Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows were well-represented at the top of the podium last weekend at the B.C. Summer Games in Surrey, with 20 local athletes coming home with gold medals.
In the overall competition, Fraser Valley Zone 3, which includes athletes from Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, finished first in the province in gold medals with 41 in total. However, Vancouver Island-Central Coast won the overall medal count with 113, edging Fraser Valley’s 112 medals.
Many of the local medals came on the water, as paddlers from Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows dominated the kayak events, some of which were held at the Pitt Meadows Paddling Club.
Julianna Won of Maple Ridge led local athletes with three gold medals, taking first place in the K-1 500m open, K-2 2000m open, and the K-2 500m open events. Julianna’s brother Justin Won also topped the podium in the boys’ K-2 500m open event, along with Sebastian Sorescu of Maple Ridge, who also won gold in the boys’ skills competition. Justin was also a member of the gold medal-winning boys/girls K-4 open team, which included Sharon Kim of Maple Ridge and Mike Podschadly of Pitt Meadows.
Podschadly took gold in the boys’ K-1 500m train to train event, while Maple Ridge’s Mathew Koehler was first in the boys’ K-2 2000m open.
In the track and field events, Pitt Meadows’ Reid Muller led the way with a pair of gold medal finishes and B.C. Summer games record. Muller won the boys’ 1200m race with a time of 3:18.08 to put his name in the record books. Muller was also a part of the Fraser Valley Zone 3 relay team that took gold in the boys’ 4X400m relay, along with Maple Ridge’s Zachary Hetherington. Maple Ridge’s Jordan Ellingson won gold in the boys’ javelin.
Cody Osborn of Maple Ridge won gold for wrestling, in the boys’ 63 kg-division.
Equestrian Hannah Beaulieu, also of Maple Ridge, won a pair of golds for dressage and in the overall team competition.
In the team events, Mitchell Kinna and Mitchell McDole of Maple Ridge, and Brody Glemnitz and Jacob Tiefisher of Pitt Meadows, were all part of the gold medal-winning Fraser Valley Zone 3 boys’ box lacrosse team.
In girls’ softball, Maple Ridge’s Courtney DeAdder, Taylore Jones, and Elizabeth Murphy, helped the Fraser Valley Zone 3 team to a first place finish.
Reegan Wanders of Maple Ridge and Kathleen Acaster of Pitt Meadows won gold with the Fraser Valley Zone 3 girls’ soccer team.
• For full local results, see this Friday’s edition of The News
