Morning Star Staff
Sovereign Lake was well represented with a dozen racers in the B.C. Midget Nordic Skiing Championships last weekend at Larch Hills in Salmon Arm.
More than 250 skiers between the ages of 9-12 from across B.C. as well as Canmore and Methow Valley, U.S., competed over two days.
Mitchell Bond topped the podium in his age group (2005 boys) grabbing gold and Torin Andrews took the silver in the 2003 boys individual start 2-km classic race Saturday morning.
Other solid performances came from Lucas Sadesky fifth (2003 boys), Pedar Ree 10th, Parker Munroe 13th, Sam Rosen 22nd and Kay Freeman 26th (2004 boys).
Nate Hardy was 12th and Evan Sadesky took 15th in the ‘05 boys; while Keith Bazinet was ninth in ‘06 Boys. Sophie Steinruck and Camille Hanry both represented Sovereign in the ‘05 girls division, placing 17th and 21st respectively.
Nate Hardy was one of five skiers to be recognized for exceptional technique in Saturday’s race.
The 1.5km relay Saturday afternoon saw the Sovereign boys teams taking sixth and seventh in a field of 20 teams.
Sunday morning started off with a 300-m sprint skate ski individual qualifier on a course full of corners and rollers and lined with cheering spectators.
Sovereign Lake showed their strength with a number of impressive qualification results. Andrews qualified third and held onto that position through the quarterfinal, semi and final heats. Lucas Sadesky finished right behind Andrews.
Ree was fourth in the ‘04 boys final while Munroe rounded off the top-10 with a great race.
Bond had the fastest qualifier of the day for ‘05 boys and in the final heat, edged the runner-up in a lunge photo-finish to hold onto gold. Evan Sadesky was also in the mix, finishing seventh in the 2005 boys.
Meanwhile, the brother and sister duo, Linnaea and Simon Heidt, both finished top of the podium in the B.C. Cup Atom categories.
Sharing top spot were Pee Wee racer Eva Rosen, and Masters skiers Pat Pearce and Mae Hooper. Mitchell Bond, Torin Andrews and Ian Oliphant all had solid seconds.
The Teck Okanagan Cup in Revelstoke resulted in podium finishes for a number of Sovereign racers, with golds earned by Bond, Oliphant, Carson Basset, Michelle Metza, Sarah Purslow, Olaf Plummer and Claude Bazinet.
Second in their respective categories went to Dawson Bond, Torin Andrews, Aidan Andrews, and Emma Smedley and third place to Sierra Munroe, Paige Latta, and Samantha Loewen.
Latta also placed in the Sprint A final at both Sovereign’s Nor-Am and BC Cup event, while Oliphant snatched first in the A final at the NorAms.
Hannah Mehain has consistently placed in the top of her category as well, taking second and third in the two NoRAm events. Mehain won a spot on Canada’s Jr. World Under 23 team with her strong performance at the recent Thunder Bay NorAm trials.
In biathlon, the sport of shooting and skiing, the Sovereign Lake team showed strong performances at the regional competition in Telemark. Camille Hanry and Lucas Sadesky both finished first in their category, while Danica Ariano crossed the line in second in her group.
Ariano’s performance earned her a spot on the Okanagan biathlon team for the the B.C. Winter Games, Feb. 25-28, in Penticton. Oliphant will represent the Okanagan on the cross country ski team in the Games.