Local athletes recently competed in the 2020 OFSAA Nordic Ski Championships. Over a dozen students from Valour High School, Mackenzie Community School, Equinoxe, Fellowes and RCI took part in the event on February 20th in Arrowhead Provincial Park near Huntsville.
The junior girl’s race was was 5.69km in length, much longer than the 4 km the girls are used to. Jamie Hopkins from Mackenzie was 19th overall. Skye Crouzat of Valour placed 37th and 17th out of 131 high school skiers. Haley Maggio of Valour was 66th overall and 45th in the high school division. Alison Chiasson of MCS placed 41st, Olivia Sykes of MCS 51st, Wren Raulick-Dunn of MCS was 59th, Abby Bakewell of MCS 71st, Aya Hammond of Valour in 102nd and Azalea Cutas of Valour in 146th place out of 158 skiers.
In the 6.71 km junior boys race, Daniel Epp of Valour finished 17th and 5th in the high school division followed by Blake Menard of MCS in 39th overall and 17th. Liam McDonald of MCS placed 57th overall and 25th in the OPEN division, Ben Arsenault of Valour came 79th and 47th. Kyle Poupore placed 84th, Stan Yelisyeyev 92nd, Jay Dadhiala of MCS 145th, Noah Bernardin of Valour 146th and Luc Chantrell of MCS in 147th of 153 skiers.
In the 6.71 km senior girl’s race Sophie Levasseur of Equinoxe skied to a 4th place finish, Jessica Yemen of Valour finished 34th out of 158 skiers.
The final race was the 8.85 km senior boy’s race where Raphael Gerout of MCS came 11th overall and Leif Buxton of RCI was 45th overall and 21st. Fellowes skier Liam Sonoski placed 88th, Ryan Unrau of Valour placed 113th and MCS skiers James Dillenbeck came 167th, Ethan Bakewell was 177th out of 186 skiers.
Photos of Sophie Levasseur of Equinoxe, Jamie Hopkins of Mackenzie and Jessica Yemen of Valour. Submitted by Garry Servis:
