More than half of the Sault Ste. Marie high school Nordic skiers who competed at the Northern Ontario Secondary School Athletics (NOSSA) Championship last week have qualified for provincials.
Twenty-four student athletes – three more than last year – will have their eyes on podium finishes when they compete in Lakefield at the Ontario Federation of School Athletics Association (OFSAA) Nordic Championship at the end of the week.
Cross-country skiers from Korah, Superior Heights, White Pines, and St. Mary’s College will compete in main races on Thursday, followed by sprints and relays on Friday.
This is the second straight season Sault Ste. Marie will have representation at OFSAA in Nordic skiing after the sport made a return to local schools for the first time in decades last year.
Last week, roughly 45 local cross-country skiers attended the NOSSA Championship at Windy Lake Provincial Park just outside of Sudbury.
Athletes competed in a five-kilometre race (junior boys and girls), a seven-kilometre race (senior boys and girls), or a three-kilometre exhibition race (for beginning skiers and classic style skiers).
“The ski gods cooperated with the event by sending a beautiful blanket of snow the night before that made the trails more ideal for the race,” said cross-country organizer Greg MacLachlan. “The Sault athletes competed with grit and toughness culminating in over half of our athletes qualifying for the Ontario championships.”
Superior Heights student Kate de Beer raced to first overall and “crushed the competition” for the second straight year according to MacLachlan. De Beer had a sixth-place finish at OFSAA last year and is eying a podium finish this week.
The junior girls Para-Nordic division featured a victory from Sault skier Melina Bernardo. She placed first and will also ski at OFSAA on Thursday.
In the junior boys division, the Korah team placed second which qualified their top finisher Ryan Elgie, who narrowly missed a podium finish, for the Ontario championship. Also qualifying for the team were Simon Trombello, Oliver Benac, Kieran Dopp, and Alexander Townsend.
The senior division finishers featured Erik Kary who placed third in the Open division. Kary led the White Pines senior team to a second-place finish. The OFSAA qualifying team also features Linden Devries, Alder Devries, Matt Dacosta, and Dominic Albury.
Anna Towle from Superior Heights was the top senior girls finisher.
Gus Morin-Strom from Korah skied to a first-place finish in the exhibition division. Aydin Thompson-McGuire and Tucker Lidstone from White Pines finished second and third.
The following athletes also qualified for OFSAA this week:
Junior Boys
- Mateo Ivorra (Superior Heights)
- Felix Schamp (Superior Heights)
- Camden Slagel (Superior Heights)
- Makks Demidovich (Superior Heights)
- Zackory Henderson (St. Mary's College)
Junior Girls
- Taylor Nieson (St. Mary's College)
- Myka Broad (Superior Heights)
- Ariya Rooney (Korah)
- Amelia Tanninen (Korah)
Senior Girls
- Helena Schoacs (Superior Heights)
- Ahnika Davey (Korah)
- Rhianon Barbeau (Korah)
- Sadie Pelar (Korah)
- Aili Luomaranta (Korah)
Senior Boys
- Josh Lamming (St. Mary's College)
- Trysten Kahtava (Korah)