Morning Star Staff
The host Vernon Ski Club finished third behind teams from Whistler and Apex Alpine (Penticton) at the U14 Teck provincial ski finals at Silver Star.
More than 200 competitors took part in giant slalom and slalom events over four days of action.
The cooler weather, sunshine and ideal firm conditions helped pull off the race which included a daily volunteer total of 60 parents and friends and teams from 19 different alpine clubs in B.C.
In giant slalom, Gerrit van Soest killed it on Day 1, snagging gold and silver in giant slalom, with his best GS of the season.
Teammate Caele Kassa was eighth and 10th, Braden Kersey 30th and 35th, and Max Stepphun 41st and 43rd.
Andrew Schmidt and Ken Anderson finished all three GS races with bests of 54th for Schmidt and 65th for first year U14 Anderson.
In slalom, Kassa executed flawlessly for a slalom bronze and added a seventh in the next race. Van Soest skied to a fifth in his best slalom finish. Schmidt and Anderson had stellar runs for personal best runs of 34th and 72nd while Stepphun and Kersey’s best slalom finishes w
ere 31st and 29th respectively.
Best two-of-three giant slalom races for the ladies had second-year U14 Makena Kersey leading the ladies at sixth and seventh. Emma Lockwood skied strong to finish 16th and 17th, Nadia Jones was 23rd/28th, Rane Smith 29th/31st, and Katrina Fink 33rd/43rd.
In the three slalom races, Kersey had a solid run for ninth on Day 1. In the two-run slalom race, she laid down a 10th place in her first run and a stellar third place second run, combining for a sixth-place finish.
Lockwood had a great run and best of series slalom result with a solid ninth on a tough icy course where many ladies found trouble on the steep pitch, while Fink earned ‘most improved’ for her 12th place run on that same icy course.
Jones and Smith had top-30 placings in slalom results which helped them join teammates Fink, Lockwood and Kersey in qualifying for Can-Ams where the best 90 racers of each gender will compete at Revelstoke Mountain Resort during spring break.
Braden Kersey, VanSoest and Kassa join all the ladies as Can-Am qualifiers. In the overall provincial series standings, Van Soest and Kassa were fifth and ninth for the men, respectively, and Makena Kersey was 10th overall in the ladies group.
