A speed skater from Salmon Arm was in on earning Team BC its first medal of the 2019 Canada Winter Games.
Hall, from Salmon Arm, helped B.C. win its first Games medal Sunday, as she was part of the foursome that won bronze in the long track team pursuit.
Joining Hall on the team are three skaters from Fort St. John, Yuna Lovell, Amanda Mitchell and Brooke Braun. The team edged out Manitoba by .34 of a second to win the bronze at the Sunday afternoon event.
“It is amazing, really great,” Mitchell said, speaking on behalf of her team. “Honestly, it means so much. It means our hard work has paid off. It means that we are finally able to show something for all this work and years of dedication we have put into this sport.”
Quebec won gold with a time of 3:28.70 and Alberta earned silver with a time of 3:33.05.
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Other results from North Okanagan athletes in Red Deer include:
BIATHLON
Ethan Algra of Vernon cracked the top-10 in the men’s 7.5 kilometre sprint, finishing eighth in a time of 25 minutes 56.5 seconds. B.C. teammate Adrei Secu of Coquitlam won bronze in 24:20.0; Quebec’s Leo Grandbois won gold (23:47.8) and Alberta’s Reid Lovstrom captured silver (24:10.3). Algra is slated to compete Tuesday in the 10 km pursuit.
Danica Ariano of Coldstream was 17th in 25:52.5 in the women’s six-km sprint. She’s slated to race in the 7.5 km sprint Tuesday.
RINGETTE
Team B.C. meets Saskatchewan Tuesday in a battle of teams with 1-2 preliminary round records. Winner gets an automatic quarterfinal spot. Loser has to take part in a play-in game to advance to the medal round.
B.C., with North Okanagan-Shuswap athletes Alyssa Racine (Coldstream), Abygayle Williamson and Alyssa Carter (Vernon) and Courtney Bacon (Salmon Arm, plays in Vernon) on the roster, opened with a 6-3 loss to Ontario (all four kept off B.C. scoresheet), but rebounded to dump PEI 9-3. Carter had a goal while Williamson and Bacon added two assists each. Racine picked up an assist in a 7-3 loss to Quebec.
MEN’S HOCKEY
Team B.C. is 1-2 after preliminary round play, losing 4-2 to Manitoba and 5-4 to Alberta. Vernon’s Steel Quiring scored his only goal of the tournament so far to give B.C. a 1-0 lead against Alberta. B.C. led the game 2-0 at one point.
B.C. defeated Saskatchewan 4-3.
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Competition in Week 2 of the Games begins Sunday and will see Lumby’s Logan Leach (para-alpine skiing), Coldstream’s Anne Cherkowski (women’s hockey), and Vernon’s Hannah Mehain (para-nordic skiing) competing.
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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