Three locals off to national ski championships

Three members of the local Searchmont Ski Runners have qualified for the national alpine skiing championships in Alberta.

David Ghent-Kyle, Greg Moser and Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick have been selected as members of Team Ontario that will participate at the MARS Canadian Juvenile Ski Championships March 22-27 at the Sunshine Village Resort and Mount Norquay near Banff.

All three were selected to Team Ontario after their performances at the MARS Ontario Alpine Championships in Collingwood last week.

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The following is a complete list of results from the final four days of competition last week:

FRIDAY:

The week-long competition ended on this day as the Searchmont Ski Runners placed three racers in the top 20 in the slalom event.

Ghent-Kyle led the local contingent with a sixth place finish, his third top ten performance of the championships, in a time of one-minute, 12.25 seconds, which was three full seconds behind the winner Braden Long of the Georgian Peaks Ski Club.

In all, Long dominated the competition and collected five gold medals.

Elsewhere on the boys side, Greg Moser finished 17th, Josh Dugas 50th and Graeme Hutchison 58th in the field of 88.

Fitzpatrick led the girls' side with an eighth place performance in a time of 1:17.99 behind the winner Jennifer Welton of the Collingwood National Ski Academy. Jennifer Payne finished 23rd, Nora Beth Saunders 50th and Gillian Scott 52nd in a field of 77 racers.

THURSDAY:

The SSR had a difficult day in the slalom event at the Devil's Glen Ski Club while Braden Long continued his fantastic race week with a first place finish.

Greg Moser led all local racers with a 19th place finish while Hutchison finished 36th and Alex Moser 40th on the boys side. Ghent-Kyle and Dugas failed to finish both runs.

Fitzpatrick led the girls with a 23rd place finish while Scott finished 25th, Saunders 66th and Payne did not finish.

WEDNESDAY:

The team placed four racers in the top 20 in the second Super G event of the competition at Georgian Peaks.

Ghent-Kyle finished sixth in a time of 46.85 seconds which fell behind leader Braden Long's time of 45.95 seconds. Greg Moser finished 14th in a time of 47.83 seconds while Dugas placed 39th, Alex Moser 58th and Hutchison 74th.

Fitzpatrick topped the girls team with an 11th place finish in a time of 48.44 seconds, 1.62 seconds off the leader Samantha Gilbert of Ottawa. Scott finished 16th in a time of 48.88 while Payne finished 47th and Saunders did not finish.

TUESDAY:

In the first Super G race at Georgian Peaks, the Ski Runners placed three racers in the top 15 positions.

Greg Moser led the boys side with an eighth place finish. His time of 51.74 seconds fell behind winner Braden Long's time of 50.48 seconds. Ghent-Kyle finished 12th in a time of 52.33 seconds while Alex Moser finished 45th, Dugas 58th and Hutchison 73rd.

Fitzpatrick paced the girls with a 15th place finish in a time of 53.53 seconds. The Beaver Valley Ski Club's Christine Fisher won the event in a time of 51.24 seconds. Scott finished 22nd and Payne 51st while Saunders did not finish.

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To read previous results from the provincial championships posted on SooToday.com, click here.