SKI | Women Second, Men Fifth at OUA Championships

The Laurentian Nordic ski teams headed to Huntsville this week for their OUA Championships, held at Arrowhead Nordic Ski Club.  A number of strong performances on the women's side led them to a second place finish overall while the men turned a fifth place finish.

Day one opened with the freestyle races.  Maddie Norman was the first Voyageur across the line, finishing eighth, just over one minute back of the winner.  A pair of other Voyageurs turned in top-20 performances in the 7.5km race as Margot West crossed the line in 14^th while Hannah Cutler finished 18^th.  Faith Goudie rounded out the scoring for the Voyageurs with her 23^rd place finish in the field of 56.

On the men's side, Augustin Marks de Chabris led the way with a 15^th place finish while Laydon Bursey, Sébastien Tremblay and Cameron Boland rounded out the scoring, placing 34^th, 36^th , and 37^th, respectively, in the 55 skier field.

Day 2 saw the second and final individual event, the 15km classic races.  The women were once again led by Norman, who turned in a 5^th place finish in a time 54:34.7, just under two minutes back of the winner.  She was followed by Cutler in 15^th place, her sister, Olivia Norman, in 18^th, West in 19^th, and Kaisa Asfeldt in 20^th.  On the back of her two top-10 performances, Norman was named an OUA All-Star for the second straight season while the women's team was comfortably in second place overall with the relays to come.

Marks de Chabris paced the men once more as he moved up from 18^th after lap one to cross the line in 14^th place.  Tremblay in 32^nd, Bursey in 36^th, and Cormac Adams in 39^th rounded out the scoring for the Voyageurs who found themselves in a battle with Queen's for a top-5 finish overall.

In the relays on the third and final day of competition, the women's trio of West, Cutler, and Maddie Norman crossed the line in 5^th place to secure their overall silver medal.  On the men's side, the trio of Marks de Chabris, Adams, and Tremblay finished in ninth, good enough to hold off the Gaels for 5^th place overall.

The OUA Championships officially brings the Nordic varsity season to a close.