Athlete of the Week: Concord skier Mika Taylor shares her success on the slopes

Concord senior skier Mika Taylor didn’t waver going into the Meet of Champions last week. She knew it was her last time breezing down that hill for Concord.

Throughout her career for the Tide, she excelled in the slalom and consistently performed when needed most. In 2024, her slalom-winning day in the Division I helped the girls’ team to a third-place finish.

Last season, she won the GS at the Division I champs and once again helped Concord to an even better finish, placing second. Her leadership on the Concord team once again laid the foundation for Concord skiers yet to come.

Moving past team performances, she brought her best in the MOC and qualified for her third consecutive Eastern High School championship team with a fifth-place slalom finish.

Also a club skier, she constantly strived to improve, so the Monitor asked her about her journey and experiences as one of the most competitive skiers in the high school circuit.

Q: When did you start skiing and what has made you stick with it?

A: Thanks to my parents I’ve been skiing since I was 2 years old. When I was 8 I joined the race team and in some capacity have raced ever since. What’s made me stick with it has always been how much fun I have on the mountain. I love to ski and I love to hang out with my friends. Racing gave me an opportunity to do so every weekend in the winter for the last 10 years without fail. It’s awesome.

Q: Who has inspired you to improve at your craft?

A: I find one of my friends really inspiring because of how much he truly loves the sport. He is unbelievably hard-working toward his goals and seeing his dedication makes me want to push myself to do the best I can do. We ski at very different levels but I find someone you can look at and learn from is so important.

Q: How do you balance sports and school?

A: I find it difficult at times. In ski racing, you often have to choose between going to school and racing. Training is also very time-consuming, especially being a club and school athlete, you’re training afternoons and both days on the weekends. I find planning out my free time and writing down everything I need to get done helps me stay on top of things.

Q: What do you feel this last season of Alpine has taught you?

A: This might sound cliché, but the last season really showed me the importance of friendships. The immense support I get from my friends means so much to me and I am so grateful for all the people I have built relationships with through this sport. Throughout this season I got to really just have fun and having some of my best friends either racing with me or cheering me on from the finish line made this last season all the more special.

Q: How did it feel to come back to the Meet of Champions and qualify for the Eastern High Team?

Amazing! Qualifying my senior year is huge for me. This is the first year I didn’t race on the weekends and I’ve definitely been missing the club season. To qualify and get to race a few more times past the regular high school season is so exciting for me, especially being my last year!

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d give other skiers?

HAVE FUN!! Skiing is a sport I think you really need to love and enjoy to stick with it in the first place, but racing can come with a lot of pressure, whether that’s from yourself, family, coaches, etc. It can be hard on an athlete’s self-esteem, even if you love the sport. By reminding myself that my sport should be fun was a way I took the stress and pressure off my results, times, placing.

Q: If you HAD to pick one: giant slalom or slalom? And why?

SLALOM! Anyone who knows me knows that slalom is my preferred discipline. I grew up racing at Pats Peak ( shout out ), where we made the best of our limited vertical terrain and trained a whole lot of slalom. I like the pace of slalom more than GS as well, I think slalom you need to be more technical whereas GS is more about being consistent and aggressive.