The Chatelech Eagles soared to an eighth place finish at the provincial championships last week - the highest finish ever for the four-year-old team.
Coach Jamie Mani was thrilled with the result saying Chat's entrant at the championships, held March 3 to 5 in Smithers, was the first for any ski team on the Coast.
"A lot of people were surprised, not only that we were there, but also with our results," said Mani. "One of the organizers remarked that they had never heard of Chatelech and when we told him we were from the Sunshine Coast he couldn't believe it. For a small school like ours to go and represent the Sunshine Coast is a huge accomplishment and something to be proud of."
This year's ski/snowboard team was the largest team in school history with 20 kids, both boys and girls in grades 10 to 12 competing. The season started in early December with Chat competing in the Fraser Valley League.
"We chose to compete in the Fraser Valley to really allow us to compete," said Mani. "Most if not all the North Shore schools have athletes that compete on a regular basis on club teams, so there really wasn't an option for us to compete on the North Shore. Had we not raced in the Fraser Valley League we would have basically had one race, which would have been the North Shore zone championships in February."
Mani said throughout the season at the five Fraser Valley League races, Chat competitors achieved a variety of results -many of them top 10 finishes.
The highest result of the season though came at the North Shore zone finals Feb. 7.
Grade 12 senior snowboarder Trevor Nicholson finished third overall.
"For Trevor to achieve such a high result is a great accomplishment," said Mani. "He was up against competitors from West and North Vancouver and Squamish - competitors that have the benefit of ski hills right in their own backyards. For a racer from the Sunshine Coast to place that well without having as much on snow time is huge."
With the results, Trevor automatically qualified for the provincials, but it turned out he wouldn't be competing alone.
"With the travel involved, several teams from the Lower Mainland decided not to go and that opened up a zone berth which we gladly accepted," said Mani. "That meant that I was able to take the whole five-man snowboard team to compete. It was a great experience. The guys got to compete against top level competitors from across the province and raced on some great courses in ideal snow and weather conditions. I coached four of the guys since Grade 9, so it was an amazing way to end the season for our small town team and a great end to the skiing careers at Chatelech."
Mani is seeing a lot of his team graduate in July, but is hopeful that the success of the season will translate into other athletes joining the team next year.
"We've been successful with this team because of the continuity in the program. Most of them have been racing since Grade 8 or 9 and unlike some school districts that just participate in their zone, we chose to race in the Fraser Valley League allowing our athletes to get in lots of competition time," said Mani. "We also get a lot of race training at Whistler/Blackcomb as part of the program there. That's a key thing for us because we don't have the same access to the snow that other schools do. Our snow training is limited due to travel, but I'm hoping that this success will continue to draw interest and a new flock of racers will join and we can continue what has been started here."
