Blue skies and temperatures warm enough to reduce the lingering snowpack gave many Mainers hope Sunday that meteorological spring is not far away.
But for the Streinz family of tiny Hersey in southern Aroostook County, those same conditions offered a chance to capitalize on some of the season’s best conditions for cross country skiing.
“We spent all afternoon out on skis,” said Chris Streinz. “What a beautiful day!”
And when Chris, his wife Kyli and their six children are all home, that’s nearly 10 percent of the town’s population — 83 as of the 2010 Census — donning skis for personal enjoyment and in pursuit of competitive goals.
Oldest daughter Lydia Streinz, 20, is a sophomore at the University of Maine at Presque Isle and a member of the Owls’ NCAA ski team.
Hannah Streinz, 19, is a freshman nursing student at the University of Maine at Fort Kent who this winter represented the Maine Winter Sports Center at the IBU World Youth/Junior Biathlon Championships in Minsk, Belarus.
Daniel Streinz, 17, is homeschooled along with his younger siblings, and the high school junior has established himself among the top cross country skiers in his age group after scoring two top-five finishes while competing for the MWSC at this year’s USSA Junior Championships in Truckee, California.
Freshman Caleb Streinz, 15, is a U16 skier with the MWSC, and 13-year-old Abigail is a seventh-grader who skis with Ashland Middle School as well as on the U14 circuit with MWSC. And 9-year-old Luke is a fourth-grader who skies in New England Bill Koch races and local Aroostook Cup events.
“Skiing is a major family activity. We ski almost every day all winter,” said Chris Streinz, a self-employed patent agent who moved his family from the Chicago suburbs to northern Maine in 1999 because “we needed a family-friendly change of pace.”
Much of that skiing is done on family trails Daniel Streinz maintains throughout the winter.
“We have a long out-and-back with some loops, maybe 5 miles in all,” he said. “I groom them three or four times a week all winter, depending on snow conditions, towing a Tidd Tech trail groomer behind our snowmobile. I also work with my family to maintain them and get them ready for winter.”
The family’s unified approach to skiing is not confined to the snowiest times of year.
“We spend a lot of time together as a family because of skiing, especially if you count all the summer training as well,” said Lydia Streinz. “For example, in the summer we’ll all go out to a road that’s about a mile long and roller ski (Mom and Dad will walk, and Luke rollerblades or bikes). While we may not be all together at the same time, you’re constantly going past each other and seeing everybody, and we’ll do this maybe two or three times a week, especially as it gets into later summer or fall.”
With the children at different stages of their skiing development, their individual training regimens vary.
Customized plans are developed by Will Sweetser, racing director at the Maine Winter Sports Center, and MWSC biathlon coach Seth Hubbard. But given the lengthy distances from Hersey to MWSC training locales in Presque Isle (65 miles) and Fort Kent (90 miles) that make regular visits to those sites inconvenient, Chris Streinz does much of the day-to-day administration of those training schedules at home.
“I jokingly refer to them as ‘Team Streinz,’” said Sweetser. “They’re like a subset of our team because they live so far away, but Chris is really a student of the sport, and he acts as the on-the-ground coach for the kids.
“They don’t all have the same training program, but Chris does a really good job of managing them. It’s a tall order for a parent to manage athletes like that, but the Streinz family does a good job.”
The Streinz parents and children appreciate their relationship with the MWSC.
“Will and Seth have been very accommodating to our unique situation and readily provide guidance and assistance over the phone or internet,” said Chris Streinz, who was a competitive swimmer during his high school days in Connecticut. He and his wife didn’t become serious about skiing until his grandfather purchased skis for the family in 2002 as a gift.
That relationship is paying off, particularly for the older kids who hope to build on recent successes in regional, national and international competitions.
Lydia Streinz describes one of her “reach goals” as earning a top-40 finish at the NCAA championships before she graduates from UMPI.
“Beyond college I don’t see myself continuing to ski competitively other than fun community races,” she said, “but I would love to be able to coach at a middle- or high-school level.”
Hannah Streinz hopes to make the U.S. junior biathlon team next year and return to the world world championships as well as compete at the cross country Junior Nationals in her final year of eligibility for that event.
And Daniel Streinz, who finished third in the sprint race and anchored a second-place relay team at this year’s Junior Nationals, also hopes to experience international cross-country competition and may pursue a sport on the U.S. youth biathlon team.
“It’s a pretty remarkable family,” said Sweetser. “It’s pretty cool to have one daughter, Lydia, competing at the NCAA level in the East, which is very competitive, and be a solid top-half-of-the-field competitor. And then to have Hannah make the world biathlon juniors and Daniel have multiple podiums for cross country at junior nationals in the same year is a testament to how hard those kids work.”
