Okanagan boys win volleyball bronze
The Thompson-Okanagan boys volleyball team came to play on Sunday in the bronzemedal match at the 2018 B.C. Summer Games in Cowichan, defeating a solid team from Vancouver Island-Central Coast 2-0 (25-22, 25-16).
After going 3-0 in pool play, ThompsonOkanagan Zone 2 earned an automatic berth to the semifinals against VancouverCoastal on Saturday morning. In a match that went right down to the wire, the Zone 2 boys came up just a bit short in losing the third-and-deciding set 15-12.
But a day later, with bronze at stake, Zone 2 needed no extra motivation and played its best match of the weekend, dominating Zone 6 to bring the medals home to the Thompson-Okanagan.
Coaches Jeremy Finn (Kelowna) and Mike Smith (Kamloops) stuck to their original game plan and did a great job of getting contributions out of every player on the roster in the medal match.
“This performance today is a testament to the character of this group of young men,” said coach Smith.
“After losing a close-fought semi, they definitely came into today’s match with a mission to bring home some hardware,” he added. “We couldn’t be more proud of how each and every one of them played throughout the competition.”
The Zone 2 roster consisted of the following players: Jake Bartels (Salmon Arm), Jacob Defeo (Vernon), Austin Duff (Lake Country), Adam Einarson (Lake Country), Kiran Grewal (West Kelowna), Joshua Hall (Vernon), Jado Krahn (West Kelowna), Sebastien Manuel (Kelowna), Quinn Pitcher (Kelowna), Levi VanderDeen (Vernon), Alex Witt (West Kelowna), Bennett Witt (Kelowna) and Colby Yurkiw (Kelowna).
West Kelowna’s Hoel wins multiple medals at Games
West Kelowna’s Lincoln Hoel dominated at the 2018 B.C. Summer Games in the triathlon, duathlon, and aquathlon.
Hoel finished the aquathlon on Saturday afternoon with a time of eight minutes 49.2 seconds — nearly 15 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.
Hoel had to adjust to a shorter track and the prolonged swim. However, his fitness and year-long intensive training didn’t fail him on race day as he captured the triple crown of triathlon events.
Hoel, representing the Zone 2 Thompson-Okanogan, didn’t have to look far for inspiration as his older brother Brock also won all of the triathlon events at the 2016 B.C. Summer Games in Abbotsford.
Over 2,300 athletes competed in 18 sports at venues throughout the Cowichan Valley, with the Games concluding on Sunday when the flag was passed to Fort St. John for the 2020 B.C. Winter Games.