Triathlete Colette Reimer (Victoria) won British Columbia's first Gold of the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games, as Team BC put up a total of 15 medals on the second day of competition to take the lead in the medal standings with a total of 19 over two
days.
MEDAL STANDINGS |
SCHEDULE + RESULTS |
PHOTOS |
LIVESTREAMReimer finished her
Triathlon sprint event in a time of 1:06:16. Team BC’s first Gold didn’t come easy, however, as Reimer was forced to battle the conditions on top of her opponents.
“Really exciting,” said Reimer about the win. “I saw that team BC won 4 medals yesterday and it’s really exciting to contribute to the medal count and support the other team BC athletes. I had a really good swim and got a break on the bike and established a lead. I wanted to get ahead as there are a lot of strong runners, and I was able to do so in the run and keep the lead.”
Reimer was joined on the podium on the men’s side by Daniel Damian (Victoria), who won a silver medal after posting a time of 58:01 in the sprint event. He led a strong men’s contingent that featured Trevor Laupland (Kamloops) and Caleb Ney
(Victoria). Laupland overcame a fall on the road caused by slippery conditions to turn in a top-10 finish.
With today's medals, BC now has a country-leading 14 medals in triathlon since the sport was first introduced to the Canada Games.
Swimming earned a number of places on the podium for the second day in a row on Monday, finishing with 12 medals after winning four on the first day of competition Sunday.
Ramon Siytangco (Vancouver) helped lead the way with a pair of medals. He won Silver in the 50m Breaststroke Special O before capping off his day with a Bronze in the 100m Freestyle Special O. Fellow Special Olympics swimmer Hailey Borowski won bronze in the 50m Breaststroke Special O while Bonnie-Jean Shade (Campbell River) won Bronze in the 100m Freestyle Special O. All Special Olympics swimmers swam personal bests.
"I wanted to put up a
best time and I’m now feeling relieved that it’s over,” said Siytangco. “Thank you Team BC for supporting me and for giving me this opportunity.”
Lily Zhang (Vancouver) and Peter Huang (Coquitlam) won Silver in the women’s and men’s 200m butterfly, respectively. Huang was joined on the podium by teammate Bill Dongfang, who won Bronze.
“Going into the race, I wasn’t really thinking about anything,” said Zhang. “I was trying to be smooth on the first 100, and trying to sprint the last 50 and I think I did that well today."
“During the race, it was very intense because we were going out fast during the first 100 meters,” said Huang. “We were pushing each a lot but overall I’m very happy about the race.”
Other individual medals came from Cameron Chambers (S14) (West Kelowna) with Silver in the men’s 100m Para Freestyle), Sienna
Angove (Kamloops) with Bronze in the 400m IM, Leila Fack (Surrey) with Silver in the 100m Freestyle, and Laon Kim with Bronze in the 100m Freestyle.
Swimming’s day was capped off with a 4x100m Mixed Medley Relay that saw Team BC finish with a Silver. Paul Orogo (New Westminster), Justin Jung (Coquitlam), Leila Fack, and Julia Strojnowska (Vancouver) made up the medal-winning team.
Marin Lowe (Squamish) led the way for
Cycling on Monday with a Silver medal in the mountain biking cross country event. The women’s race kicked off just as a downpour of rain was unleashed, and the riders were forced to deal with an ever-changing and challenging track. Lowe and her teammates overcame extremely tough and muddy conditions to turn in strong performances on the course.
The same could be said on the men’s side in a race that saw Quebec take control right
from the get-go and BC and ON battle it out near the front of the pack. Cam McCallum (Langley) led the way for the men, finishing fifth with a time of 14:30.
Rugby Sevens team celebrated a historic day on the pitch with a pair of victories. Monday marked the first time in history that women’s rugby had been included in the Games and Team BC wasted no time showing their strength with a 36-5 victory over PEI and a 26-5 win over Quebec.
In game one, PEI scored the first try while the BC side was settling in. But Team BC dominated the rest of the game with 36 straight points.
“We are super happy with our first game of the day,” said Head Coach Darcy Patterson after game one. “There was some shaky nerves to start but then the team found their groove finishing strong.”
Game two against Quebec took place in the pouring rain, but the
bleachers were still packed to watch BC use their speed to their advantage in a win.
Box Lacrosse fended off a comeback attempt from Team Alberta on their way to a historic 7-4 win on Monday. The win was the first for Team BC in Canada Games history with the women’s side making its debut at the 2022 Canada Summer Games.
After a 5-0 loss to Ontario on Sunday, BC had a chip on the shoulder and came out flying, scoring four goals in the first period. Alberta would come back to tie the game 4-4 in the second but the westernmost province found their composure and took back control in the third.
Gillian Lapierre (Port Coquitlam) had two goals and an assist while Beth Anderson (New Westminster) had two assists in the win.
The
Beach Volleyball men’s and women’s teams dominated during their first day of competition on Monday,
sweeping their opponents while outscoring them by a total of 126-83. The men’s team of Luke de Greeff (Victoria) and Dan Everton (Penticton) beat Manitoba 21-11, 21-17 before finishing off the day with a 21-13, 21-14 straight sets victory over New Brunswick.
“It was great to get the first game jitters out of the way in the morning and come out strong against a young, energetic New Brunswick team in our second match,” said de Greeff. “We managed to handle some early pressure and control the ball in some gusty winds, and eventually come out with the win. Obviously, it feels great to start the tournament 2-0, but we are only looking forward with the toughest games yet to come.”
The women’s team of Sara Ostojic (Vancouver) and Julia Soeller (Vancouver) won their only match of the day, defeating New Brunswick in straight sets by scores of 21-15 and
21-13.
“We're proud of our focus as we battled through heavy wind and rain today,” said Ostojic. “We came out victorious against New Brunswick, and we're looking forward to building on this momentum for our games against Ontario and Quebec on Tuesday.”
Softball continued their unbeaten streak at the Games on Monday afternoon, picking up a 11-1 victory over Nova Scotia. The team is now 3-0 and sits first in Pool A.
Nevada Johnson (Ladner) pitched all but one inning in a solid performance, while game one pitcher Kiwi Fournier (Victoria) came in to pitch one inning in relief. Softball will face off against Saskatchewan when competition opens back up on Tuesday.
“I’m really impressed with the way that my team always has my back, offensively and defensively,” said Johnson. “I am super proud of how the team did today—it was
awesome.”
Soccer’s opening day at the Canada Games couldn’t have gone much better for the BC men,as they picked up an 8-0 win over Newfoundland and Labrador.
Brandon Momotani (Burnaby) was a standout for the BC side, scoring a hat trick in the first 35 minutes of the game. Another highlight came from Ty Pound (Surrey), who delivered a header goal on a cross out of a corner kick to cement the BC lead.
"The win feels good, we have been working hard and needed the 3 points. We dug deep and didn't take them lightly,” said Momotani. “We need to focus up for a good game tomorrow. We need to win the 50/50 balls and finishes our chances.”
A win over Newfoundland and Labrador for the men’s team and a loss to a tough Alberta side for the women’s team highlighted the first day of competition in
Basketball.
The
men’s team went down early to Newfoundland before bouncing back to post a 115-83 win. Adam Olson (Surrey) led BC in scoring with 23 points while Reuben Wright (Salt Spring Island) had a strong performance, adding 14 points. A total of five players scored in double-digits as BC put in a full team effort.
"We had a slow start, however it is great to see that all the teams are here to play and compete,” said Assistant Coach Graham Bonar. “Now that we have our feet wet, it's time to focus on the next game."
The women’s team took a lead into halftime before falling victim to a second-half surge from a strong Alberta team, who picked up a 73-60 win over BC.
An emotional win over Team Ontario on Sunday night was followed by a tough 13-3 loss to Saskatchewan on Monday for
Baseball. Angelo Franco and Sam Shaw had two hits apiece in the
loss.
Baseball will be back in action against Nova Scotia at 10 a.m. ET at Welland Stadium before matching up with the host Ontario once again at Oakes Park 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
It was a turbulent day at the Games for
Tennis, as on-and-off rain caused disruption in play. The teams will be back at it on Tuesday with a revised schedule, which can be found on
t
he Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games website.
