RYAN GRAHAM
Observer Reporter
Quesnel Special Olympics made the city proud when they competed at nationals March 1 – 5 in Corner Brook, Newfoundland with all eight athletes coming back with at least one medal.
The results at nationals matched their performance at the Provincial Games in February 2015 in Kamloops, where the team of 12 athletes also won at least one medal each.
This year’s team included Cory Melnychuk in cross-country skiing, Cherie Swaan and Danny Dodgson in snowshoeing and the curling team of Glenda Melnychuk, Travis Burt, Martin Scriver, Dean Cake and Alfred Schotel. In snowshoeing Swaan finished fourth in the 100-metre, won silver in the 200-metre and also recorded a personal best time of 1:03.
Dodgson won bronze in the 100-metre with a time of 15.5 and won silver in the 200-metre finishing with a time of 33.20.
Cory finished fifth in the 500-metre and won bronze in the 100-metre in cross county. Quesnel’s Team BC Lightning(curling) won gold in the D division, winning all four of their games against Newfoundland, BC Islanders, Quebec and again the Islanders in the final.
The first game against the Islanders Quesnel was down 5-3 in the final end before Glenda delivered a crucial shot, as she took out the Islanders stone with her last rock, scoring three as Quesnel took the victory.
Against Quebec they scored three in the second last end to tie the game and then Glenda would make another decisive shot to win the game.
The finals saw both B.C. teams battle it out to see who would win bragging rights as the top team in B.C. and also to see who would end up going home with the gold.
Going into the final end Quesnel was up one and kept the pressure on the Islanders, as their skip would miss a critical shot which allowed Quesnel to win gold.