OLB alpine ski team brings home five medals, two banners

There are two new banners hanging in the Our Lady of the Bay Catholic High School's gym.

The girls' open team and the boys' high school team both won gold in the giant slalom at the OFSAA  Alpine Championships held at Osler Bluff Ski Club last week.

The team brought home a total of five medals, the school's best result since the pandemic. Hayden Copp won gold in the open slalom. Andrew Dorchuk won silver in the giant slalom and bronze in the slalom, high school division.

"We were very pleased, obviously, because we hadn't won a banner in about five or six years," said ski coach and teacher Kevin Gosselin. "To get a couple of banners for the gym is really special for the athletes and the individual medals were special as well."

Fellow ski coach Melissa Wheatcroft said, "We are very proud of them. They worked hard."

Copp, a Grade 11 student and a member of the Ontario Development Ski Team, won the open slalom event last Tuesday before the big storm shut the race down.

"My run went really well. I was going bib five and I had a better track," he said.

Copp said he was happy both with his result and to win a medal for his school.

Jules Creed, who skied on the girls' open team said she and her team members were motivated.

"We were dialed in. We all wanted to do our best for the team," she said.

On the second day when conditions were even softer, the team finished fourth in the slalom.

Patrick Rush, who was on the boys' high school team said conditions were soft, but OK on Monday for the giant slalom.

"The first run was OK. The second run was solid," he said.

Boys' team members included Rush, Kaj Kulakowsky, Jordan Moran and Andrew Dorchuk.

Girls' team members included Jules Creed, Delila McQuay, Oliva Thompson, Holly Dow and Grace Grant.

The team held practices at Alpine, Craigleith and Osler ski clubs.

The conditions were really challenging for the races, said Gosselin, a certified high-performance (level three) race coach. 

“It’s been a difficult year to even get training in because of the warm winter and late snowfall, but it was the same for everybody in the province.”

Wheatcroft, who convened the race, said Osler "did an amazing job to allow the event to happen with the conditions," as it's usually closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Our Lady of the Bay will be hosting the event at Osler Bluff again next year.