Quesnel’s B.C. Winter Games athletes are arriving home exhausted and proud this week after an exciting weekend of sport in Kamloops.
More than 1,200 athletes competed in 19 sports, representing their home zones. Our zone, Cariboo - North East (zone 8), came sixth overall in the rankings, behind Vancouver-Coastal (zone 5), Fraser River (zone 4), Thompson-Okanagan (zone 2), Fraser Valley (zone 3) and Vancouver Island-Central Coast (zone 6).
Zone 8 won seven gold medals, seven silver and 12 bronze.
Contributing to that, Quesnel’s star archer Bryson Watson, 16, returned with gold for the one-day aggregate boys compound category, and the Zone 8 Special Olympics basketball team won silver after playing hard in the final game against Vancouver-Coastal.
The Zone 8 basketball team was made up of seven athletes from Quesnel and three from Prince George.
On Quesnel’s Special Olympics Facebook page, coach Brian Cullinane commented: “Silver looks great on this group. They played so hard all weekend and came up just a little short against a very strong Vancouver-Coastal team. I heard nothing but positive comments from other coaches and fans.”
The Zone 8 ringette team, which consisted of eight girls from Quesnel and eight from Prince George, came fifth out of eight teams.
Quesnel gymnast Bianca Thompson, 14, came 31st as an individual in the Junior Olympic (JO) 8 all-around category, and her JO 7 and JO 8 women’s Zone 8 team came seventh overall.
And on the slopes, Quesnel’s trio of alpine skiers competed hard, with Caleb Woollends, 13, coming 33rd in the giant slalom single-run male race and 30th in the giant slalom two-run male race; Noah Woollends, 13, placing 40th in the giant slalom single-run male race and 38th in the giant slalom two-run male race; and Freya Jarrett, 14, coming in 45th in the giant slalom two-run female race.
READ MORE: Quesnel gymnast Bianca Thompson tumbling her way to B.C. Winter Games
