Kelowna’s own Kelsey Serwa had a solid showing today at the first FIS World Cup ski cross event of the season in Val Thorens, France.
Serwa finished the event in fourth place, barely falling short of a podium finish.
Ski cross is a kind of freestyle-alpine hybrid race where multiple racers take on a complicated course at the same time, in a series of knockout-style races.
Skiers have to navigate both naturally occurring terrain and artificial features, like high-banked turns and big-air jumps, all while contending with their competitors on the course.
Kelowna’s former world champion and Olympic silver medalist came in behind Sweden's Anna Holmlund and Sandra Naeslund, who placed first and second, and Germany’s Daniela Maier in third.
Calgary's Brady Leman finished second the men's race today, while Whistler’s Marielle Thompson won yesterday's women's race.
The West Kelowna Warriors came back from a two-goals deficit to defeat the Merritt Centennials 3-2 in overtime on Friday night at Royal LePage Place.
The Cents came ready to play in the opening frame, knocking out two quick goals to start the first period. At the 1:02 mark Zach Risteau was fed in alone for the Cents’ first strike, after a turnover in the Warriors zone. Just 53 seconds later Merritt doubled their lead courtesy of a knuckle puck from just inside the blue line by Cade Gleekel.
That shot ended the short night for Warriors starting goaltender Nik Amundrud. After making no saves on the two shots he faced Amundrus was replaced by Shane Farkas.
The Warriors stabilized from there, and Logan Mostat soon buried his first goal as a Warrior on the blocker side of Cents netminder Colten Lancaster as he banged home a rebound from a Quin Foreman shot.
The Warriors tied the game at the 11:51 mark of the second, in the form of a gorgeous shot off the stick of Quin Foreman. He snapped home his 17th goal of the season from the top of the left circle over the glove side to tie the game at two.
A scoreless third period saw the Centennials put on a lot of pressure but the Warriors held on to get the game into overtime. Merritt fired 12 shots on Farkas, but the 17-year-old stood tall with some key saves in the frame.
Farkas remained perfect throughout his night as the game moved into overtime, knocking back five Merritt shots, before the Warriors scored on their first shot of overtime.
Braiden Epp tapped in a Quin Foreman pass from below the left face-off circle for his ninth goal of the season and a 3-2 overtime win for West Kelowna.
The Warriors now stand with a record of 14-16-0-1
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