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Mogul skiers trick way to podium

Freestyle skiers from Penticton and Keremeos picked up 13 medals at the Penticton 2016 BC Winter Games, Feb. 25 to 28.
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Anna Spence left the Penticton 2016 BC Winter Games with a gold medal in mogul skiing.

Freestyle skiers from Penticton and Keremeos picked up 13 medals at the Penticton 2016 BC Winter Games, Feb. 25 to 28.

Leading the way were Apex Freestyle Club members Brayden Kuroda and Alec Henderson with four medals each while Liam Collyer won three, Anna Spence two and Max Todd of Keremeos with one.

Spence captured gold in moguls and bronze in juvenile combined.

“I achieved my goal, I always wanted a gold and finally I get the gold in my last Games, “ said Spence on Saturday, following the moguls event. “I’m kind of shocked.”

Spence got over the disappointment of placing fifth in slopestyle on Friday to perform her best Saturday. Going through the course, Spence found the moguls to be really deep.

“It got hard. Luckily we were able to just slip and it made it a lot easier,” said Spence, who finished fourth in the big air event and fifth in slopestyle.

Kuroda, who won gold in Mission two years ago, took gold in slopestyle, moguls and juvenile male combined and picked up bronze in the big air event.

On Saturday, Kuroda said he was “so stoked” to win gold in moguls.

“I did not expect it at all,” said Kuroda, taking the juvenile category. “I was super happy with how it turned out.”

With a strong, competitive field, Kuroda said he knew he had to match how well the other skiers performed.

“I knew I had to put the pedal to the metal to beat all my competitors because they are really good and it’s really hard, tough competition here,” said Kuroda. “I’m just having a great time with all my friends. I’ve been working really hard all this season to do great for this competition.”

Penticton’s Andrew Carlow was ninth in juvenile moguls and seventh in big air and
ninth in combined.

Henderson picked up silver in youth slopestyle, bronze in moguls, bronze in big air and silver in youth combined.

Todd was very excited to win a bronze medal after not winning one two years ago.

“The competition was pretty intense,” he said. “I felt I did really well. I feel like I had one of my best runs of the season.”

Other winners included Whistler’s Kai Smart taking gold in youth slopestyle, and Big White’s Cole Isfan taking bronze. Ethan Phillips of Langley, who competes with the Apex Freestyle Club, won gold in youth moguls, with silver to Smart. In youth big air, Smart won gold, North Vancouver’s Benjamin Lynch took silver. In youth combined male, Smart took gold and Fernie’s Sam Goodison earned bronze. Penticton’s Alex Collyer took fourth in youth moguls. He also cracked the top 10 in youth combined. In juvenile slopestyle male, Coldstream’s Stirling Peters took silver. In juvenile male moguls, West Vancouver’s Sam Cordell took silver. In the juvenile big air, Peters took silver as well as silver in combined.

In youth slopestyle female, Mount Currie’s (Vancouver-Coastal) Josephine Howell won gold, West Vancouver’s Skye Clarke took silver and Kelowna’s Ainsley MacDonald earned bronze. In moguls, Port Moody’s Maya Mikkelsem won gold, Clarke, silver and Kelowna’s Jordan MacDonald picked up bronze. In big air, Clarke won gold, Mikkelsem silver and Jordan MacDonald, bronze. Clarke took gold in youth combined, Mikkelsem, silver and Howell picked up bronze. In juvenile slopestyle, Sarah Rocque of Ladysmith won gold, Jessica Linton of Anmore took silver and Kelowna’s Courtney Macdonald picked up bronze. In moguls, Macdonald took silver and Linton, bronze. in big air, Whistler’s Michelle MacPherson won gold, Linton silver and Macdonald, bronze. In combined, Linton won gold, Macdonald silver and Spence bronze.

Other medal winners included Maya Mikkelsen of Port Moody winning gold in the youth category while Skye Clarke of West Vancouver took silver and Kelowna’s Jordan Macdonald took bronze. Following Spence with a silver medal was Kelowna’s Courtney MacDonald and bronze went to Jessica Linton of Anmore from the Vancouver-Coast region. In youth males, Ethan Phillips, who competes for the Apex Freestyle Club, and is from Langley, won gold. Taking silver was Whistler’s Kai Smart. The other winner juvenile male was Sam Cordell of West Vancouver taking silver.