TERRACE STANDARD.

2S PORTS

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 13, 2002 - C1

638-7283

Sports Scope

Shames skiers power up
at season’s first race

THEY’VE been hard at work ripping through gates
on their home turf, but the Shames Mountain ski
team got a chance to show what they’ve got at their
first race of the season Feb. 1-2.

The Purden Giant Slalom races in Prince George
saw two races Feb. 1 and one combined two-run race
the next day. And several Terrace athletes came
home with a little extra hardware around their necks.

. There was a great showing by Terrace skiers in the
Kl {ages 11-12) division. Sheena Leclerc brought
home one silver and two bronze medals. She also

picked up a special mention for most improved skier. .

Shannon Healy raced her way to two fifth place fi-
nishes and one seventh position.

In the boys K1 division Brice Hamilton picked up
a bronze medal and one fifth place finish. Justin
Castonguay-McNeill earned a bronze medal and a

“fourth and fifth rank in the other races. °

In the K2 (ages 13-14) division Stacey Blake
earned one gold, silver and bronze medal for each of
the events. She was also given a bronze medal in the
overall standings. Brittany Greenwood skied her way
to 14th spot and Britnee Thomson skied very consist-
ently with three 14th place runs,

The boys K2 races saw Terrace skiers shine. Ron
MacKenzie picked up two silver medals and one
bronze.

Ryan Monsees also did an outstanding job picking
up silver and bronze medals, Monsees had a run of
bad luck at the races though, That’s because he fell
and broke his hand. The break could put him out of
out of racing for the near future.

in Terrace. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO.

GEORGE and Bev Bujtas receive an award recog-
nizing their years of volunteering for youth soccer

Hard work pays off

LOCAL volunteers George and Bev Bujtas were re-
warded for their many years of dedication to the Ter-
tace Youth Soccer Association.

They received a certificate of merit from the B.C.
Soccer Association last month during the group’s an-
nual general meeting, The award was presented in
Vancouver by chairperson Ed Ralhauser.

X-country extravaganza
THE SNOW is fast and the trails are ready for the

23,

The cross country ski extravaganza tests the mettle

of skiers in various long distance races. Skiers are

getting set to race on 1 km, 5 km, 10 km and 30 km
courses and organizers say the trails are desigried
with novice and advanced skiers in mind.

There are several divisions for every kind of skier:
men’s, women’s, boys and girls under 17 aad a child-
ren’s class for those little skiers under 8 years old.

The event is organized every year lo raise money
for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of B.C. Skiers
are.encouraged to collect pledges for the organiza-
tion.

Pledge forms are available at All Seasons Source
for Sports and at the Snow Valley Nordic Ski Club.
For more information call Bernadette at 635-6456.

Sledders battle Sterling

to help a friend
SNOWMOBILERS in the Terrace area are gearing
up for a day of riding that’ll not only be a blast, but
will raise some much needed money for a local man.

Last Thanksgiving Frank Amante, 37, was in-
volved in a tragic cycling accident which left him
with fractured fourth and fifth vertebrae in his spine.
He may never walk again

Amante is in Vancouver at a rehabilitation centre
for spinal injury patients.

His medical costs are weighing heavily on the

. man’s family.

Members of the Skeena Valley Snowmobile Asso-
ciation decided to raise some money for Amante by
hosting a poker ride at Sterling Mountain Feb. 24.

“We're hoping 100 people will show up,” says or-

_ganizer “Russ Shauer. “If the weather’s right, the .

mountain will be crawling with sleds.”

Participants pay $20 to get in on the fun. All but 10
per cent of the proceeds will go directly to the Frank
Amante relief fund. 7
The remaining 10 per cent goes to the person with
the best poker hand at the end of the ride.The poker

ride starts at 9 a.m. in the Sterling Mountain parking
‘lot and should finish at the first cabin around noon.

The event is a family affair and anyone interested
in spending a day hitting the slopes for a good cause
is encouraged (o participate.

: Donations to help the family can also. be made at
" the Northem Savings Credit Union in Terrace.

2ist annual Alcan Snow Valley Ski Marathon Feb. -

Winter games produce medals and >
generate excitement for Terrace athletes

THE 2002 Northern B.C.
Winter Games have come
and gone and Terrace ath-
letes have returned with
oodles of medals.

The games in Smithers
Feb. 1-3 proved to be an
event not many Terrace
athletes will forget.

Whether the competi-
lors won or lost, the event
was an opportunity for
people in the north to
compete against one an-
other in a fun and exhi-
larating environment.

Here’s a breakdown of
how some Terrace athletes
did.

Highlights of the bad-
minton competition in-
clude Karen Resch picking
up a silver medal in the
ladies contest. She and her
partner, Melody Julseth,

‘also picked up a gold in

the doubles event.

Andrew Blix and Karen
Resch hit gold in the
mixed event as well.

Terrace’s Diane Cey
teamed up with Norm
Parry of Smithers in mixed
competition and they
earned a bronze medal.

The curling competition
saw the Edmondson rink
pick up a bronze medal in
the juvenile category.

Terrace figure skaters
earned two gold medals.
Janet Lewis nabbed top
spot in the ladies inter-
mediate division while
Lindsay Scharf skated her
way to first place in the

ladies preliminary contést7"

The Terrace Peaks
gymnasts were on a roll
with outstanding perfor-
mances by all their ath-
letes.

The Level 1 Argo divi-
sion saw the Terrace girls
nab all three podium spots.

The Level 1’'Tyro com-
petition saw Terrace girls
nab first and second spot

ABOVE, Terrace Peaks gymnasts look on as the boys prepare for one of many events at this year's
games, Below, Megan Pederson rises above the water while doing the breastroke in Smithers.

in that division,

Erica Dykes hit top spot
in the Level 2 Novice ca-
tegory and Siobhan Sloan-
McMullen came. home
with a silver medal in the
Level 3 Novice division.

And Justin Schritt re-
ceived two golds in the
high bar and vault compe-
tition in the cadet cate-
gory. Teammate Cameron
Hemmons received a gold
medal on the vault in his
first competition ever,

Jessica Ames brought
home gold in the Level 3
Tyro competition.

Trap shooters Danny
O’Brien and George Mun-
son proved they’ve got
their sites set right with

“each of them hitting the

podium.

Munson garnered a sil-
ver medal and O’Brien
earned two golds.

This year's snowboard-
ing events saw Terrace
boarders dominate almost
every category in the big
air competition,

The Haworth siblings,
Danna, 19, Jack, [6, and

first-time competitor
Leigh, 13, each came
home with gold in the Big
Air finals.

Tyler Wilson came
third in the men’s big air
event while Colin Davies
came up with first place in
the boarder cross.

‘In the swimming events
Biueback coach Mike

Carlyle said all his ath-
letes exceeded their goals.

Every one of the six
Blueback swimmers taking
part in the races came
home with a medal around
their necks,

Allison Knoedler, 12,
managed to pick up four
gold medals. She also re-
ceived a bronze medal in

Cal’s hoopsters back in action:

By SARAH A.
ZIMMERMAN
CALEDONIA’S boys bas-
ketball coach, Cam Mac-
Kay, is making no bones
about it. He is still behind
the bench of this high
school team and has no in-
tention of withdrawing his

services as a coach.

Since B.C. teachers
were given a legislated
contract, some educators
won't perform any extra-
curricular activities.

But not Cam MacKay.

“We are a full fledged

school team and we plan

to stick it out,” he said
last week.

“T told the kids that we
will complete our commit-
ment. We start something
we finish something — it’s
what we try to teach our
kids in schools isn’t it?”

Up until last week,
nearly a month had gone
by with no high-school
match-ups for the Ker-
modes.

*Ti’s really tough on
kids not to have games,”
says Caledonia’s boys bas-
ketball coach, Cam Mac-
Kay. “They tend to lose
that competitive edge.”

But if their performance
Feb. 8 against one of the
province's hot high school
teams is any indication,

the Kermodes haven’t lost -

their drive to win.

Wellington Senior Sec-
ondary’s Wildcats came to
Terrace from Nanaimo to
give the local boys a taste
of high calibre basketball.

The team is headed up
by coach, Phil Letham, a
former Caledonia Ker-
mode's coach from 1981-
89.

The Wildcats were -sit-—
ting at a record of 18 wins

TERRY BAL gets set to make a play in Feb. 8's game against Nanaimo's
Wellington Senior Secondary. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO,

Cam MacKay

and just 3 losses when
they touched down in Ter-
race.

“I honestly believe
they’re one of the better
teams in the province,”

‘coach ‘MacKay said, . “I

would say they’re probably
in the top two on the

Island.”

That's exactly the kind
of competition the teams
need fo prepare for the up-
coming provincial cham-
pionships in mid-March.

Both Cal’s bays and
girls hoop squads have
automatic berths to the
AAA event.

Going into the first of
two games against the
Wildcats, Cal was at a bit
of an advantage.

They were playing on
home turf and secondly,
the Nanaimo team had to
play right after stepping off
the plane from Vancouver.

Their flight was delayed
and the game didn’t get

under way until after 8
“pam last Friday,

The Kermodes. capit-

lized on the opportunity .
oulplaying their guests in

an actlon-packed first half.
After two. quarters the

~ Kermodes were up 44-27,

But the Wildcats held
the Kermodes to just 10
points in the third while
they picked up 22.

In the end, the Ker-

* modes were able to hold

their own and won 79-71,

It was. the visiting
team’s fourth loss oul of 22
games played.

The win is a good sign
for the Kermodes, whoare
gearing up for provincials.

At press time, the Ker-
modes had one more game
to play against the Wild-
cats Feb. 9.

‘UPCOMING —
KERMODE’

CHALLENGES

Boys basketball:

Feb. 15-16: Games
against the Prince Au-
pert Rainmakers,

’ Giris basketball:
‘team tournament In =
Smithers.

the mixed medley along
with Fiona Bell, Nadia
Benzer and Evan Watson,

In wrestling, Terrace
athletes represented them-
selves very well, -High-
lights include first place
finishes by Adie Sankie,
Robert Wickie and Basil
Morgan, each in different
weight classes.

Soccer
coaches
sought

THE TERRACE
youth soccer associa-
tion is looking for
qualified Provincial B
level Select coaches
for the 2002 season.

Those interested in .
becoming a head
coach, assistant’ coach
or team manager must
submit their applica-
tions before Feb. 28.

Coaches are nee-
ded for both boys and
girls teams from U-12
to U-i8.

Regional playoffs
will likely be June 8-9
with venues being an-
nounced in mid-May.

For application in-
formation contact
George Bujtas at 635-
3719,

B.C.’s best
skiers to

race here

IT’S THE ski event of
the year for competi- ,
tive racers aged 13-14
and this year the K2
provincial champion-
ships are taking place
at Shames Mountain,

This is the first
time. Terrace has
played host to the pro-
vincial races’ and or-
ganizers are gearing
up for an extraordi-
nary event.

“We're looking at
around 100 racers,”
said chief of race,

’ Dennis Lissimore.

The races are set

for Mar, 21- 24,

‘