Nordic skiing returns to the North Yarmouth Academy (NYA) winter sports lineup for the first time since 2014. Recent University of New Hampshire (UNH) graduate and Freeport High School alumna, Elizabeth “Lizzy” Martin, will coach the Panthers this season. Martin was the Maine State Champion in Nordic and Alpine Combined in 2013 and 2014 and Maine State Runner-Up in 2015 and 2016. She skied for the Division I UNH Women’s Nordic Ski Team all four years and was captain her senior year. She graduated from UNH last spring with a B.S. in Environmental Science and minor in Marine Biology.
“I am thrilled to be joining NYA athletics and to have the opportunity to coach a sport I am so passionate about,” said Martin. “I look forward to applying my experiences as an athlete to help develop the Nordic ski program in this community. I intend to impart the same enthusiasm, dedication, and hard work to this program that I carried with me throughout my career. I am excited to teach my athletes these same values in addition to team work, a love for the outdoors, and an affinity for Nordic skiing.”
The NYA Nordic Ski team currently has a dozen students on the co-ed roster. Skiing Panthers will compete in the Western Maine Conference, racing classical and skate classifications. Upper School Math and Science Teacher, Haver Markam, got the team started this season as the interim head coach and will stay on as assistant coach.
“We are thrilled to welcome Coach Martin as our Nordic head coach,” said NYA Athletic Director, Kelsy Ross. “Her experiences as a competitive student-athlete at Freeport and UNH, along with her enthusiasm for the sport, are a perfect fit for our students as we look to reestablish our program. We look forward to all she’ll bring our community, and feel fortunate to have her joining us in such wild times for youth athletics.”
