Quesnel athletes turned in very strong performances at the recent Special Olympics BC Winter Games, winning medals in curling, snowshoeing and curling.
All of the competitors have been training since last fall when the Region 8 team was named after qualification events were held throughout the province.
“I think, overall, everyone did fairly well,” said floor hockey coach Rick Prosk. “I think for a small community of our size, we actually sent a pretty big delegation of athletes to the Games. To have a number of pretty good performances from the athlete and teams, that spoke well.”
Outside of their athletic performances, Prosk was also impressed with the Quesnel athletes’ character.
“This is my sixth trip to the provincial games, and the main thing about travelling with Quesnel athletes is they’re very respectful, they work hard and they’re very helpful,” he said. “They help each other out, and they help the coaches. It’s a very good group to travel with.”
The Quesnel Ti-Cats curling team won a silver medal at the Special Olympics BC Winter Games, which were held Feb. 21-23 in Greater Vernon.
The Ti-Cats had a setback before the Games even started when their third was unable to make the trip due to illness. Because it was after the registration cutoff, the team was left to compete with three athletes.
Despite that, the Ti-Cats did well enough in their seeding games to be placed in the four-team A Division.
Quesnel began with a 5-2 win over Nanaimo and followed that with a 10-1 loss to Victoria, finishing Day One with a 1-1 record.
Day Two began with a 5-3 win over Team Yukon.
“Clutch shots from skip Brock Terlesky and third Doug King and tenacious sweeping from Dean Cake, the lone sweeper for six of the eight rocks thrown each end, led to the victories,” said Prosk.
That victory set up a gold medal final game against Victoria.
“Despite a plan in place to counter this excellent team, Quesnel was no match, and the game was conceded in five ends, with Quesnel taking the silver medal,” said Prosk. “Head coach Richard Lindstrom commended the team for its effort, camaraderie and sportsmanship.”
In snowshoeing, Quesnel sent two athletes to compete with the Region 8 team, and they both came home with medals.
Paulette Prosk won bronze in the 200m and the 4x100m relay.
Cory Melnychuk ran the 5K in adverse weather and still won gold, and he also won two bronze medals in the 100m and the 4x100m relay.
This was the first BC Winter Games for the Quesnel Hi-Rollers bowling team, and they finished fifth in their division.
The Quesnel Hi-Rollers — Candice Valois, Glenda Melnychuk, Cheyenne Janes, Emilie Snyders from Prince George and Jessica Colpitts — collectively bowled +47 pins over average in six games.
The top local bowler was Valois, with a +179 pins over average, including a high score of 194, +73 over her 121 average.
Melnychuk’s high game was 204, +35 over her average.
Janes’s high game was 155, a +28 over her average.
Colpitts was challenged by working with a new bowling technique and was unable to match her 150 average in the competition.
Coach Ellen Martz says the five bowlers “worked as a team, were supportive of each other and showed good sportsmanship.”
