The ferries from Vancouver Island may have been riding a little lower in the water on Sunday with all the medals being brought back to the mainland by Tri-Cities athletes at the 2018 BC Summer Games in Cowichan over the weekend.
Those medal winners included, from Coquitlam: Alicia Bremer who was part of the girls 4X400 relay team that won a silver medal; Bremer won silver in girls 80m hurdles and gold in the 800m hurdles; Matthew Groenke and Devon Marsland-Anderson, who helped their Special Olympics male/female 4X100 relay team to a silver medal; Groenke and Marsland-Anderson also won several individual medals; Joseph Curtis won a bronze in the boys 800m race; Sophia Gribbon won silver in the girls long jump; Darius Mawji ran and leaped his way to gold in the boys 1500m steeplechase while Isabella Brunoro won silver in the girls race; Marcus Hui, who was on the Zone 4 boys basketball team that won a bronze medal in the five-on-five basketball tournament; Port Moody’s Nicolas Castaneda was also on that team; Gabby Basic and Port Moody’s Samantha Rigby won bronze as part of the Zone 4 girls rugby team; Liam Haysom, Adam Al-Omary, Elijah Quinto and Ashton Magtoto were joined by Port Coquitlam’s Leon De Greiff-Meraz, Hamza Zuberi and Leo An, along with Port Moody’s Marco Gallo, on the Zone 4 boys soccer team that won silver.
Several members of the Coquitlam-based BC Aquasonics synchronized swim team also earned medals, including Elizabeth Tatarnikov, who won silver in age 13-15 figures and gold in the duet finals, and was also part of the team that won gold. Daisy Vasquez and Zuleida Rodrigez were also part of that team and Vasquez also won silver in the age 13-15 solo competition.
Coquitlam’s Evan Chaster was a member of the Zone 4 team that won gold in boys volleyball.
Several lacrosse players from Coquitlam, including Jaxon Fridge, David Charney, Ryan Favaro, Robert Turpin, Benjamin Musso, Joshua Iacino and Lucas Elliot, helped their Zone 4 team win gold in boys field lacrosse.
Special Olympians Kayla Willms won four medals in swimming events and Amy Nelson got silver in the female 50m breaststroke.
Medalists in the canoe and kayaking competitions included: Coquitlam’s Charlie Toth, who won three bronze; Sebastian Rangel Ortega who won a silver in the boys C-2 500m and in the boys C-2 2000m open races; Ingrid Rangel Ortega who returned home with a bronze as part of the boys/girls C-4 open team and Port Moody's Lucas Fong took home the bronze medal in the Open Mens K4 Kayak.
Port Moody’s Jesse Lester was part of the Zone 4 team that won gold in golf, along with Port Coquitlam’s Ye Ji Kwon and Coquitlam’s Lauren Jang. Kwon also won silver in the girls golf competition. Emily Li, of Coquitlam, won gold in girls golf.
Several Port Moody players were amongst the Zone 4 team that won silver in girls soccer, including Nyah Courchesne, Isabella Azzi, Nicole Birkas, Mia Tognottie, Taryn Mills, Paige Moriarity, Kaitlyn McCaskill, along with Ghazal Fallahpour and Jewel Lew of Coquitlam. Individual medal winners from Port Moody included Liepa Bajarunas, who won bronze in the girls pentathlon and Tiana Pavan who won bronze in equestrian jumping.
The Zone 4 team that captured bronze in girls' 5-on-5 basketball included Raeann Bettles and Rebecca Green of Port Moody.
More than 2,300 athletes competed at 18 sports venues across the Cowichan Valley during the four-day event which is considered a starting point for young athletes embarking upon sporting dreams that could eventually lead them to the world stage.
The 2020 BC Winter Games will be held in Fort St. John.
For a complete, searchable listing of all participants and their results, go to https://www.bcgames.org/Games/Results-and-Participant-Lists
