Abbotsford athletes returned home with an impressive haul of medals from this weekend’s BC Summer Games in Cowichan.
Locals fared the best on the wrestling mat, earning a total of six medals in the event.
Anmoljit Lidder took home gold in the boys 70 kilograms division. He beat out Duncan’s Dawson Jory in the final match. Lidder’s gold medal was the only individual gold medal won by an Abbotsford athlete at the event.
Also collecting medals in wrestling were local grapplers Saachin Sharma (silver, boys 51 kg), Gagan Grewal (silver, boys 57 kg), Charisma Trolland (bronze, girls 57 kg), Jeevanjot Gill (bronze, boys 74 kg) and Humraj Sandhar (bronze, boys 54 kg).
Abbotsford’s Hailey Besse also had a spectacular weekend, picking up three individual bronze medals and one team gold in equestrian.
Besse finished in third place on all three days of competition in vaulting division D canter combined. She was also a part of the Fraser Valley gold-medal-winning team for the overall equestrian standings. Her younger sister, Emily Besse, was also part of the gold-medal-winning team.
MEI student Alyssa Hutchison also took home a gold, finishing in first place with her Fraser Valley teammates in the girls 4X100 metres race. Hutchison also finished eighth in the girls 800m and 11th in the girls 1500m steeplechase.
Abbotsford also had strong representation in a number of team sports in Cowichan, with several locals helping their respective teams to glory.
A pair of Abbotsford ballers helped the Fraser Valley 3-on-3 girls basketball to a gold-medal win. Fraser Middle’s Maggie Curtis and Abbotsford Middle’s Caleigh Reimer teamed up to lead the team to first place. The Valley team went a perfect 8-0 at the event, and capped off the tournament with a 16-11 win over Vancouver Island in the final.
The Fraser Valley baseball team had a strong tournament, compiling a 2-1 record in round robin play and beating Fraser River 2-1 in round one of the playoffs to advance to the gold-medal game on Sunday. The final game saw Vancouver Coastal edge Fraser Valley 3-2 to see the locals finish with silver.
Abbotsford players on the baseball team were: Tim Blake, Micah Bucknam, Mathew Dagg, Aidan Koetsier, Jack Taylor, Jack Neill and Maguire Wakelyn.
The Fraser Valley 5-on-5 girls basketball team also scored silver. The team went 1-1 in round robin play, but then got hot in the playoffs with wins over North West and Vancouver Coastal to reach the gold-medal game. Thompson-Okanagan defeated Fraser Valley 41-30 in the final. Abbotsford’s Makenna Reimer, Gabriella Marazzi and Sienna Seaton were the locals on the team.
Also taking home silver was the Abbotsford-heavy Fraser Valley girls rugby team. The team dominated in the round-robin stage, beating Kootenays 45-0, North West 45-5 and Vancouver Island-Central Coast 36-5. They then beat Fraser River 17-5 in the semifinal, but then lost 42-5 to Vancouver Island-Central Coast in the gold-medal game.
Abbotsford players Sammi Thiessen, Mikayla Sweeting, Kira Peary, Makenna Gayger, Lauren Paller, Abigail Schulz, Robyn Ellis, Kieonna Berg, Emily Meier and Kayla Bass were all on the silver-medal team.
Earning bronze as part of a team were Prabhpiya Dhaliwal and Samantha Price on the Fraser Valley girls soccer team, Blake Bosak and Tristan Ellison on the Fraser Valley’s box lacrosse squad and softball players Alicia Newman, Avery Barker, Caitlyn Klassen, Kirsten Ostrom and Tiahna Cole.
The Fraser Valley team finished fourth overall in the medal standings at the Games, winning 35 gold, 22 silver and 27 bronze medals.
For complete results from the event, visit bcgames.org/Games/Results-and-Participant-Lists.
