Apex Freestyle Club members, past and present, shone during the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association’s selection camp at Apex Mountain, Dec. 20-21.
Entering the weekend, AFC coach Kenni Kuroda said he had no big expectations, specifically for his present group. What people witnessed was Jordan Kober, new to the national team, place fifth on Saturday then claiming silver on Sunday. Kober’s brother Joshua placed 14th on Saturday, while Noah Spence was 15th and Kyle Parker was 16th. On Sunday, along with Kober, Koleton Phipps finished 12th on Sunday and Parker was 13th. On the women’s side, Mason Barzilay was the lone athlete to crack the final round finishing 10th.
“They were awesome,” laughed Kuroda. “That’s all I can say. They were totally awesome. Not only was it great for them, but it was great for the team.”
Kurodo said Phipps and Parker did really well and praised Barzilay’s performance.
“It’s only going to boost their egos, boost their self confidence,” said Kuroda, of all the athletes, adding that those who compete with the club in the Timber Tour have “a lot more will to do well.”
“They are up against the best in Canada,” said Kuroda. “For them to pull off the placings that they did is just unbelievable.”
Canada’s Luke Ulsifer took gold on Saturday, with teammate Laurent Dumais taking silver and bronze going to Brenden Kelly. On Sunday, Ulsifer repeated his gold performance with Kober taking silver and bronze for Dumais.
On the women’s side, taking gold was Valerie Gilbert of Quebec with Ontario’s Aimee Hewat taking silver and bronze went to Berkley Brown on Saturday. On Sunday, Gilbert repeated her golden performance with Julie Bergeron of Canada taking silver and teammate Myriam Leclerc taking bronze. AFC was also represented by Hayden Pearce, Max Todd, Kassidy Todd, Shayna Finlayson, Joe Durham, Anna Spence, Madison Parker and Mackenzie Schwinghamer.
