The absurd amount of snow isn’t only good for cancelling buses and giving days off; Sacred Heart’s alpine ski team has been busy shredding the hills and climbing the leaderboards amongst other schools in Ottawa.
The team, run by Coach Paquin, is for students in grades 9-12 with a passion for and experience in skiing. Practices were a school bus ride away at Mont. Cascades and Camp Fortune after school. Unfortunately, because of snow days and unforeseen delays, there were only two practices, but even with limited preparation, the talented students still rocked it at the races. The NCSSAA 2022 ski races were held at Camp Fortune on February 28 and March 1. The first day was for the slalom race, and the second day was for the giant slalom. In slalom, you have to go down the hill quickly but also ski around “gates”, which resemble flags or poles. In giant slalom, the course is usually longer and the gates are farther apart down the hill, calling for less aggressive turns and more speed. Sacred’s highest placing athlete on the first day was Kaliegh Fitzpatrick who secured a fantastic spot in fourth place. Kaliegh performed amazingly again on the second day even though the snow conditions were less than ideal, coming in sixth place and her sister, Laila, in fifth place. The best placing male athlete overall was Jakob Millar, who placed in 11th.
Grade 12 ski athlete, Keira Edmond speaks for most athletes at our school when she says,
“honestly I was just so happy to have sports this year and to be able to compete. It was also really great to see some new students join the ski team this year and I hope more join next year!”