Established for the 1999-2000 season, the Oregon Interscholastic Ski Racing Association Nordic League has grown exponentially from activating about two dozen Central Oregon high school skiers to fielding almost 250 racers.

That trend has been constant for the entire state, according to OISRA Nordic president and Sisters High coach Lee Fischer.

The 2002-2003 season marked the first year in which organizers had to introduce qualification criteria to limit the field at the state championships, which this season will take place Feb. 20-21 at Hoodoo Ski Area near Sisters.

Nordic racers in Central Oregon high schools compete in the Northern League or the Southern League, depending on location, and accordingly some will not race against each other until the state meet.

It’s a little bit disappointing that we won’t have any races with Bend High or Mountain View until the state meet,” says Summit High coach Rich Gross.

The new season gets under way Saturday, with the Northern League racing at Hoodoo and the Southern League competing at Chemult.

With 40 skiers – 19 girls and 21 boys – on his roster, Gross coaches one of the largest teams in the Nordic league.

It’s a big family. It’s hard to keep track of them all,” Gross adds with a smile.

The Storm won the state overall title last year and placed second for both the girls and the boys.

Among key returners for the Summit girls are Kelan Stanfill, Whitney Drew, Whitney Hill and Krysten Fitzsimmons, who bring experience and skiing skill to the squad.

The girls will contend, but it will be a scrap between Bend High and Summit,” says Gross, adding that St. Mary’s of Portland could be a sleeper team.

For the Summit boys, Gross starts veteran skiers such as team co-captain Collin Rymer, Stuart Smith-Blockley and Garrett vom Steeg.

Collin is a sure thing for top five at state,” the coach predicts. And with Garrett, you never know when he is going to have a top race. He won the relay for our team at state last year.”

Expectations are running high for some of the Storm’s newer racers as well.

Joe Madden has a feel for skiing and for making his skis glide,” says Gross. He is a good, strong kid right off the football team. He loves baseball and has a great attitude.”

Other top Summit racers include Kenyon Neuman, who is one of the top distance runners in the state. The Storm’s boys and girls teams feature a number of talented runners, and they are stocked with soccer players as well.

At Bend High, coach Gregg Strome predicts that his squad of 23 racers – 13 girls and 10 boys – will fend well for themselves. He emphasizes, however, that their primary mission is to have fun with the sport.

Strome says he has a young group, especially the boys. The Lava Bear girls return some depth with varsity skiers Blake Fowles, Megan Wrightman, Marika Mondry and Cally Burkes.

Our boys are very young. Their time will come two years from now,” Strome predicts, adding that senior Bryan Holman returns strong for the boys team.

It is so rewarding to see new kids who have never turned out for a sport before change and start thinking of themselves as athletes,” says Strome, in his fourth year as head coach at Bend High. I really enjoy watching the kids grow.”

At Mountain View, coach Eric Martin reports a turnout of 49 skiers: 25 boys and 24 girls. Among the total, 21 are freshmen.

We have a pretty solid squad of experienced returnees,” says Martin, pointing to boys varsity returnees Ryan Martinez, Mathew Davis, Andy Tronson, Dakota Blackhorse, Mike Condon and Jake Brown.

Eight return to the Cougar girls varsity: Catherine Jager, Hannah Lee, Kelly Boe, Erica Hanson, Keli Kropf, Elise Munson, MacKenzie Nightingale and Christie Osburn.

The strengths of our team are our depth and our outstanding parent help,” says Martin. Our season goals are to get the 21 freshmen up to speed, to extend the varsity boys winning streak (Mountain View’s boys have not lost a race in more than two years), a top-three finish at state for the girls, and as always we have our eye on the (boys/girls) combined state trophy.”

At Redmond High, coach David Smullin has a 12-skier squad made up of six boys and six girls.

This is definitely a building season for us,” says Smullin, whose team lost eight skiers to graduation last spring.

There is only one person on the team this year with more than one year experience,” says the Panthers’ coach. One girl is entering her fourth season, two girls started last year, and three are new. Four of the boys started last year and two are new.”

Key returning skiers for Redmond include Max Foster, Martin Aulie, Kenzie Allan and Carissa Mares. Smullin also expects stellar performances from newcomers Michelle Sorum, Sarah Hartley and Hanah Larkin.

I have lots of talented athletes with great attitude who are learning quickly,” he says. They just need lots of time on snow.”

Challenges aside, Smullin has high goals for his young team.

We aim to place second in the Northern League,” he says, and be among the top four in state for both teams and overall.”

Sisters High fields a girls-only team this season, and three of the five racers figure to have a shot at individual points at the state meet.

Key returners include Lindsay Chick, Iris Powell and Tresse MacKinze, says Fischer. Iris (Powell) will be real strong this year, ” says Fischer expects, adding that Powell is a strong runner, and that the team members have all put in considerable dry-land training.

For Fischer and the Outlaws, the season goal is for the skiers to keep increasing their base and have fun, and for the returners to place high at the state meet.

The challenge is to get them to want to train more,” Fischer explains. They want to do young-girl stuff rather than practice,” he adds with a grin.

At Prineville’s Crook County High School, Nordic skiing is a bit of a non-traditional sport, says Tim Zook, who is coaching a total of eight skiers – one boy and seven girls.

The kids appreciate that it’s a non-traditional sport. They are that kind of kids – a little stubborn, and that’s refreshing,” Zook says.

Kayla Rasmussen, Ashley Bernard and Kelli Johnson return with experience to the Crook County squad.

Zook says the season goal is for the older skiers on the team is to place among the top 20 at the state meet, while for the rookies the main focus is on learning to ski.

Because Crook County skiers have farther to travel to the snow, the team is at something of a disadvantage, Zook notes. But they try to make up for the lack of snow time with more dry-land and running workouts, and they also incorporate instructional videos in their training routine.

They are an incredibly hard-working group who were convinced they were neither runners nor weight-lifters when we started this fall,” says Zook. I enjoy being around them and experiencing their sense of accomplishment and progression.

Note: For complete schedules and more information on the OISRA leagues, visit www.oisra.org.