Canmore alpine phenom Ryan Gooch brought home three gold and two silver medals to lead the hometown contingent at the 2016 Alberta Winter Games in Medicine Hat, March 13-16.
Racing at Hidden Valley Ski Hill, Gooch struck gold in both U14 female slalom races and the dual slalom competition, where she blew away the competition. In giant slalom, she kept it tight in tough conditions to win two silver medals.
“The first (slalom) course was a tight set course. The snow was very slow and my run didn’t feel that good, but I was still able to ski well … this is a great accomplishment,” Gooch said. “The afternoon, it felt a lot better. I was able to generate speed where others couldn’t.”
As a member of the Sunshine Alpine Racers, Gooch is having an incredible season on the U14 scene, as she rarely finishes outside of the top three. Slalom is her favourite discipline thus far, and she said the Games were a great chance to have fun with her friends.
“I just love slalom. You can turn really fast and get that good snap,” Gooch said. “I definitely want to go on to FIS and take it as far as I can.”
Colin Mills was the Bow Valley’s second alpine medal winner. He finished second in dual slalom, and picked up a fourth-place finish in U14 men’s slalom.
Emma Carmichael of Banff also had a strong showing in alpine. She posted three fourth-place finishes in slalom and giant slalom.
As expected, the Bow Valley was nearly unstoppable in cross-country skiing. The team medalled in each relay competition, and had a plethora of strong individual results.
“That shows the strength of the program,” said head coach Alain Parent. “In some cases, it was a pretty dominating win. In others, it was a hard fought battle. We had a really good group of kinds and for the young ones, it’s a big deal. It’s a highlight of their year, and for some, their ski career.”
Poor snow conditions cancelled all classic races.
Local winners included: Tait and Kieran Carlson (bronze, juvenile male relay), Sabine Comeau (gold mini midget female sprint, and mini midget mixed relay), Logan de Boer (bronze, juvenile male relay), Ryder de Nys (gold, mini midget mixed relay), Maya Fish (gold, midget female relay, silver, midget sprint), Nadia Fish (bronze, mini midget female sprint), Luke Fricker (gold, midget male relay, bronze, midget male sprint), Alison Gourlay (silver, juvenile female relay, bronze juvenile female sprint), Emma Hendry (gold, midget female relay), Isobel Hendry (gold, midget female sprint), Xavier McKeever (gold, midget male relay, midget male sprint), Jack Menzies (bronze, juvenile male relay, juvenile male sprint), Sebastien Parent (gold, midget male relay), Kjirsti Sellers (gold, midget female relay), Clara Joy Strum (silver, juvenile female relay), Tabitha Williams (gold, mini midget mixed relay, silver female sprint), Keifer Miller (gold, mini-midget mixed relay).
Biathlon: Due to a lack of snow, athletes had to run the course instead of ski. Anna Marino was the local MVP, winning a gold and silver medal in the super sprint and individual race.
“I’m really happy. This is my first really big win,” Marino said.
Matthew Gillett (silver, male super sprint) also won a medal for Zone 2.
Bow valley winners weren’t constrained to snow sports. Artistic gymnast Erika Lepper won silver in the JO 7 all-around team event, while Kyla Yawney won silver in the JO 6 all-around team event.
Savina Somas of Banff finished second in the pre-novice women’s singles figure skating competition.
Jarrod Gale took silver in the male hockey tournament.
McKenzie Morgan won silver in the judo male 66-73 kilogram category.
Local speed skaters also faired extremely well at the games. Marcus de Boer, Troy Flood, and Josh Holthuis teamed up to win gold in the T2T 1 male relay. De Boer also won silver in the male individual race.
Morley squash players also faired well, as Joel Ear, Angelina Holloway, Luke Hunter and Ashanti Wesley teamed up to finish fifth in the mixed team event.
