In the fall she was captain of the cross country team.

“We had a smaller girls’ team than in skiing, but I am not too worried about (taking a leadership role),” Pratt said. “I just hope I do a good job.”

There are plenty of kids who participate in both cross country running and Nordic skiing, and Pratt said she likes to get to know athletes that play other sports.

“I like to get to know the people on the team,” Pratt said. “Because there are a lot of kids that do cross country and Nordic skiing, but there’s also some kids that do some different sports in the fall, it’s nice to get closer to the people I met in the cross country season, but interact with the new people.”

Thibodeau is one of those athletes that plays another sport. In the fall, she sports soccer cleats.

“Not a lot of soccer girls do cross country skiing, so I come into a whole new group of teammates,” Thibodeau said. “They have an amazing bond, but they let you right in.”

Williamson said team chemistry is important, because when the team is close, it makes the team that much better on the course.

“Last year I was just a sophomore, this year as a junior there’s a lot more to fill in now that the Varneys are gone,” Thibodeau said.

Williamson likes to have a junior who’s on the cusp of a leadership role.

“It’s always good to have underclassmen — if you consider junior an underclassmen, and sometimes I don’t — but it’s always good to have a junior start to step up into a leadership role,” Williamson said. “Not only as a leader, but as a stronger skier.”

Both skiers said they picked up a lot from the Varney cousins a year ago.

“They are both very passionate about skiing and what I think what I have learned, especially from McKenize, is it’s really how much you want it on the course, to be honest,” Pratt said. “McKenize, she was very relaxed in practice and didn’t stress herself out, but when she got out on the course, it’s like she had fire under her butt when it came came to competitions.”

“One of the most important things I learned from them is have fun, but also try your hardest,” Thibodeau said. “They were some of the funniest girls, but they also pushed you in practice and help, they would ski behind you and push you. If you finished a race and you were (feeling) down they didn’t care if it was your worse race ever, they were always there to pump you back up to show you how good you did in the race.”

Williamson said both Pratt and Thibodeau have started giving insights to the 2015-16 team in the first weeks of practice.

“Not only have they started to give technique pointers to teammates, they are listening attentively, like I said,” Williamson said. “You don’t always have to be in the front of the pack at practices to do very well in races.”

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