Abbotsford athletes excelled at the B.C. Winter Games in Kamloops over the weekend, with a handful of local competitors reaching the podium.
Biathlon produced the most hardware, and the most decorated Abbotsford participant was William Tang, who earned a pair of gold medals.
Tang took the top spot in the mass start boys event, posting a time of 11:51.8, beating the silver medalist by 24 seconds.
He also was part of the gold-medal-winning mixed relay team, which included Abbotsford athletes Alyssa Chapman, Jaclyn Kealy and Jeremiah Ward.
Chapman and Kealy also took home bronze in the relay girls competition. Chapman narrowly missed out on a medal in the mass start girls competition, finishing fourth overall and about 18 seconds off of reaching the podium. Tang and Ward just missed another medal in the relay boys competition, finishing fourth overall.
Archer Keziah Dreves also had a great weekend, winning gold in the two-day aggregate girls barebow and silver in the match play girls barebow. Dreves posted a score of 819 to win the gold, outscoring second-place Samantha Kerr of Coquitlam by 46 points.
Gymnast Lauren Robertson took home a silver medal in the JO8 women’s uneven bars and also placed 24th in the all-around competition.
Robertson also was part of the fourth-place JO7 and JO8 women’s team.
On the judo mat, Abbotsford’s Lola Paller scored silver in the women’s under 44 kilograms division.
Figure skater Della Williamson also earned bronze in the juvenile women division.
Other locals who finished in the top 10 in their respective events individually included: Angelin Rajesh (seventh, intermediate kata girls karate), Ramanjit Chauhan (fourth in U16 3000 metes mixed relay speed skating and seventh in U16 500 metres female speed skating) and Sydney Kardoes (eighth, giant slalom single run female).
Abbotsford athletes Marisa Smit, Olivia Smit and Kiersten Weitschies missed out on a bronze medal in the ringette competition after the Fraser Valley team lost to Thompson-Okanagan in the third-place game.
The Fraser Valley team – made up of athletes from Abbotsford, Mission, Langley, Aldergrove, Chilliwack, Hope, Maple Ridge, Agassiz, and Pitt Meadows – finished fourth overall in the medal standings with 50 medals.. The Vancouver-Coastal region took home the most medals with 128, followed by Fraser River (95) and Thompson-Okanagan (90).
For complete results from the event, visit bcgames.org.