by Jessica Peters
Black Press
**********
The BC Freestyle Association pushed through with the slopestyle competition on Hemlock Saturday afternoon, despite the challenge of rapidly changing slope conditions.
Hannah Benischek (Vancouver) took gold in the event in the senior ladies division, with 23 points. Kassidy Todd (Fraser Valley) won silver with 21 points, and Shaina Finlayson (Thompson-Okanagan) earned a bronze medal with 19.6 points.
In the junior ladies division, Erin Sketchley (Vancouver) earned gold with a strong 26 points. Courtney Macdonald (Thompson-Okanagan) earned silver with 18 points and Mei Pond (Vancouver) won the bronze with 17.6 points.
Scoring for the ladies event was judged on a different level than the mens, according to head judge Simon Stubbs.
In the senior men’s slopestyle, Matt Finlayson (Thompson-Okanagan) earned gold with 64.6 points. Todd Heard (Vancouver) earned silver with 62 points and Austin Brainard (Vancouver) took home bronze with 53.3.
Lucas Pelletier (Vancouver) earned gold in the junior men’s, with 61 points. Chase Ujejski (Vancouver) earned silver with 49 points and Stirling Peters (Thompson-Okanagan) won bronze with 48.6.
The competition has wrapped up for the freestyler skiers, who will spend some well-deserved free time on Sunday at Hemlock.
