Home hill advantage may have helped Fort St. James dominate at Murray Ridge last week. During the North Zone High School Ski and Snowboard Championships Feb. 7-8, the girls snowboard and ski teams both finished first.
High school snowboarders competed at Murray Ridge in Fort St. James on the Thursday, and skiers raced Friday, with Fort girl teams winning both the board and ski team events.
Gabriela Willick took first place individually amongst the girl skiers, and Liam Willick placed second amongst the boy skiers – only a fraction of a second behind first place.
The girl ski team secured first place among teams with five racers in the top 10.
Right behind Gabriela WIllick was Kaitlyn Goodwin in second, Ashlie Woodly placed eighth, Mackenzie Moeller was ninth and Quintana Paziuk was 10th. There were 23 girl skiers in total.
Liam Willick was the only boy skier to place in the top 10 out of a field of 48, but Max Boschman was just edged over the line into 11th place with 44.36 seconds for his two runs, with less than half a second separating him from 10th spot.
Female snowboarders from Fort St. James also did well, with four competitors in the top 10.
Sara King from Fort St. James was second overall out of 22 competitors, Brooke Dunkley was sixth, Mackenzie Moeller was seventh and Kaylee Walstrom was 10th.
The top six girl skiers, the entire girl snowboard team and Liam Willick and Max Boschman will next be heading to provincial championships in Smithers, set for March 4-6.
Last year’s girl snowboard team also made it to provincials, the team placing third in the province.
The team ranking depends on the top four times from each team.
Top individual Results
Girl Boarders:
First – Meryeta O’Dine from D.P. Todd 51.7 sec.
Second – Sara King from FSJSS 53.3 sec.
Third – Elise Dube from LDSS 53.6 sec.
Boy Boarders:
First – Justin Harrison from College Heights 51.1 sec.
Second – Evan Bichon from D.P. Todd 51.71 sec.
Third – Andre Dube from LDSS 53.19 sec.
Girl Skiers:
First – Gabriela Willick from FSJSS 43.65 sec.
Second – Kaitlyn Goodwin from FSJSS 44.13 sec.
Third – Erica Haugland from Duchess Park 45.26 sec.
Boys Skiers:
First – Jason Oliemans from Smithers Secondary School 40.31 sec.
Second – Liam Willick from FSJSS 40.78
Third – Chris McGauley from College Heights 42.07 sec.
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