Routine trips to Mount Washington build Oak Bay High ski team spirit, which in turn appears to boost numbers.
“The ski team doubled in size this year, and has great energy,” said coach, parent and teacher Tina Horwood.
A scant 10 members last year – up from the year before – rolled into more than 20 for the ski and snowboard team this winter.
During the race series that ended Jan. 11 at Mount Washington, the girls’ ski team clobbered the competition with a total 19 points. Isfield finished second with six points.
“The girls’ ski team blew all the other schools out of the water,” said Horwood.
The top four times form a team: Patricia Horwood second, Henrike Heitmann third, Fionnuala McKenna fourth, and Emma Whittaker seventh.
The boys’ ski team tied for first with Vanier with 14 points. Top four skiers included: Logan Rampton in second, Liam Morgan fifth, Jake MacKenzie ninth and Adam Whittaker 10th.
All of the boarders were in top five. In the Boys Snowboard: Josh Waterlander finished third, Tiger fourth and Alex Hutcheson fifth. A great showing out of the 20 boarders. Even without a fourth boarder, the team took second place. In the Girls Snowboard: Brie Neufeld finished second and Charlotte Arason third.
Horwood’s most-improved award for that race series goes to Lillian Schreiber, who cut her race time in half between her first and second runs.