On Thursday and Friday last week an unprecedented seven Huntsville High School Hoya nordic ski teams travelled to North Bay to compete in Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championships.

After two days of frigid competition in distance races and then in relay sprints a team of 35 Hoya skiers dominated the best in the province.

On Day 1, once the thermometer slipped above minus 20, the gruelling distance races began.  The Huntsville junior girls’ Team 2 placed a very respectable eighth, while the junior girls’ Team 1 repeated their performance of last year, topping the field with a gold medal.  Natalie Connell was 10th best in the province.

The junior boys also had two teams. Team 2 lost a tie for eighth, ending up in ninth, while the Team 1 boys had a fantastic race, earning a silver medal.

The senior girls battled a very strong field. Team 2 earned a 14th place while Team 1 was in a tight race and finished in fourth.

The senior boys flew over a fast 10-km course and won bronze.

Day 2 featured a 4 x 800m relay on a fast and treacherous course. The Hoyas had trained hard for the sprints and had experienced this kind of course. Coaches John Cowan, Steve Jones and Dave Gibson prepared the kids well and they went in with a lot of confidence.

The Team 2 junior girls didn’t qualify for the finals, but earned a very good ninth place.

The Team 1 junior girls advanced to the finals. Monique Derbyshire had a spectacular spill in the first heat but was able to come back with a taped-up knee and aid her team to a silver medal-performance in the final.

The junior boys’ team was on fire. The Team 2 boys improved their performance of the previous day and took seventh place. The Team 1 boys tore up the course for a gold medal.

The senior girls’ Team 2 again finished in 14th place. Team 1, despite an inspiring performance, never recovered from two falls in the finals and finished seventh.

The senior boys’ team recovered from a stumble at the start and dominated the event, easily defeating teams that had bested them all season for another gold medal.

The junior teams’ scores from two days of competition earned them a gold medal in junior combined. Team 2 juniors earned sixth in junior combined.

The seniors were in a dead-heat tie with archrivals Mayfield for senior combined, but were able to best the Mavericks in a tie-breaker and take home the gold.

The final team tally for the Hoyas was five gold medals, two silver, one bronze, one fourth-place team ribbon, one sixth-place team ribbon, two seventh-place team ribbons, and one eighth-place team ribbon. This was by far the school’s best OFSAA result and easily the best of any high school in the province.