Flying down Rossland’s Red Mountain, the Apex Ski Club delivered strong results during the provincial championship.
Earning two medals for a second time was 15-year-old Meg Cumming, who won gold in the GS and bronze in the slalom event. Keefer Wells earned his first top 10 finish by placing ninth, while Reece Howden was 10th in slalom, Ella Pasin 13th and Belle Grant was 17th as she has come back from a knee injury.
ASC coach Jorgen Anderson wanted to see top 20 results and was quite pleased.
“I thought she skied really well,” said Anderson of Cumming. “I thought all our kids skied really well at times. Keefer Wells has never been in the top 20 and he popped a ninth. That’s amazing. He was so far behind guys last year and he has stepped up.”
While Cumming accomplished what Anderson expected, Howden also impressed by finishing in the top 15.
“It’s a pretty exclusive group of skiers that are really good,” said Anderson. “There are kids within those 70 boys and girls that will make the national ski team.”
Pasin got 13th. She had never been better than 25th. Anderson said all the skiers have been up against the same group for four years.
“It’s neat to see movement within the group,” he said, adding that Pasin is on fire.
Cumming,15, said it was a good way to end her Kinder 2 (age 13 to 14) year and that her opponents were pretty strong. Her only expectation heading into the weekend was to ski well.
“The conditions were really nice,” she said. “The course was quite flat, which wasn’t that great. I normally tend to do better on steep runs.”
Now Cumming has her mind focused on the Whistler Cup, which she is competing in this weekend. She doesn’t have much for expectations, but is looking forward to enjoying the atmosphere of the parade.
Anderson said that Cumming has won all her zone races this season and that she qualified for the B.C. Alpine High Performance Program and the B.C. team selection.
“She continues to get better,” said Anderson. “We don’t know what we’ve seen from her yet.”