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Led by those excelling in sports synonymous with the Okanagan, Kelowna-area athletes garnered more than a third of the Zone 2 medals (89) at the 2016 B.C. Summer Games in Abbotsford.
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More than 100 athletes from the Central Okanagan combined for eight team medals and 22 individual medals at the 30th edition of the Games held in the Fraser Valley community over three days of competition.
Brock Hoel of West Kelowna and Kelowna’s Halle Gainey highlighted individual medal haul, both winning three individual gold medals in and around Albert Dyck Lake in Abbotsford.
Hoel kicked off the Zone 2 (Thompson-Okanagan) medal march by leading from start to finish en route to gold in the boys triathlon event. It wasn’t anything new for the 15-year-old. He also won the B.C. Games qualifying meet in Kamloops, the Kal-Rats Tri in Vernon and the NorthShore Triathlon leading up to the Games.
A solid performance by Summerland’s Keegan Ingram saw the Zone 2-Okanagan athlete claim silver. He was followed by teammates Braden Kersey of Vernon and fourth-place Connor Hobbs of Kelowna.
The triathlon event saw the athletes complete a 500-metre swim, a 10-kilometre bike and a three-kilometre run comprising two laps of the lake.
Hoel said an unexpected big lead after the swim made for a “comfortable” run and bike.
“When I realized I had a big lead coming out of the water (Albert Dyck Lake), I settled in and just paced myself knowing that I had the duathlon (run and bike) and aquathlon coming up,” said Hoel, who will also compete in the upcoming Kelowna Pushor Mitchell Apple Triathlon (Aug. 21-23) and the Canadian junior championships in Edmonton in September.
Hoel obviously saved enough after the triathlon, going on to take gold in both the duathlon and the aquathlon.
Meanwhile in the girls competition, Jaxon Slaney of Kelowna and Rutland Secondary School continued the Okanagan’s dominance by winning the duathlon on Saturday with a time of 11:48.
Hobbs added yet another multi-sport medal, taking the bronze medal in the boys’ duathlon.
Shortly after Hoel crossed the finish line in the triathlon on Friday, Gainey won the first of her three gold medals by leading the field of under-14 girls in the slalom waterskiing event Albert Dyck Lake.
Grace MacNaull of Kelowna earned the bronze and later added a silver medal in the wakeboarding competition.
Gainey went on to add gold medals in the U14 waterski jumping and wakeboarding events.
Isaac Athans, a winner of two gold medals at the 2016 B.C. Winter Games in alpine skiing in Penticton, added two more gold in the Summer Games’ U14 waterski slalom and jumping on the weekend, while taking the bronze in the tricks events.
A pair of bronze medals were won by Kelowna’s Anthony Kurkjian, who finished third in the 14-17 boys waterski slalom and the trick skiing event.
The two other Central Okanagan gold medals came in track and field at Rotary Stadium in Abbotsford.
Noah Russell of the Okanagan Athletics Club ran and jumped to first place in the 200-metre hurdles event with a time of 26.11 seconds. The Const. Neil Bruce Middle School student also earned a silver medal in the 100-metre hurdles final in a clocking of 14.18 seconds.
Lake Country’s Phoebe Price-Roberts added the final gold for the Central Okanagan in the hammer throw with a distance of 55.97 metres. The Aberdeen Hall Prep School student finished fourth in the discus.
Madelyn Hettinga of Kelowna raced to second place in the 200-metre hurdles with a time of 29.61 seconds.
A fifth Central Okanagan silver medal came in the outdoor pool at Mills Lake Park as Brandon Mullin of Kelowna was clocked at 5:14.50 in the 400-metre individual medley.
Taylor Desrosier added a swimming bronze medal, placing third in the 1,500 freestyle (19:42.99). She finished fourth in the 100-metre backstroke in 1:11.29.
The U15 Thompson-Okanagan boys soccer team won gold with a shootout win in the final against Vancouver-Coastal (Zone 5).
Goalkeeper Brennan Martin was the winning goaltender in the 1-0 off-the-spot victory.
Thompson-Okanagan coach Yann Calmets said he knew that Vancouver-Coastal was a good team with a strong defence, but after each game that Thompson-Okanagan played they took stock of how to improve.
“It was a very good group that gelled quickly. We practised only two times together.” The two goalkeepers, Martin and Ryan Peters, supported each other no matter who was in the net, Calmets added.
“Most important to the gold-medal win, was the fact the boy worked together,” he said.
Ten of the players were from Kelowna, five were from Penticton and three from Kamloops.
The Zone 2 synchronized swimming team that included Rosina Fraser-Bowden of Kelowna earned its gold in the 11-12-year-old age group.
Swimming silver went to the Thompson-Okanagan team in the 4x50 freestyle relay. Included on the team were Erin Epp and Brooklyn Semashkewich of Kelowna, Christina Wright of West Kelowna and Brooklyn Parliament of Summerland.
Ella Rolleston of Kelowna was a member of the Thompson Okanagan team that swam to silver in the 4x50 medley relay.
The Zone 2 rowing team of Jocelyn Carmichael of Kelowna and Hailey Preston of Vernon combined to claim silver in the rowing skill competition, while Thompson-Okanagan towed water sports team also won the overall silver medal.
A fifth Zone 2 silver medal came from the boys basketball team while the Thompson-Okanagan girls earned a bronze medal in soccer.
Overall, the Thompson-Okanagan Zone 2 finished fifth in the team competition with 89 medals, including 33 gold, 28 silver and 28 bronze. Vancouver Island-Central Coast (Zone 6) led the medal count with 177 medals.
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The following is the list (as provided by the BC Games Society) of Central Okanagan athletes, coaches and adult supervisors representing Zone 2 (Thompson-Okanagan) at the 2016 BC Summer Games in Abbotsford:
Athletics — Athletes - Madelyn Hettinga, Kolby Kneller, Kristin Naude, Phoebe Price-Roberts, Noah Russell, Gabriella Smith, Gregor Smith, Zachary Welch. Head coach - Stefanie Hatch.
Baseball — Athletes - Anthony Bell, Tallis McLeod, Justin Monteleone, Noah Paterson. Assistant coach - Rob Alksne, Corey Wood.
Basketball (3x3) — Athletes - Tariq Brown, Wilson Holland, Rylan Ibbetson, Chad Laughren, Mason Sodaro, Tessa Bentley, Avery Chalmers, Makenna Jacklin, Abbey McCann, Rachel McInnes, Lily Pink, Lexi Prefontaine, Celeste Roosdahl, Kailey Salter. Head coach (boys) - Brady Ibbetson. Head coach (girls) - Murray Chalmers. Adult Supervisor - Brady Holland.
Basketball (boys) — Athletes - Ethan Braam, Tyson Embree, James Koehle, Jayden Lalonde, Kaeden Skelton, Zachary Smith, Braden White, Ethan Williams. Coaches - Troy White and Al Lalonde.
Basketball (girls) — Athletes - Melaina Corrado, Kassidy Day, Katrina Fink, Naomi Kent, Sydney Obst, Rylee Semeniuk. Head coach - Amanda Tremholm. Assistant coach - AHeather Semeniuk.
Golf — Athletes - Logan Libke, Carleigh Quiring. Head coach - Brodie Carle.
Lacrosse (field) — Athletes - Dustin Gallinger, Nolan Katinic, Tory Koski, Blake Spragge, Bradley Swecera, Zander Torres. Assistant coach - Troy Koski.
Rowing — Athletes - Jocelyn Carmichael, Cole Appleton, Zane Halperin, Gabriella Littleton, Olivier Parrott-Landry, Emily Pilon, Ryan Rubadeau, Rory Wiebe, Ian Wright. Head coach - Devin Rubadeau. Assistant coach - Bryana Van Leeuwen.
Soccer (boys) — Athletes - Hunter Blucke, Ethan Cowan, Jonah Donahue, Ethan Kersche, Brennan Martin, Joseph Parson-Wright, Jagger Thomas, Chris West, Cameron Wilson. Head coach - Yann Calmets. Adult supervisor - Michelle Cowan.
Soccer (girls) — Athletes - Chelsea Cristofoli, Payton Hinks, Kezia Kellet, Lexington Kinnear, Sammi Krupka, Emily Metz, Faith Tazelaar, Hailey Wright. Adult Supervisor - Becky Metz.
Softball — Athletes - Jaden Allen, Racquel Bennett, Taylor Callow, Emily Elsom, Haley Martin.
Swimming — Athletes - Taylor Desrosier, Megan Elkin, Erin Epp, Brandon Mullin, Georgia Pengilly, Ella Rolleston, Brooklyn Semashkewich, Taylor Smith, Kaelyn Willms, Christina Wright.
Synchronized Swimming — Athletes - Lauren Griffin-Lepine, Paige Pomeroy.
Towed Water Sports — Athletes - Isaac Athans, Brian Gainey, Halle Gainey, Anthony Kurkjian, Courtney MacDonald, Grace MacNaull, Nathan Tonogai. Head coach - Pat Mulligan. Adult supervisor - Tera Gainey.
Triathlon — Athletes - Connor Hobbs, Brock Hoel, Jaxon Slaney.
Volleyball (beach) — Athletes - Kyle Butchart, Brighton Cretney, Jase Goerzen, Nicola Lopes, Grayson McMillan, Christopher Mitchell, Lucas Overton, Sarah Watson, Emma Wicklund. Head coach - Chris Major. Assistant coach - Rochelle Youngberg.
Volleyball (girls) — Athletes - Taylor Cook-Hauser, Kevin Jacklin, Jenna Bain, Sarah Hall, Jenna Holland, Sydney Hope, Mikayla McLeod, Karleigh Podolsky, Rachel Schueler. Head coach - Kasandra Palmer.
Volleyball (boys) — Athletes - Matthew Darley, Ben Magel, Roan McCarthy, Tommy Parish, James Wiebe, Isaac Witt. Head coach - Jennifer Callow. Assistant coach- Ethan Callow.
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