GAMES MAKE GOOD USE OF TRACK COMPLEX
The Saskatchewan Summer Games are being held this week in Estevan, where nearly 1,900 athletes are to compete over six days. Rob Vanstone has some highlights following Wednesday’s competition in the southeastern Saskatchewan city.
TRACK TALES
The Games are also a celebration of a legacy facility — the new and improved track and field complex at Estevan Comprehensive School. The complex is known as the Chamney Family Running Track at Panteluk Athletic Field. The grand opening was held May 30, two years after construction began.
“It’s amazing to see so many people using the track,” said Brenda Lyons, the Games’ cochair of marketing and promotions and a member of the Estevan 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games board of directors.
The new track is the culmination of three years of fundraising. Hosting the Games was beneficial in that the host committee was also able to apply for and receive a $250,000 capital legacy grant from the Saskatchewan Games Council. The upgrades include a new athletic field and an eightlane rubberized track.
PARKLAND PUTTERS
The Parkland district golf team includes three provincial champions. Chloe Sies, a 17-year-old Melville resident, won the Saskatchewan junior girls championship on July 20. On the same day, also in Warman, 10-year-old Ella Kozak won the provincial under-13 girls title and 17-year-old Kade Johnson, also of Yorkton, won the Saskatchewan junior boys title. Sies won the individual female gold medal at the Games on Wednesday. Hannan MacNeil of Shaunavon was second, followed by Sarah Grieve of Saskatoon. Kozak placed 13th. Tayden Wallin of Humboldt won the individual male gold medal. Johnson was second, followed by Steven Duchscher of Saskatoon.
GOLD RUSH
The host South East district won its first gold medal of the Games on Wednesday, courtesy of a 9-8, seven-inning victory over Regina in the baseball final.
Before 500-plus fans at a packed Cactus Park, the South East team scored four runs in the top of the seventh and then staved off a four-run Regina rally in the bottom of the inning.
TURNOVER DAY
The first half of the Games concluded Wednesday, when archery, athletics, baseball, basketball, golf, female soccer and triathlon wrapped up. The second-half sports, which begin Thursday, are canoe-kayak, equestrian, male soccer, softball, swimming, tennis and volleyball.