The Haliburton Highlands Nordic Ski team competed at the Ontario Federation of Secondary Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championships in Sudbury Feb. 20-21, with three podium finishes.
Coach Karen Gervais said the team, which trains at Glebe Park, “was faced with a different challenge on the mostly flat and rolling trails, but found their glide on the snow and once again produced some very strong race results.”
In the interval start distance races, junior girl Annika Gervais had her best race of the season over the 5km course, making the podium with her seventh place finish out of 105 high school division skiers.
Winston Ramsdale was the top finisher in the junior boys’ high school division (34th), followed by Tristan Humphries (39th), Eric Mueller (52nd), Brady Hamilton (62nd); and Jack Sharp (105th) in a field of 120 skiers. The team finished 12th in the overall team standings out of 19 teams.
The senior girls’ squad was led by Erika Hoare, who also skied her best race of the season, finishing 16th on the 7.5 km course, which featured more climbing than the junior loop. Violet Humphries followed (21st); Olivia Gruppe (36st); Grace Allder (40th); Ella Gervais (48th); Teagan Hamilton (49th) and Hannah Sharp (54th) of 104 skiers in their division. The team earned a seventh place finish to take home some purple ribbons.
In senior boys’ action, Brechin Johnston led, finishing 25th of 133 skiers. Evan Backus was 39th; Graham Backus 48th; Owen Megrah-Poppe 95th and Carter Sisco 108th. The team were 10th in the standings of 19 schools.
On day two, teams raced in the 4 x 900m sprint relay. Gervais said, “all teams skied very competitive races, and managed to hold their spots in the team standings.”
The junior boys’ team of Ramsdale, Humphries, Mueller and Hamilton finished 10th. The senior boys fought hard with Gervais saying, “Evan Backus skillfully avoided competitors and crashes in the lead leg, jostling for space with 10 other teams in the heat. Megrah-Poppe and Graham Backus skied solid middle laps and Johnston fought hard in a very competitive anchor leg.”
The senior girls of Gruppe, Gervais, Hoare and Humphries was the only team to ski their way into the final.
“They skied passionately hard in the final, knocking nearly 20 seconds off their heat time to close the gap significantly between them and sixth-place rival Lo Ellen Park from Sudbury, but just could not catch them at the line,” Gervais said. They maintained their seventh-place position for another podium finish.
“The skiers represented Haliburton with excellence and integrity,” Gervais said on behalf of fellow coaches Mike Rieger, Joleen Thomas and Kevin Hoare. They thanked graduating students, Hoare, Sharp and Hamilton for “their leadership and commitment and helping to grow the Hal High Nordic Skiing program over the few last years.”
There were also thanks for the groomers at Glebe Park.
