By Earl Zukerman
David Apap, a member of McGill’s men’s alpine ski team finished fourth in a Giant Slalom race at Mt. Stoneham, Friday, but earned enough points to win the conference’s individual scoring title by 85 points at the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RESQ) championship meet over the weekend.
It marked the first RSEQ title by a McGill male since 2006 when Nicolas Zyromski finished first overall.
Apap, a 6-foot-1, 188-pound native of Gap, in the French Alps, also earned RSEQ all-conference honours. The 25-year-old master’s student in physical therapy posted six podium finishes in 10 races this season, with five gold medals and a bronze. Only the best eight results count towards the standings and Apap finished first of the circuit’s 50 skiers with 1,135 points overall, edging out Laval’s Philippe Crête-Belzile (1,050). Olivier Bouvier-Johnston of the Montreal Carabins was third with 925.
Montreal captured the men’s team championship for the second consecutive season, while Laval claimed their first women’s banner since 1994.
In the women’s division, Laval freshman Laurence Vallerand won the individual championship with 1,200 points, edging out Maude Longtin of the Montreal Carabins, who tallied 1,000.
McGill’s Allene Kennedy, an 18-year-old science freshman from Truckee, Calif., won silver in Friday’s giant slalom and finished third in the scoring race with 880 points overall, meriting first-team all-conference honours. The 5-foot-5 rookie also posted a pair of bronze-medal finishes over the season.
Teammate Sophie Splawinski of Montreal West ended up sixth overall with 685 points and made the second squad. Splawinski, a 26-year-old doctorate student in atmospheric and oceanic science, was the only other member of the Martlets to win a medal this season with one bronze. With 24 career podium finishes, the 5-foot-9 slalom specialist is two shy of the RSEQ all-time record held by Kimberly Bonnell of Bishop’s. Splawinski, who has one more year of school before graduating with a PhD, was also the last McGill woman to win the individual title, accomplishing the feat in 2010.