Amy Fox has completed her collection of colourful lacrosse medals.
The Armstrong Pleasant Valley Secondary Grade 11 student won gold with Team B.C. in the Midget age group at the Canadian Female Lacrosse championships in Calgary.
The gold adds to the bronze Fox won last year when she played up a division with Team B.C. in the Junior group, and a silver she won two years ago as a member of the provincial Bantam squad.
“It’s so amazing winning gold,” said Fox, 16. “I was on the floor in the final minute of the championship game (4-3 win over Alberta), then was on the bench nervously watching the clock tick down.
“When the final buzzer went, we all pretty much ran out of the bench and freaked out.”
B.C. was the class of the Midget field, going undefeated in seven games, which included double round-robin wins over Ontario, Nova Scotia and Alberta.
Fox collected 12 assists in seven games.
“The competition was very intense,” said Fox, who received sponsorship from Pat Nelson at Nelson’s Glass in Armstrong. “Normally our top competition is Ontario but we ended up playing Alberta in the final and they gave us a tough game.”
A runner with the North Okanagan Legends A2 Midget squad in the regular season, Fox earned her spot on the provincial Midget girls team by going through a tryout process in Langley.
There were 44 girls vying for 18 runner spots and two goalie positions.
“It was such a great experience. We were like a family,” said Fox, who plans to take the rest of the summer off.
“I spent all of July at the coast and we practised every day from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.,” laughed Fox. “But it was definitely worth it.”
Joining Fox as a national champion is Vernon’s Kiana Point, who was a member of undefeated B.C. Junior Girls squad in Calgary.
Like the Midgets, Point and the B.C. Juniors defeated Ontario, Nova Scotia and Alberta twice each in the double round-robin, then won gold with a 6-4 decision over Ontario in the final.
“It’s almost unreal, the experience was amazing and I couldn’t be happier,” said Point, entering Grade 12 at Seaton Secondary.
Point, who played as a runner with the North Okanagan Super 8 Midget B2 Legends in the regular season, scored her only tournament goal in an 11-5 preliminary round win over Nova Scotia.
She finished her first national tournament with a goal and four assists.
“The competition was all very close,” said Point. “All of the teams were really good. We wanted to make sure we didn’t go into any game overconfident.”
Like Fox, Point traveled to Langley for tryouts. She will take a few weeks off before returning to the coast to tryout for the provincial girls team that will compete at the national aboriginal box lacrosse championships.
“I love lacrosse, it’s what I live for,” said Point, who carried sponsorship into nationals from Conal Enterprises and Popkum Motorsports, companies based out of Chilliwack.
“I played an extra year of minor because I love the game and I want to be around it.”
