2011 WU Update: CIS Announces Canadian Alpine Skiing & Snowboarding Rosters

OTTAWA – Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced Wednesday the student-athletes and coaches who will represent Canada in alpine skiing and snowboarding at the 2011 Winter Universiade in Erzurum, Turkey.

Canada did not participate in these two sports at the last Games in Harbin, China, in 2009.

Head coach and team leader Vincent Lavoie of Laval University will head the Canadian alpine skiing delegation in Erzurum. He will be assisted by coach David Côté of McGill.

The six-member women’s squad is comprised of Cegep François-Xavier-Garneau teammates Maëlle Bergeron and Catherine Morel, Westminster College’s Kendall Brown, Harvard’s Rebecca Nadler, Nevada Reno’s Nicole Poleschuk, as well as Montreal’s Marie-France Tessier.

Laval teammates Philippe Crête-Belzile and Simon Mannella, Montana State’s Christopher Barber, Montreal’s Olivier Lacaille and Dartmouth College’s Braden Long make up the men’s team.

Lacaille is the only skier with previous Universiade experience. The Montreal native took part in three events in 2007 in Turin, Italy, when he was studying at the University of New Mexico, finishing 44^th in the slalom, 48^th in the Super-G and 53^rd in the giant slalom.

Canada has won two Universiade medals in alpine skiing over the years – both gold – including Josée Lacasse in the slalom in Sapporo, Japan, in 1991 and Lisa Richardson in the downhill in Lake Placid, NY, in 1972.

In snowboarding, the red and white troops will be guided by team leader Nadia M’Seffar and coach Patrick Gaudet.

Laval teammates Annfred Grenier and Justine Côté will be the only two athletes representing Canada in the women’s competition. They will be joined on the men’s side by a trio of University of Calgary students including Dylan Riley, Rob Ritchie and Taylor Ronsky, as well as Antoine Laurin-Lalonde from École de technologie supérieure, brother Frédéric Laurin-Lalonde from Montreal, Mackenzie Carter from Carleton and Pierce Smith from Humber College.

Two Canadians have reached the podium in snowboarding at the Winter University Games. Mitch Baker claimed silver in the giant slalom in 1999 in Poprad-Tatry, Slovakia, while Brendan Davis captured halfpipe gold in 2005 in Innsbruck, Austria, before finishing second in the same event in 2007 in Italy.

(Source: Michel Belanger, CIS Media Officer)