Reynolds secondary’s ski and snowboard took advantage of a great snow season at Mount Washington with its best training and racing in years.
This year’s Grade 9 group was its strongest in years and showed tremendous potential for the future, said coach Heather Benson.
Grade 9 Kaia Santorineos was second in the Vancouver Island Race Series standings when she suffered an unfortunate injury the following weekend and could not continue.
However, plenty of Reynolds names were in the prominent placings by the end of the VIR Series. Top finishers included Paul Ziegenthaler, who placed second in boys snowboard, Gabe Landi, who was third in boys ski, and Kiera Bogle, third in girls ski.
Ziegenthaler and Landi are international students who hadn’t raced before had great “coach-ability,” a consistent effort, focus and desire to develop their technical and tactical skills, Benson said.
Ziegenthaler, Landi and Bogle competed in the provincials at Sun Peaks. Ziegenthaler finished 10th of 82 boys in the snowboard GSTerrain. Landi finished 28th and 26th (out of a 94-person field) in Ski GS and GSTerrain, respectively. Kiera placed 39th and 36th (of 77 girls) in Ski GS and GSTerrain, respectively.