The 2019 Western Canada Summer Games in Swift Current, Sask., are at the halfway point as phase one athletes returned to Whitehorse on Aug. 13 with five medals to show for their efforts.
Mia Barrault won silver in the women’s 50-metre breaststroke on Aug. 10, as well as a bronze in the 100-m breaststroke on Aug. 11.
Julianne Girouard won the first medal of the games for the Yukon — a bronze medal in the women’s solo kayak 1,000-m on Aug. 10 — as well as a bronze medal in the women’s solo kayak 500-m on Aug. 11.
The other Yukon medal from phase one came in cycling, as Mara Roldan won bronze in the women’s cross-country mountain bike race on Aug. 13.
Team Yukon also earned five fourth-place finishes.
Girouard finished fourth in the women’s solo kayak 5,000-m race, and her teammates finished fourth in the men’s 1000-m, 500-m and 200-m four-person kayak races.
The men’s soccer team also finished fourth with a record of one win, two losses and one draw.
The team opened play with a 2-1 loss to Alberta before rebounding for a 3-0 win against the Northwest Territories in game two. Game three saw the team draw 0-0 with Manitoba and a 5-2 loss to Saskatchewan in game four put the team squarely in fourth place.
Three teams and three individuals earned fifth-place finishes for the Yukon during phase one.
In the pool, Kassua Dreyer finished fifth in the women’s 1,500-m freestyle and Barrault was fifth in the women’s 200-m breaststroke.
Girouard finished fifth in the women’s solo kayak 200-m race.
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams finished fifth.
The women’s team finished the round robin 0-4 and lost to the Northwest Territories in the playoff game for a spot in the medal round 68-45.
The men’s team also finished the round robin 0-4 and lost to the Northwest Territories for a spot in the medal round by a score of 63-51.
In the women’s soccer competition, Team Yukon finished in fifth place after going 0-4 at the games.
Team Yukon had two sixth-place finishes, both on the water.
The duo of Rogan Parry and Cole Wilkie-Hobus finished sixth in the men’s tandem kayak 1,000-m final, and Wilkie-Hobus also finished sixth in the men’s solo kayak 5,000-m final.
Six teams and three individuals finished seventh from Team Yukon.
Bruce Porter finished seventh in the men’s solo kayak 1,000-m final, Dreyer finished seventh in the women’s 800-m freestyle, and Joel Girouard finished seventh in the men’s solo kayak 5,000-m final.
Team Yukon finished seventh in the four by 200-m mixed freestyle relay, the four by 200-m women’s freestyle relay and the four by 100-m mixed medley relay, as well as seventh in the men’s tandem kayak 1,000-m, 200-m and 5,000-m races.
Five individuals and four teams finished eighth at the games.
Wilkie-Hobus finished eighth in the men’s solo kayak 1,000-m final, Amelia Juli-Ann Ford finished eighth in the women’s 50-m butterfly, Dreyer finished eighth in the women’s 400-m individual medley, Thomas Gishler finished eighth in the men’s 800-m freestyle, and Aisha Roldan finished eighth in the women’s cross-country mountain bike race.
The women’s four by 100-m relay team finished eighth, as did the men’s tandem kayak in the 200-m.
Two of the territory’s beach volleyball teams also finished eighth, and the other two beach volleyball teams finished ninth.
The only other ninth-place finish was from Ford in the women’s 100-m butterfly.
Rounding out the top 10 finishes at the games, Gishler finished 10th in both the men’s 1,500-m freestyle and the men’s 400-m freestyle, Dreyer finished 10th in the women’s 200-m breaststroke, and Team Yukon finished 10th in both the mixed four by 100-m freestyle relay and the women’s four by 100-m freestyle relay.
Phase two of the games starts on Aug. 14, with Team Yukon competing in athletics, golf, triathlon, volleyball and wrestling.
Volleyball is the only sport with competition on Aug. 14 — the other four sports have a full practice day.
The 2019 Western Canada Summer Games happen from Aug. 9 to 18.
Contact John Hopkins-Hill at john.hopkinshill@yukon-news.com