KISU’s Tyler Wall and Acacia Benn played a big role as B.C.’s swim team captured 52 medals at the 2017 Canada Summer Games.
It was all part of a record-setting performance for Team B.C. with 146 medals – the most ever earned by British Columbia at a Canada Summer Games.
Wall led the way with four gold, two silver and three bronze. Wall won his eighth and ninth medals adding another gold in the men’s 50m freestyle and a bronze in the final race of the night, the 400m medley relay, with Michael Schmidt (Victoria), Keir Ogilvie (Victoria) and Raben Dommann (North Vancouver).
“It’s been a pretty good experience being with the team, I liked it,” said Wall in summing up the Games.
Related: KISU swimmers win more medals at Canada Games
Benn won five medals including a gold in the 200 m backstroke, silver in the 200 m medley and 5,000m open water, as well as two silvers in relays. Benn added her fifth medal in the women’s 5,000m race in a time of 1:01:31.
“I was bummed that the race was moved from the lake to the pool as I like using everyone to draft during the race,” said Benn. “I just went for it today and I am pleased with my silver medal result.”
On Aug. 11, Benn picked up silver in the 200 metre individual medley. On Aug. 10, Wall won silver in the men’s 200 m backstroke and silver in the men’s 4x50m medley relay with teammates Matthew Crawford (Richmond), Joshua Kim (Langley) and Thomas Kranjc (Tsawwassen).
“It’s been pretty fun. Tonight was one of my best races so far” said Wall. “This is not like any other meet I’ve been to before.”
KISU coach Tina Hoeben said it is incredible for Wall to bring home nine medals. She said the previous record was nine, and there were two other swimmers who broke it with 10 and 11 medals in Winnipeg, which Hoeben said gives a good sense of what he accomplished.
“Tyler had some amazing swims in his individual events and best times that rank him the fastest 16-year-old in the country,” said Hoeben. “I’m also very proud of his strength of character that allowed him to swim beyond himself on some of his relays, where he was anchoring and came up from behind to win a medal for his team. In the 4×200 free relay on the first day, the Ontario team had a couple of body lengths lead on BC. Normally, it would not be possible for one swimmer to close that lead.”
Speaking to the Western News, Wall said he didn’t expect to win that much.
“I’m quite happy with it,” he said.
Wall credited his success to having his teammates there for support and cheering him on. It was that bond with his teammates and their loud support that stands out about the experience.
Benn took gold in the women’s 200 m backstroke. She was joined on the podium by Hana Edwards (Victoria) who won silver in that race — her first medal of the Games.
“It’s an amazing experience, especially to share with Hana,” said Benn of her gold medal win. “I am blown away about the result that happened. I just went for it.”
Hoeben said that Benn’s success was different from Walls as she was one of the last people chosen for the team and there wasn’t a vision for her winning medals. She brought strength in a number of events and could pull some weight for the team in other ways.
“Only the top two swimmers from B.C. could move forward to finals, so she had to swim her heart out to make that cut (in some events, BC had four of the top eight swimmers),” said Hoeben. “Once she knew she could make that move, she became unstoppable.”
One of her notable performances was in the 200 m backstroke, where she had a two-second best time in the morning to make the B.C. top two cut, which also placed her first.
“The environment with everyone around me, having new teammates and just embracing being a part of the team,” said Benn, as to what she credited in helping her. “Everyone was swimming very well. Everyone was very positive and supportive of how everyone was doing. Even if you had a terrible race. Everyone was there to cheer you on no matter what. It just made it really fun.”
Borren, B.C. have tough finish
Pinnacles FC and Thompson-Okanagan FC grad Bjorn Borren of Penticton and Team B.C.’s soccer squad capped a difficult tournament with an eighth-place finish. After regulation time couldn’t break a 2-2 draw, Nova Scotia won 4-3 on penalties. Nova Scotia opened the scoring in the 20th minute off a B.C. turnover. Seven minutes later, Nova Scotia doubled their lead capitalizing on a B.C. defensive breakdown. Halftime substitutions sparked B.C., who were able to score twice in the second half. In added time, B.C. thought they had a goal, but it was called back on an offside.
Record-breaking medals
The last medal of the Games was the one that broke Team B.C.’s previous record of 145 medals and was a gold won by the women’s softball team on Sunday just prior to the closing ceremony. This medal was also a fourth consecutive gold medal for Team B.C. women’s softball at the Canada Summer Games.
The ceremony celebrated both the Canada Games 50th anniversary and Canada 150 while highlighting the natural beauty of the host province and the vibrant culture of Winnipeg. Team B.C. athletes sang along to performances by Fred Penner and Brett Kissel, and celebrated as the B.C. women’s softball team was awarded their gold medals by the Governor General of Canada, the Right Honourable David Johnston.
North Vancouver’s Raben Dommann carried the British Columbia flag into the Closing Ceremony of the 2017 Canada Games today, proudly representing his sport of swimming, his province and his fellow athletes. The 16-year-old swimmer powered his way to eight gold medals over the past week at the Canada Games and proved himself a tremendous leader within the team, always willing to step in any role required.
“I’m just thankful that I was chosen by Team B.C. and that the the swim team supported me,” Dommann said moments before parading into the closing ceremony. “I’m really proud to be from B.C. so this is really exciting for me.”
Team B.C. finished in second place in the medal count behind Team Ontario with 212 medals and ahead of Team Quebec with 138 medals.
