The BC Games, summer or winter, can act as a big stepping stone for young athletes in pursuit of their athletic dreams.
And today might be day one for dozens of Tri-Cities teens that have a goal of reaching the top of the podium and beyond.
The 2022 BC Summer Games are set to get underway today (July 21) in Prince George with 27 sports on the docket for the four-day event.
In total, 85 young athletes are set to represent our region from Anmore, Belcarra, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody.
Most competitors will represent the Fraser River zone (4) at the games, while others qualified to play for the Fraser Valley (3) or Vancouver-Coastal (5) zones.
Some of the athletes have been waiting a longer time to participate after the 2020 summer games were cancelled by the then state of the COVID-19 pandemic. The BC Summer and Winter Games are held every two years. "Having athletes from every corner of B.C. gather again in Prince George is a dream come true for competitors, coaches, volunteers, and organizers," says B.C. tourism, arts, culture and sport minister Melanie Mark (Hli Haykwhl Wii Xsgaak) in a news release.
"This is an exciting opportunity for our province's top young athletes to demonstrate their hard work and determination."
In 2018, the Fraser River region racked up 132 medals, including a summer games-high 50 silver along with 43 gold and 39 bronze.
Those representing the Tri-Cities are set to compete in 20 sports, including one in association with Special Olympics BC.
For a schedule, results and more information, you can visit the Prince George 2022 BC Summer Games' website, where you can also find a link to watch the opening ceremonies tonight at 7 p.m.
The local athletes in B.C.'s northern capital this weekend are as follows (in alphabetical order by sport):
Anmore
- Elijah Pederson, Athletics (Fraser River)
- Thomas Jovanovic, Box Lacrosse (Fraser River)
Belcarra
- Bailey Hubbs, Towed Water Sports (Fraser River)
- Cooper Hubbs, Towed Water Sports (Fraser River)
Coquitlam
- Jaylen Jung, 3x3 Basketball-Boys (Vancouver-Coastal)
- Vuk Lekovic, 3x3 Basketball-Boys (Vancouver-Coastal)
- Isaac Ng, 3x3 Basketball-Boys (Vancouver-Coastal)
- Alexandra Bennett, Artistic Swimming (Fraser River)
- Sarah Lukac, Artistic Swimming (Fraser River)
- Izabella Vasicek, Artistic Swimming (Fraser River)
- Ruiyi Xiong, Artistic Swimming (Fraser River)
- Arnav Bhattacharya, Athletics (Fraser River)
- Svetlana Khrisanova, Athletics (Fraser River)
- Lachlan MacNeill, Athletics (Fraser River)
- Makenna Self, Athletics (Fraser River)
- Delaney Self, Athletics (Fraser River)
- Hyunsuh Kingston Cho, Baseball (Fraser River)
- Tai Freeman, Baseball (Fraser River)
- Nolan Loverin, Baseball (Fraser River)
- Timothy Piasentin, Baseball (Fraser River)
- Louise Ho, Beach Volleyball (Fraser River)
- Ben Thibault, Box Lacrosse (Fraser River)
- Mario Vigini, Box Lacrosse (Fraser River)
- Kai Hartley, Field Lacrosse (Fraser River)
- Jacob McKinnon, Field Lacrosse (Fraser River)
- Jack Myers, Field Lacrosse (Fraser River)
- Conlan Openshaw, Field Lacrosse (Fraser River)
- Shanya Christian, Golf (Fraser River)
- Semyon Iaichkin, Rowing (Fraser River)
- Sophia Moiseyenko, Sailing (Fraser River)
- Nora Wagner, Sailing (Fraser River)
- Markus Lee, Soccer-Boys (Fraser River)
- Malaya Barroso, Soccer-Girls (Fraser River)
- Alessandra Buono, Soccer-Girls (Fraser River)
- Ava Bromley, Softball-Girls (Fraser River)
- Kallie Caldwell, Softball-Girls (Fraser River)
- Noelani Livingstone, Softball-Girls (Fraser River)
- Lilah Mclean, Softball-Girls (Fraser River)
- Alexandra Nazaroff, Softball-Girls (Fraser River)
- Jada Ponte, Softball-Girls (Fraser River)
- Emily Chan, Swimming (Fraser River)
- Kallee Lennstrom, Swimming (Fraser River)
- Taysia Lennstrom, Swimming (Fraser River)
- Gaile Leung, Swimming (Fraser River)
- Alex Wang, Swimming (Fraser River)
- Derex Yang, Swimming (Fraser River)
- Witchy Meza Del Angel, Swimming-Special Olympics (Fraser Valley)
- Lincolin Ho, Volleyball-Boys (Fraser River)
- Maya Armstrong, Volleyball-Girls (Fraser River)
- Ella Harrison, Volleyball-Girls (Fraser River)
- Sasha (Alex) Chupryna, Wrestling (Fraser River)
- Tamia Gee, Wrestling (Fraser River)
- Bradyn Reeves, Wrestling (Fraser River)
Port Coquitlam
- Francesca Salonga, 3x3 Basketball-Girls (Fraser River)
- Ashley Zhou, Artistic Swimming (Fraser River)
- Sam Brownsey, Athletics (Fraser River)
- Jaedyn McLaughlin, Athletics (Fraser River)
- Everett Bertsch, Baseball (Fraser River)
- Marcella Mahon, Beach Volleyball (Fraser River)
- William Jee, Golf (Fraser River)
- Dante Feltrin, Rowing (Fraser River)
- John Liu, Sailing (Fraser River)
- Janet Liu, Sailing (Fraser River)
- Grace Lilley, Soccer-Girls (Fraser River)
- Clara Myles, Soccer-Girls (Fraser River)
- Paige Vivian, Soccer-Girls (Fraser River)
- Claire Hill, Softball-Girls (Fraser River)
- Sara Hughes, Volleyball-Girls (Fraser River)
Port Moody
- Pucheng (Bowen) Jia, 3x3 Basketball-Boys (Vancouver-Coastal)
- Mikayla Hsue, 3x3 Basketball-Girls (Fraser River)
- James Knoke, Box Lacrosse (Fraser River)
- James Pratt, Box Lacrosse (Fraser River)
- Parker Doyle, Field Lacrosse (Fraser River)
- Boris Maksimenko, Field Lacrosse (Fraser River)
- Tavia Knoke, Rowing (Fraser River)
- Ewan Hildebrand, Sailing (Fraser River)
- Fionn Kearney, Sailing (Fraser River)
- Hannah Stangier, Softball-Girls (Fraser River)
- Linus Fong, Swimming (Fraser River)
- Leela Hayes, Swimming (Fraser River)
- Soctt Hunter, Swimming (Fraser River)
- Ava Collins, Towed Water Sports (Fraser River)
- Coen McMurray, Triathlon (Fraser River)
- Alexandra Lieu, Wrestling (Fraser River)
- Maxwell (Max) Oliver, Wrestling (Fraser River)
