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Whistler athletes on top in championships

The Whistler Mountain Ski Club has a lot to celebrate these days, with alumni cleaning up at the Pontiac GMC Canadian Championships, and both the K1 and juvenile teams cleaning up in provincial and national competitions.

The Whistler Mountain Ski Club has a lot to celebrate these days, with alumni cleaning up at the Pontiac GMC Canadian Championships, and both the K1 and juvenile teams cleaning up in provincial and national competitions.

K1 Provincial Championships (Ages 11 and 12)

Sead Causevic, the head coach of the K1 team knew his racers could compete with anyone in the province, but didn’t expect the team to win eight medals. "We did a lot of good training leading up to this event, and got into some of the mental training earlier than they would usually," he says. "It helps them to focus on things on the course, and to get their focus back quickly if they make mistakes.

"I’ve been snooping around the B.C. Alpine Web site to see who we would be up against, and I expected some good competition from the Interior. I was assured we’d have many kids in the running, I just didn’t know how the top five was going to look. I think we did pretty well."

In two weeks the K1 team will take on the province, Canada and the world in the Whistler Cup, and Causevic feels there are a number of athletes who could be a factor in those races. Jennifer Mah and Alison Matasi have been skiing well for the women, and Morgan Pridy is a threat in the men’s races. "Poor Morgan has been in fourth all year, just missing the podium, and at the provincials he finally made it into third place," says Causevic.

At the Merrill Lynch K1 Provincial Championships, the WMSC women’s team got off to a great start on March 16 in the GS, with silver and bronze medals going to Jennifer Mah and Christina Disler, respectively. Also cracking the top 15 were Alison Matasi in sixth and Katrina Dekur in seventh. Emily Higgins, Catherine Rose, Deborah Bayliss, Carolyn Caldwell, Brittany McGovern all made the top 30. The top spot went to Wictoria Glowczynska of Kamploops.

In the men’s GS, Morgan Pridy missed the bronze medal by 0.15 seconds. He finished behind Evan Moore of Vernon, Dane Tudor-Olds of Red Mountain, and Trevor Rose of Windermere. Also from Whistler, North Jones was seventh, Kyle Coxon eighth, and Daniel Penn 13 th to round out the top 15. Scott Harrison, Zachary Nash and David Sandberg were in the top 30.

In the afternoon races, the Whistler girls were back on top with Alison Matasi finishing third behind Glowczynska and Elli Terwiel of Kamloops. Jennifer Mah, Christina Disler and Katrina Dekur were fourth through sixth respectively. Catherine Rose was eighth, Carolyn Caldwell ninth, Emily Higgins 12 th and Victoria Whitney 15 th , to give the WMSC eight spots in the top 15.

Deborah Bayliss, Brittany McGovern and Sarah Marshall all made the top 30.

WMSC racer Kyle Coxon made the podium in the second men’s race, finishing third behind Evan Moore of Vernon and Trevor Rose of Windermere. Morgan Pridy was fourth once again, to round off Whistler’s spots in the top 15.

North Jones, Scott Harrison, Daniel Penn and Michael Kearney cracked the top 30.

In the slalom on March 17, the WMSC’s Jennifer Mah won the gold medal ahead of Georgia Simmerling of Grouse and Elli Terwiel of Kamloops. Alison Matasi, Christina Disler, Katrina Dekur and Sarah Marshall were fifth through eighth for Whistler, Deborah Bayliss was 10th and Carolyn Caldwell 15 th . Rounding out the top 30 were Catherine Rose, Brittany McGovern, Emily Higgins, Sara Berkes, Hattie Guadagnuolo, Marayna Shuker and Meriel Gibson.

The top three spots in the men’s slalom went to Evan Moore of Kamloops, Trevor Rose of Windermere and Alexander Chlum of Big White. Morgan Pridy was fourth yet again. North Jones was eighth, and Daniel Penn 13 th . In the top 30 were Michael Kearney, Sam Gibson and Kieran Cormack.

The WMSC girls were back on top that afternoon, this time with Jennifer Mah taking the gold medal ahead of Grouse’s Georgia Simmerling and Sandra MacDonald of Apex. Katrina Dekur was fifth, Christina Disler sixth, Sarah Marshall eight, and Carolyn Caldwell 14 th . In the top 30 were Victoria Whitney, Catherine Rose, Sara Berkes, Meriel Gibson and Calindy Ramsden.

Evan Moore and Trevor Rose switched places in the second men’s slalom, and Morgan Pridy finally moved out of fourth to take the bronze medal.

Also for Whistler, Kyle Coxon was fifth, North Jones 10 th and Daniel Penn 14 th . In the top 30 were David Sandberg and Kieran Cormack.

Canadian Juvenile Championship

The Merrill Lynch Canadian Juvenile Championships at Panorama Mountain Village were still ongoing at press time, but Whistler was already off to a great start in the giant slalom. The best juvenile skiers, ages 13 and 14, from across the country took part in the championships.

In the women’s race, Carmel McElroy and Melissa Yarmaloy of Alberta took the top two spots, followed closely by WMSC skier Kendall Benbow, who was just five one-hundredths of a second out of the silver medal position.

Alison Leighton was 16 th , and Vanessa Disler 30 th for the club.

Matthew Holler of Whistler was the top local skier in the men’s GS, finishing ninth overall. He was also the only WMSC skier to finish in the 30.

The top three spots went to racers from the east, with Hugo-Olivier Cleary and Francis Fortin-Houle of Quebec winning gold and bronze, and Tyler Nella of Ontario taking silver.

The Canadian Juvenile Championships wrap up on Sunday.