Ben Lypka
Mission Record
Mission athletes ran, jumped, swam and battled their way to greatness at the Abbotsford 2016 BC Summer Games from July 21 to 24.
Locals competed on the Fraser Valley zone team, which finished second overall behind Vancouver Island-Central Coast (VICC) in the medal standings with 144. Fraser Valley athletes encompassed the cities of Mission, Abbotsford, Langley, Maple Ridge and Chilliwack.
Mission athletes won several medals as part of Fraser Valley teams, and one of the more dominant teams at the Games was the Fraser Valley girls rugby squad.
The girls went undefeated throughout the event, and Mission was represented by players Kate Baker and Kyra Lipke. They won the gold medal game by defeating VICC 19-7 on Sunday.
Mission talent also excelled on the indoor volleyball court, as Matt Hanna helped lead the Fraser Valley boys volleyball team to gold. Fraser Valley beat out VICC in two sets (25-19 and 25-21) to win the gold.
On the girls volleyball court, Fraser Valley, with Mission’s Makenzie Rourke, earned a bronze by defeating Vancouver-Coastal on Sunday.
Also earning bronze was the Fraser Valley field lacrosse team, who defeated Vancouver-Coastal in the bronze-medal game on Sunday. Mission players Matthew Abbott, Samuel Adams, Josh Bramley and Jude McAdie, as well as head coach Harpreet Grewal, all took home the bronze with the win.
The most decorated Mission individual athlete at the event was paddler Samuel Rosenthal, who took home two bronze medals and one silver.
Rosenthal scored silver in the boys C-2 500 metre canoe/kayak event in Fort Langley. He teamed with Langley’s Samuel Hao to earn second at the event.
Rosenthal then teamed up with Maple Ridge’s Noah Said, Langley’s Kirsten Cheung and Maple Ridge’s Lilly Small to finish third in the boys/girls K-4 500m. He scored another bronze by joining Hao, Langley’s Ryan Hays and Maple Ridge’s Alexander Dmitriev in the boys K-4 500m open.
He also just missed out on another bronze, with a fourth-place finish in the boys C-1 200m race.
Mission golfer Kyle Claggett excelled on the links at Ledgeview, scoring a combined 146 over Friday and Saturday to win silver. He was six shots behind gold-medal winner Nolan Thoroughgood from Victoria. Claggett also earned a silver as part of the Fraser Valley golf team, which finished second in the team competition.
Also picking up a silver was Kaden Scott, who placed second in the boys 10 to 13 slalom in the towed water sports competition.
Mission’s Harrison Trustham picked up a silver for his efforts in the boys 4 X 100m on Saturday. Trustham and teammates Bob Nicol and Ian Vandergugten from Langley, along with Chilliwack’s Tyler Parsons, finished about 1.3 seconds behind the winners from the Fraser River zone.
David Williamson from Mission showed his athletic versatility by earning a bronze in the pentathlon. Williamson was solid in all five events, finishing no worse than fifth overall. His top result of the five was a second-place showing in the 100m hurdles.
For complete results from the games, visit bcgames.org.