B.C. leans on Island golfers at Canada Summer Games
Team B.C. will be looking to win another men’s golf crown at the upcoming 2017 Canada Summer Games, and they’ll be looking at three young Island residents to carry the load.
Keaton Gudz and Nolan Thoroughgood of Victoria and Tristan Mandur of Mill Bay will make up the men’s golf team for B.C. at this summer’s Canada Games, set for July 28-Aug. 13 in Winnipeg.
The 18-year-old Gudz, from Royal Colwood and headed to Oregon State University in the fall on a golf scholarship, is the 2014 B.C. junior boys champion and is coming off winning the Canadian Junior Golf Association’s Western Championship. Thoroughgood, 16, also plays out of Royal Colwood and last summer he became the youngest ever winner of the B.C. Men’s Amateur Championship. Mandur, 18, is an Arbutus Ridge member, and he captured the B.C. junior boys crown last year.
The men’s provincial team will be coached by Matt Cella, the director of golf at Olympic View Golf Club.
B.C. has won gold in men’s golf the last two Canada Summer Games. The Games are held every four years and feature 16 sports.
Mountain bikers finish strong
Victoria riders finished the Canada Cup Mountain Bike Series in style last weekend.
Veteran Olympians Geoff Kabush and Catherine Pendrel won the final Elite Division races of the series at Whistler’s Blackcomb Mountain on Sunday. Olympic bronze medallist Pendrel won the women’s division easily, but was edged out of the overall Canada Cup title by Soren Meeuwisse. Three-time Olympian Kabush won by more than a minute over American Stephen Ettinger, but it was third-place finisher Evan Guthrie gaining enough points for the overall title.
Wave teams roll to provincial gold
A Wave swept over the B.C. Premier Soccer League’s Provincial Premier Cup competitions over the weekend in Coquitlam.
Vancouver Island Wave teams won plenty of hardware at Town Centre Stadium. The Wave U-14 and U-16 boys teams won gold medals, while the U-13 boys and U-18 girls teams brought home silver medals.
The U-14 Island side trailed 1-0 early in the gold-medal game against Surrey United but rallied with three straight goals courtesy of Daniel Damien, Leo Sanchez and Nicholas Guildford. Earlier, the Wave U-14s needed penalty kicks to dispose of Mountain United and overtime to beat Coquitlam Metro-Ford to advance to the final.
The U-16 Wave boys defeated Coastal FC and Metro-Ford en route to the final, where they got a goal from Sam Zacharias with 15 minutes to play to beat Mountain United.
Little League minors set to battle
Early July in Victoria means the start of playoff baseball.
On Saturday the Little League 9-10-year-olds will get things started with Lakehill hosting the District 7 Minor championship tournament. The hosts will be joined by all-star teams from Layritz, Beacon Hill, Central Saanich, Hampton and National.
Action begins Saturday at noon with Beacon Hill taking on Central Saanich. The tournament continues until the following weekend with games mostly at noon, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. The semifinals are slated for July 8 at noon and 3 p.m., with the championship final scheduled for July 9 at 11 a.m.
The tournament winner advances to the provincial championship July 15-22 in North Vancouver.
New Yorker takes tennis title
The final of the EncoreFX $15,000 Victoria International Women’s Singles ITF Tennis Championship on Sunday was an all-American affair. Alexa Graham of New York defeated Tori Kinard of Pasadena, California, in two sets for the title at the Panorama Recreation Centre.
Graham was victorious against Canadian Rosie Johanson 7-6, 6-4 in the semifinals on Saturday. Kinard beat Kana Daniel in a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 marathon.
The final was a contrast of styles between the powerful groundstrokes and serve of Graham and Kinard’s speed and counter-attack.
Graham was ranked 902 on the WTA world rankings and is expected to move to the 725 range with the victory in Victoria.
There were 48 top young competitors from eight countries competing in the annual Victoria ITF tournament.