The Haliburton Highlands nordic ski team travelled to the Ontario Federation of Secondary Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championships at Hardwood Hills Ski and Bike in Orillia Feb. 24-25.
Red Hawk skier Violet Humphries, one of the first skiers to travel the 7.6km senior course for the interval races, faced frigid temperatures. Despite the cold, Humphries put down a fast time of 27:20.5 to earn a 10th-place finish in the senior girls’ high school division.
OFSAA nordic skiing classifies their skiers into two divisions for individual finishes: high school racers that train exclusively with their school team and open skiers that train and compete with a club.
Ella Gervais finished 40th, Olivia Gruppe 53rd, Grace Allder 58th, and Ruby Morrison 86th in a field of 117 skiers.
As a team, the Hawks finished in ninth place, one spot out of ribbon position.
Senior boy Evan Backus was the top HHSS finisher, gliding over the line in 26:52.7 to place 36th. Winston Ramsdale placed 46th, Graham Backus 55th, Carter Sisco 62nd, Brady Hamilton 71st and Owen Megrah-Poppe 79th. The team finished 13th overall in the Interval races.
On the junior 5.5km course, Annika Gervais skied to a determined fifth-place finish in high school girls. Her time was 20:40.0. Grade 9 skier Anika Suke crossed the line in 12th and Kailey Hoare was 48th, followed closely by Quinn Hamilton in 51st. Alternate Leah Allder finished 72nd out of 106 high school skiers.
The junior girls’ performances earned them an eighth-place team finish and a burgundy ribbon.
The junior boy Red Hawks also proved they were a force on snow. Alex Lee was the top finisher in a time of 19:36.5 placing 15th. Tristan Humphries followed closely in 18th, Duncan Evans-Fockler 31st, Kip Kelly 33rd, and Aren Addison 89th out of 120. The boys’ performances earned them a fifthplace finish as a team.
Day two saw the temperatures swing upwards towards zero creating very soft and slow conditions in the four-by-one kilometre sprint relay.
The junior skiers once again brought some fire and both skied into the finals in their respective races. Junior girls Annika Gervais, Hoare, Hamilton and Suke brought their speed and grit to knock another seven seconds off their heat time and race into fourth place in the final.
Junior boys Humphries, Lee, EvansFockler and Kelly also shaved 16 seconds from their heat time to secure a fifth-place finish. Three of these skiers are in Grade 9.
The senior girls team battled hard and hung on to their ninth-place position out of 16 teams, disappointingly missing the final by one spot. Senior boys moved up from 13th to 10th in the relay out of 21 teams.
HHSS coaches Karen Gervais and Mike Rieger thanked community coaches Joleen Thomas, Judy Suke and Kevin Hoare; community members for volunteering at races and contributing to fundraising efforts; as well as the groomers at Glebe Park.
