The Revelstoke Ski Club U16 ski team won the Okanagan Zone title, and four skiers from the club have been invited to try out for Team BC, capping off a successful season for the team.
“Just 19 male and 19 female athletes from the entire province are selected, and this year four of them are from Revelstoke Ski Club,” said club president Richard Smith. “Our club is hitting well above its weight on the provincial scene, and we’re all very proud of our athletes who have trained so hard to get where they are.”
Revelstoke hosted the Okanagan Zone championships for U12, U14 and U16 skiers last weekend. The lower section of the Hollywood trail was turned into a race course for two days of giant slalom and slalom races. The racers from throughout the Okanagan-Mainline area, were greeted with 20 centimetres of snow for the race, which was packed down and hardened to make for faster race conditions.
Emily Unterberger highlighted the weekend for Revelstoke, winning both the U18 GS and slalom races. Her brother Dominic won the U18 slalom race.
Mitch Smith and Max Scharf also had strong performances, finishing in second and third place respectively in the GS on Saturday. Revelstoke’s other podium finisher was Bryce Molder, who finished third in the U16 slalom.
Both Unterberger’s, Smith and Scharf were invited to the Team BC selection camp in Whistler from April 17–21.
In the U12 boys, Joshua Jacoby from Sun Peaks won both the slalom and GS. In the U12 girls, Emily Whitecross from Sun Peaks won the GS and Noa Rogers the slalom.
In the U14 category, Brook Lukinuk from Big White won the girls GS, Whitecross won the girls slalom, and Zane Torres won both of the boys races.
In the U16, Matthew Kreutz from Vernon won both boys races, while Meg Cumming from Apex won both girls races.
Other highlights for Revelstoke at the race were:
Colm Molder: 4th in the U12 boys GS
Aleks Klassen: 8th in the U12 boys slalom and 9th in the GS
Jenna Knight: 8th in the U12 girls GS
Linnea Allain: 8th in the U14 girls GS
Callum Hicks: 6th in the U16 boys GS
Sonia Schewnk: 7th in the U16 girls slalom and 9th in the GS.
“We had a wonderful weekend of racing at our local hill and it has been an amazing one,” said coach Milan Arsovski. “All the kids gave their best effort, all skied fast and all of them had lots of fun. It was a perfect way to end the season.
“Overall, I’m so happy to be part of this club. Its a great and unique family and I learned a lot from the kids, for which I wan to give so much more in the years to come for all future generations. This weekend we definitely proved the Revelstoke Ski Club is really the Okanagan’s best and finest.”