Dominant efforts on the wrestling mat and the rugby pitch highlighted a series of terrific local results at the BC Summer Games.
All told, Abbotsford athletes brought home 25 medals from the Games, which were centered in Surrey.
• Four local wrestlers won gold in their respective weight classes – Harman Basran (54 kg), Matt Dignan (57 kg), Justin Gill (70 kg) and Devin Purewal (84 kg). Additionally, Dave Sharma won silver at 51 kg.
• The Fraser Valley regional rugby teams were absurdly dominant, and Abby athletes figured in heavily. The girls final was an all-Fraser Valley affair, with the region’s first team knocking off the second team 29-5. The gold medal-winning side featured Lauren Kerr, Sophia DeGianni, Kay Olsen, Shelby Pihl and Gurpreet Dhaliwal, while silver medalists included Autumn Garrett, Tiffany Picketts and Rachelle Wenting.
• The boys rugby tournament also saw two Valley teams climb the podium. Valley 1, featuring Abbotsford’s Colton Lavoie, Kyle Davis, Joshua Long, Thomas Rennie, Adaio Spathelfer and Chris Combs, claimed the gold with a 12-5 win over Vancouver Island-Central Coast.
The Valley 2 squad, which included Caleb Lamboo, Matthew Ponte, Evan Johnston, Joel Ratzlaff and Matthew Fraser, clinched bronze with a 19-0 win over Vancouver-Squamish.
• Spencer Spenst led the local track and field contingent, clearing 2.8 metres to win gold in the pole vault. Other medalists included Alicia Unruh (bronze, girls 2000m), Jeewan Grewal (bronze, boys hammer), Paige Norton (bronze, Special Olympics girls 800m) and Paige Bergen (silver, 4x100m girls relay).
• Alanna Stobbe was member of the Fraser Valley synchronized swimming team which won Level 5 team title and the overall aggregate gold.
• Noelle Johnson won a gold medal in girls softball, helping the Fraser Valley 1 team to a perfect 4-0 record at the Games. The regional squad was simply dominant, out-scoring opponents 27-0.
• Abbotsford’s Albert Dyck Park was the host site for the towed watersports competitions (Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 recaps are available at abbynews.com). Local product Adam Lehner won gold in the junior men’s barefoot and was part of the Valley’s aggregate silver medal-winning squad.
• Janelle Roed and Emma Darvill led the Valley equestrian team to the aggregate gold medal, and Roed added a silver in the vaulting event.
• Marshall Abrey, Corey Jackson and Matthew Selinger helped the Fraser Valley baseball team to a silver medal. They sustained an 8-1 loss to Vancouver-Squamish in the title game.
• The Valley boys volleyball team, featuring Jordan Koslowsky, Quinn Sojonky and Jonah Swanson, took silver after falling in three sets to Vancouver Island-Central Coast in the final.
• Six local boys basketball players – Riley Braich, Chase Clark, Mandave Dhadda, Gagandeep Gill, Jordyn Sekhon and Michael Vanderwerff – helped the Valley second team upset the first team 41-39 in the bronze medal game.
• Tanner Myer and the Valley inline hockey team edged Cariboo-Northeast 4-3 to claim the bronze.