Day 8 adds last minute medal for Team BC
Team BC men and women skated in the A Final of the short track speed skating 3000m relay event Friday afternoon at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre, where they’d race in front of a crowd with standing room only.
Team BC was represented in the women’s relay A Final by Sherilyn Chung (Coquitlam), Jane Green (Mission), Annabelle Green (Mission) and Samantha Spencer (Burnaby). They competed against a stacked heat of teams from Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec.
“We knew we were kind of in over our heads in a way, but anything can happen in a relay — especially in short track. That is why they say ‘that’s short track for you’ because you never know who is going to go down, who is going to get impeded or who is going to make it,” said Jane Green. “We did our best and skated as clean as we possibly could.”
BC fell behind mid-race to their competitors, but the heat had spectators on the edge of their seats. At race end, it was announced that the unofficial result included Ontario as the bronze medal team, but that the race was under review. After only a few minutes, it was announced that Team Ontario had taken a penalty disqualifying them from the race and BC would move up as the bronze medalists of the event.
Ainsley Spencer (Burnaby) raced in qualifications for BC (Annabelle Green did not), and played an important role in helping her team qualify for the race. All five Team BC women would take the step onto the podium later that afternoon.
On the men’s side, BC was represented by Marshall Shupe (Maple Ridge), Keanan St. Rose (Prince George), Lukas MacDonald (Vancouver), and Noah Hyun (Port Coquitlam) in the A Final. Craig Miller (Prince George) helped the team qualify for the event earlier this week, racing for BC in the qualification rounds.
The team got off to a great start, but Quebec and Alberta broke away early in the race, swapping first and second place throughout the race. BC held a consistent third place in the race, but would later find out that their time had been disqualified due to a penalty and the bronze medal would go to New Brunswick.
BC Skaters also raced in the 3000 m Points Race today, with Chung achieving a 10th place finish in the standings. On the men’s side, the best result was from St. Rose who would finish 19th in the final standings.
In one of the last competitions of week one Skye Clarke (Vancouver) completed her set of medals (she won a god and silver earlier in the week) with a bronze medal in half pipe. She had a first round score of 62.20 and a second round score of 63.00. Caoihme Heavey (Fernie) finished 4th while Josephine Howell (Mount Currie) was 5th. Top finisher for the men was Kai Smart (Whistler) in 7th place.
Ringette fell to Manitoba in a bronze medal match 4-6.BC had 22 shots on goal while Manitoba had 52. BC ends the tournament in 4th place. Goal scorers were Hailey Takasaki (Richmond) with two and Ashley Robb (Coquitlam) and Emma Paradis (Langley) with one apiece. In 2015 BC placed 6th and in 2011 they were 8th. This was ringette’s best showing since the 2003 Canada Winter Games where they won a bronze medal.
Men’s hockey defeated New Brunswick 7-2 to finish in 7th place. Opening Ceremony flag bearer Fin Williams (North Vancouver) scored two goals as did Matthew Seminoff (Coquitlam). Chipping in with one goal apiece were Carson Latimer (Surrey), Cage Newans (Qualicum Beach) and Michael Abgrall (Richmond).