The Alpine team was in action on Thursday at the North Shore Championships at Whistler. There were some very tough conditions but the Alpine Cavs rose to the occasion and all four teams qualified for the BC Championships. This is a tremendous accomplishment. Here is Coach Ramsden's report:
Collingwood athletes competed with heart and determination during the North Shore Championships this week. The team of 51 athletes competed in either the Novice and Experienced division, competing against all other schools on the North Shore.
Novice
Many middle school athletes competed in the Novice division gaining important experience both mentally and tactically. For the second year in a row, Madeleine Kottmeier took the top spot competing against girls in Grade 8 - 12. Collingwood also had two more top 10 finishes with Lilly Lutz placing 6th and Rachel Radosevic placing 7th.
On the men's side, Oliver Bosa had the top Collingwood result placing 9th. Collingwood had a string of finishes from 18th - 26th including Zach Bosa, Aidan Mavai, Kevin Yamada, and Durban Ball.
Experienced
Most senior athletes competed in the experienced division with a couple middle school students rounding out the team. Athletes conquered difficult course conditions with snow falling hard all day long and fog rolling in and out, impacting their visibility. Also, the recent frozen rainfall layer created difficult ruts that claimed many.
Both of Collingwood’s snowboard teams put together solid runs that earned them second place in the team division. Isla Cormack just missed the podium with a 4th place finish and Devina Briggs Hammoud was close behind in 6th. Remy Li, in her first year with the team, put together two impressive runs that earned her 7th with Carolyn Yu placing 10th. Olivier Bruson claimed the bronze medal on the boys side with Jason Yu placing 10th, James Lusting 12th and Kevin Meng 19th.
The girls ski team saw some tough competition this year with a very close margin of 2 points separating the top three teams. Collingwood earned third in the team division with Jamie Border leading the charge with a 5th place finish after some excitement with catching up to the athlete in front of her and forcing her to do a re-run. Saylor Sprenger placed 8th, Olivia Tiller and Liz Mathisen placed 12th and 13th separated by only 3 tenths of a second. Ruby Mantel, Cassidy Foley and Simone Dhingra tackled the experienced course for the first time placing 23rd, 24th and 25th.
Sam Fuller continued his dominance on the North Shore with yet another win by over three seconds! Stuart Cooper also had to do a re-run and in his first year of racing in the experienced division, placed an impressive 4th place. Nicholas Dahl continued his consistent skiing with a 7th place finish while Matthew Bugeja and Kevin Huang had fast first runs but some issues with their second runs. Matthew Bugeja skied a third of the course on one ski while Kevin Huang double ejected on the infamous 4th red gate that took many casualties. Archie Robertshaw and Aidan Guo put in respectable finishes in their first year with the team.
With these impressive results, all four Collingwood teams have qualified for provincials and the team looks forward to representing their school in Panorama in March.
Congratulations on a great season!
Sam Fuller won the gold medal with a three-second win over his closest competitor.
Olivier Bruson finished 3rd in the senior snowboard competition.
Jamie Border was so quick on one run, she caught up to the previous skier. Jamie finished 5th in senior girls competition.