Another year of Yukon sports is almost in the books. There were enough accomplishments to fill a book.

Watson Lake cyclist Zach Bell won the Canadian road race championships and the omnium event at the track nationals.

Nishikawa siblings, Emily and Graham, qualified for and skied at the world championships in Italy.

Yukon wheelchair racer Jessica Frotten won three bronze medals at the Canada Summer Games in Sherbrooke, Que.

The following is a highlight reel, if you will, of Yukoners in sports from the past year.

January

Cheap hits lit a fire under the Bantam A Mustangs at the Alberni Valley New Years Tournament in Port Alberni, B.C. on Vancouver Island. Down 1-0 in the final, Mustangs goalie Josh Tetlichi was bowled over on an illegal hit from a player on the Kerry Park Islanders from the Victoria area. The Mustangs tied the game just 12 seconds into the resulting five-minute penalty and went on to win the final 7-4 over the Islanders and take gold in the Tier 2/3 tournament.

Whitehorse curler Thomas Scoffin and his University of Alberta Junior Golden Bears team won Alberta’s Junior Provincial Championships in Edmonton.

Whitehorse’s Darryl Tait competed in adaptive snocross at the X Games, the Olympics of extreme sports, in Aspen, Colo.

“It’s a childhood dream come true,” said Tait. “It’s pretty cool.”

Whitehorse cross-country skier Colin Abbott placed 47th out of 72 skiers in the 1.6-kilometre sprint at the FIS Nordic Junior & U23 World Ski Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic. The then 22-year-old Team Canada skier placed 63rd out of 84 starters in the 15-kilometre individual-start skate race for the country’s best result for U23 men.

Whitehorse snowboarder Max Melvin-McNutt unveiled his latest trick – a switch frontside double cork 900 – in back-to-back competitions at Sun Peaks Resort. The 19-year-old member of the B.C. Provincial Freestyle Snowboard Team took first in both B.C. Snowboard Provincial Series Slopestyle competitions.

Whitehorse’s Justin Peterson took first place in the 0-440cc liquid class of the 44th annual Alcan 200 International Snow Machine Road Rally. He completed the 250-kilometre course in one hour, 40 minutes and 17 seconds with an average speed of 149 kilometres per hour. He was the only Yukoner to win a division in the race.

Women won three out of the four distance races at the 19th annual Carbon Hill Sled Dog Race at the Mount Lorne Community Centre. A female sledder also topped one out of the two children’s races.

After years of trying, Fox Lake’s Martine LeLevier won the 30-mile dogsled race, “which is nice after so many times running it,” she said. “I had some trouble on (Annie Lake), so I didn’t expect to be first.”

Whitehorse’s Mandy Pearson topped the 10-mile dogsled race 13 years after first winning it. Whitehorse’s Jill Pangman, meanwhile, took first in the six-mile skijor race.

Whitehorse’s Stefan Wackerhagen prevented the XX-chromosome sweep of the Carbon Hill distance races. Wackerhagen won the 30-mile skijor race for a third consecutive year.

Hurricanes and Huskies joined forces to win hockey gold. A mixed squad of players from the Holy Family Hurricanes and the Hidden Valley Huskies went undefeated in seven games to take the top spot at the Whitehorse Elementary Hockey Tournament.

February

Whitehorse’s Michael Sumner had plenty to be excited about at the start of the year. The 16-year-old figure skater won silver at the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

“I was about to scream out loud because I won my first medal at my first World Winter Games,” Sumner told the News in an interview from Pyeongchang. “I just felt excited.”

Whitehorse’s Peewee A Mustangs overcame three deficits en route to beating the Castlegar Rebels 9-8 in a shootout in the final of the Castlegar Tier 3 Peewee Tournament in B.C.

“It was a barnburner … It was a huge effort from the boys,” said Mustangs co-head coach Martin Lawrie.

Defenceman Cruz Goodman got the game-winner as Whitehorse’s fifth shooter before goalie Ethan Vanderklay plugged the net to give the Mustangs the gold.

Allen Moore of Two Rivers, Alaska, won the Yukon Quest in Fairbanks. Moore crossed the finish line one hour and 16 minutes ahead of defending champion Hugh Neff of Fairbanks.

“It’s great when a plan comes together,” said Moore, who finished with a time of eight days, 18 hours and 57 minutes.

Just eight seconds separated the top two teams at the Yukon Quest 300 following a neck-and-neck battle from the start in Whitehorse. Tagish’s Michelle Phillips held a narrow lead over Fairbanks’ Aliy Zirkle to win the 300-mile dogsled race.

Skip Sarah Koltun and her team took fourth place in the women’s division of the Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Fort McMurray, Alta. It was the best-ever finish for a women’s team representing Yukon at the junior nationals. Yukon’s Team Young with skip Mitchell Young finished with a 5-4 record to place ninth in junior men. Whitehorse’s Thomas Scoffin, who was skip for Alberta, took his team all the way to the finals and left with silver.

Glacier Bears swimmers Dannica Nelson and Luke Bakica won gold medals at the B.C. AA Championships in Surrey. Both swimmers won in the 200-metre breaststroke.

Biathlete Jake Draper picked up two medals at the B.C. Cup in Kelowna. The member of Biathlon Yukon’s Velocity Squad won a gold and a silver in the juvenile division.

Josie Storey and Abby Hawes had the fastest overall times at the Yukon Cup, the territory’s alpine ski championship. Hawes had the fastest time of any skier in the giant slalom, while Storey had the fastest overall time in the slalom event.

Whitehorse Black fought back from down 3-0 to defeat the Juneau Capitals 5-4 in a shoot-out in the final of the Yukon Atom Hockey Championships in Haines Junction.

“That’s nothing but heart. They played a lot of hockey this weekend,” said Black head coach Mark Daniels. “The last three (games) were three in a row and that’s amazing.”

The Whitehorse Canucks weren’t expected to win the Yukon Novice Hockey Championships in Dawson City. Far from it. The Canucks, who struggled for wins in the Whitehorse house league, lost their one goalie to injury during the final. But even with a far less experienced goalie between the pipes, the Canucks held on to defeat the Whitehorse Senators 7-5 for the title.

Two teams kept their perfect record intact to end the season at the YSAA Elementary Basketball Championships. The Elijah Smith Eagles went undefeated in the girls side of the tournament and the Holy Family Hurricanes went undefeated on the boys side. Both teams went undefeated all season long.

With just 26.9 seconds remaining on the clock in overtime, Vanier Crusaders guard RJ Siosan tied the game with a basket and drew a foul. He then sunk the free-throw to his team a one-point lead over the Porter Creek Rams. The Crusaders held the slim lead to win the game 55-54 and capture gold in the junior boys division of the Yukon Basketball Championships.

The Porter Creek Rams took control early and never let go as they won the junior girls division of the Yukon Basketball Championships. The Rams beat the F.H. Collins Warriors 41-30 in the final.

There was an electrifying end to the senior girls basketball season. The Porter Creek Rams launched a huge fourth-quarter comeback to win in the dying seconds in the final of the Yukon Basketball Championships.

“It’s crazy. The season has been really even for all the teams and for us to come back from such a stretch was really crazy – to win by one point,” said Rams captain Megan Lanigan. “I’m really proud of my whole team.”

The Rams took the Yukon title with a 61-60 win over the F.H. Collins Warriors.

The Vanier Crusaders had a big second half to come from behind and win the Yukon senior boys championship 86-73 over the Rams.

Just weeks after completing the Yukon Quest, Carcross musher Crispin Studer won the River Runner 120. Whitehorse’s Stefan Wackerhagen beat out three other racers in the skijor division. Studer went on to win the Percy DeWolfe Memorial Mail Race in Dawson City in April.

Whitehorse’s Caelan McLean was one of two Whitehorse cross-country skiers to win a division at the Western Canadian Championships in Grande Prairie, Alta. The other was Dahria Beatty in junior women.

After not competing at all during the season, past champion Erin Oliver-Beebe was back in action at the 2013 Yukon Biathlon Championships. Oliver-Beebe had the fastest time of any biathlete on the six-kilometre course.

Whitehorse’s Lois Johnston finished no race empty-handed at the Masters World Cup in Asiago, Italy. Johnston won four medals in four races in the W7 division (females age 60-65) at the championship.

Her reaction to returning home with four medals: “Complete surprise,” she said. “Everything lined up and I didn’t have any problems with the time change … I had a couple days to acclimatize and I was pretty healthy, so I could adapt quite well.”

Johnston won two gold, a silver and a bronze.

March

Graham and Emily Nishikawa both struggled with illness, as did most of the Canadian team, at 2013 Nordic World Ski Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy. But it was still a fantastic experience, said Graham.

“It was amazing week for me,” he said. “I’m really tired right now, but it was an amazing experience. Some highs and lows.

“I’m just overall really happy.”

Graham placed 39th out of 95 skiers in the men’s 15-kilometre skate race for his strongest result. Emily placed 57th in two races for her best finishes.

Graham was the first male skier from the Yukon to make it to the world championships. Emily was the first female Yukoner to make the worlds since Olympian Lucy Steele-Masson competed in 1997.

Glacier Bears’ Adrian Robinson captured a gold and two silver and set five club records at the B.C. AAA Age Group Championships in Victoria. Teammate Cassis Lindsay won a gold, silver and bronze.

Yukon Elite Squad teammates Knute Johnsgaard and Colin Abbott didn’t cut each other any slack at the Yukon Cross-Country Ski Championships. Johnsgaard outpaced his teammate by a half second to win the open men’s division.

Johnsgaard was awarded the Gordon Taylor Memorial Trophy for having the fastest time on the 12.5-kilometre course in the championships.

An N.W.T. skier took the Gordon Taylor Trophy for the women. Fort McPherson’s Annah Hanthorn had the fastest time on the 10-kilometre course for the trophy. Hanthorn moved to Whitehorse and joined the Yukon Ski Team during the summer.

Whitehorse’s Troy Henry got faster all season and finished with 12th in the 5,000-metre to end the North American Speed Skating Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Whitehorse Rapids speedskater Heather Clarke placed ninth overall in the Junior A division after four events at the Canadian Short Track Championships in Montreal.

“I didn’t have a very good weekend,” said Clarke, who fell in the 500-metre final, the 1,000-metre final and the 3,000-metre final. “It was just not a good weekend at all.

“The 1,500 I stayed on my feet. But so many thing went wrong for me and nothing was working out.”

Yukon’s Rachel Kinvig made her last season of competitive dog sledding a good one. The 16-year-old from the Annie Lake area raced to third place in the six-dog, 6.5-miles division at the IFSS Winter World Championships in North Pole, Alaska.

Yukon’s freestyle snowboard team had its best-ever results at Snow Crown – the Canadian freestyle snowboard championships. Yukon’s Lara Bellon placed ninth in the junior women slopestyle event and Adam Waddington placed 20th in junior men. Waddington also placed 12th in his open division qualifier, just two spots from making the final.

Whitehorse’s Ryan Burlingame placed 11th overall in all three races in the open men division at the North American/Canadian Biathlon Championships in Whistler, B.C.

“It was really fun actually, it was an interesting experience,” said Burlingame. “The courses were fun, the competition was pretty tough and I’m pleased with my results.”

Whitehorse’s Josh Harlow landed a corked 900 with blunt tailgrab to win bronze in the big air competition at the Canadian Junior Freestyle Ski Championships in Penticton, B.C.

The bronze was the first medal won by the Yukon Freestyle Ski Association’s competitive team at the national level.

Yukon’s Lyndsey Boorse won gold and teammate Aiden Allen won silver in the slopestyle competition at the B.C. Freestyle Ski Championships in Vernon. Boorse’s medal was the first gold won by a female on the Yukon team and Allen’s silver was the first medal won by a male at the provincials.

The Bantam A Mustangs had a heartbreaking end to the B.C. Hockey Championships in Dawson Creek. Playing for the bronze medal, the Whitehorse minor hockey rep team dropped two one-goal leads en route to losing 5-4 to Smithers at the Tier 3 championship. The loss gave the bantams fourth place for the best finish of the four Mustangs teams playing in the provincials.

Whitehorse’s Chaos Combat Club had a productive weekend at the Tiger Balm Internationals, a huge international martial arts event in North Vancouver. Eight members of the mixed martial arts gym in Porter Creek returned with 14 medals, including six gold.

The Spectrum Security Bears captured the Kopper King Cup with a shutout win in the Yukon Broomball Association’s playoff final at the Takhini Broomball Arena. The Bears, who placed first in the regular season, won the Cup with a 4-0 win over Capital Towing.

Yukon teams prevailed in the youngest and oldest divisions at the 36th annual Yukon Native Hockey Tournament in Whitehorse. The Whitehorse Wolverines captured the youth title and the Kaska Warriors from Watson Lake were tops in the oldtimer division.

April

The Green Beasts beat the Red Dragons 5-4 in a shootout in the final of the Whitehorse Women’s Hockey Association league. Of the six shooters, only Beasts centre Laura Grieve found the back of the net in the shootout for the game-winner. She also tied the game 4-4 with 1:37 left in regulation.

The Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club won 16 race medals, not counting aggregate hardware, and placed fourth out of 67 clubs at the 2013 Haywood Ski Nationals.

Whitehorse had five skiers reach the podium in aggregate divisions. Kendra Murray took first in the Year of Birth aggregate division and was sixth for junior women. Caelan McLean claimed second in Year of Birth aggregate and in juvenile boys aggregate. Graham Nishikawa placed second in the senior men’s aggregate division with fellow Yukoner David Greer not far behind in fourth. Knute Johnsgaard, in his first year competing in senior men, was seventh overall and first in Year of Birth aggregate results. Dahria Beatty, a member of the junior national team, came in fourth for junior women and second in Year of Birth.

Eighteen skaters combined to set a total of 33 personal best times at the Yukon Speed Skating Championships to end the season. Jacob McPherson and Tristan Muir, and brothers Caius and Lucas Taggart-Cox from Marsh Lake set personal best times in all four of their races.

Whitehorse’s Christ the King won the Team Champion aggregate division for the first time, capturing 41 medals, at the YSAA Elementary Wrestling Championship. Ross River School regained the title of Best Performing Team at the championship.

Mount Sima wrapped another season with its annual season-ending celebration, Simapalooza, that included a pair of championships.

Marie-Helene Blanchet won open female and Adam Waddington open male in the Yukon Snowboard Championships.

Josh Harlow took open male and Sara Burke-Forsyth open female Yukon Freestyle Ski Championships.

After trailing for most of the game, KFC launched a last-minute comeback to defeat Pilinians 75-70 in the final of the Whitehorse Fil-Can Basketball League. John Apostol led KFC with 23 points in the final.

Yukon Inn captured the Whitehorse Oldtimer Hockey League title with a 5-2 and 4-1 wins over the Firth Rangers.

Drift Geomatics siphoned an unexpected win from Takhini Gas to close out the basketball season. The Drift team downed top-seeded Takhini Gas 53-17 in the Whitehorse Women’s Basketball League final.

Whitehorse’s Darryl Tait won half of his races and was named King of the Hill at the 2013 Mount Sima Uphill Challenge.

Mustafa Syed and Kai Knorr grabbed just one win between them at the 2013 Canadian Junior Squash Championships in Richmond, B.C. Syed defeated Vancouver’s Adam Wong in three games in the first round of the U17 boys division.

Yukoners were outnumbered by Alaskans at the Yukon Gymnastics Championships with 19 competitors from Juneau. However, Whitehorse gymnasts won five out of six divisions and collected 11 medals to Juneau’s seven. Yukon winners include Bianca Berko-Malvasio (Level 1A), Jasmine Bergeron (Level 2A), Anisa Albisser (Level 3) and Fayne O’Donovan (Level 4).

Watson Lake’s Jason Carlson captured his fourth consecutive open men’s singles title at the championship at the 2013 Yukon Badminton Championships.

“It just keeps getting harder and harder every year,” he said.

Carlson was the only triple-gold winner at the championships, winning the open men’s doubles with Vancouver’s Jerry Lum and the mixed doubles with fellow Watson Laker Abbie Rotondi. Whitehorse’s Shermaine Chua won two gold and a silver including the women’s singles title.

Whitehorse’s Kevin Murphy captured his 19th men’s singles title and Edna Knight her 12th women’s singles title at the Yukon Table Tennis Championships. The two members of Yukon table tennis royalty also won doubles titles at the tournament that marked the 40th anniversary of the first recorded territorial championships.

Glacier Bears Thomas Bakica and Matthew Blakesley both set club records at the 2013 Yukon Championships Invitational Meet.

May

The Yukon Judo Championships had its largest turnout to date with 67 judokas competing – 21 more than last year and 28 more than in 2011. In addition to four Yukon clubs represented, the championships welcomed 15 Alaskans from the Juneau’s Capital City Judo Club and Anchorage’s Mountain View Judo. A couple weeks later Yukon judokas captured 10 medals, including five gold, at the 54th annual Alaska State Judo Championships in Anchorage.

Whitehorse’s Chaos Combat Club got a pair of victories in the gym’s first mixed martial arts (MMA) fights. Whitehorse fighters Jesse Fairburn and Owen Holmes both took first-round wins at Total Mayhem in Vancouver.

Junior players captured the open women’s division, the men’s A division and made the final of the open men’s division at the 2013 Yukon Open squash tournament. Whitehorse’s Cameron Webber defeated Whitehorse junior Mustafa Syed to win his first open men’s singles title. Surrey, B.C.‘s Michele Garceau defended her title in the open women’s division. Whitehorse junior Kai Knorr went undefeated in the men’s A draw to win his first adult title at the Yukon Open.

In her first outdoor track meet, Whitehorse’s Jessica Frotten won five gold medals in wheelchair racing at the 2013 Dogwood Track and Field Meet at the University of Victoria.

“I am a little bit surprised actually,” said Frotten. “It was so much fun. My dad (Howard) came from Whitehorse to come cheer me on. I had a little cheering section – the loudest in the stands.”

In volleyball, Sub Zero’s U14 boys posted three consecutive wins en route to taking gold in Tier 3 of Division 2 of the Canada West Open in Abbotsford, B.C.

The Yukon Roller Girls went undefeated to win the first annual United We Roll Roller Derby Tournament in Fairbanks, Alaska. “We went into this tournament … with the intention to just have fun, just to play some bouts and enjoy our time there,” said Yukon president Lindsay “Bonanza Babe” Agar. “And then all of a sudden we won all our seeding bouts, were second in the seeding, and then we were playing for the championship.”

The Yukon Roller Girls clinched first place with a 179-120 win over Fairbanks’ Raven Rebels in the final. The Yukon squad was the only one from Canada in the tournament, with five Alaskan teams also competing for the title.

June

After years of coming close, Yukon cyclist Zach Bell became a national champion on the road. The Watson Lake native placed first in the 2013 Canadian Road Championships in St-Georges, Que.

“Being an athlete from the Yukon and being able to win, basically, the most prestigious, professional race you can find in Canada … I think it’s pretty cool,” said Bell. “The first thing I thought was, ‘How cool is this that someone from the Yukon won this?’”

Bell also took fourth place in the time trial and eighth in the criterium at the national championship.

The Yukon Selects U11 boys team went undefeated to win gold and the Selects men’s team lost in the final of the open men’s division to take silver at the 2013 Alaska Airlines Cup in Anchorage. The U11 Selects completely dominated their division, out-scoring the competition 41-4 over six matches. All 10 players on the Yukon squad contributed goals during the tournament.

Total Soccer Consulting grabbed the U15 title through a shootout, while Adorna Landscaping captured U13 with a five-goal shutout at the Yukon Soccer 2013 Outdoor Championships. Haines Junction hosted its first championship tourney with the U11 Yukon Soccer Championships. Whitehorse’s Yukon Outfitters went undefeated en route to taking gold and the territorial title.

Whitehorse teams won six of 11 divisions at the Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay. New solo records were set by a British Columbian and an Alaskan.

Glacier Bears swimmer Thomas Bakica broke club records five times en route to winning three medals at the B.C. AA Long Course Championships in Victoria.

The three segments of the Yukon Orienteering Championships featured a good variety of terrain and Whitehorse’s Forest Pearson was the fastest on all three.

Star Whitehorse swimmers MacKenzie Downing and Alexandra Gabor announced their retirements a week apart from each other.

July

Whitehorse’s Max Melvin-McNutt won his third straight advanced division at the Canada Day Skate Comp, the Yukon skateboarding championship.

Whitehorse’s Preston Blackie won the expert men’s division of the Tour de Whitehorse. Whitehorse’s Trena Irving regained the women’s tour title, cycling alone in the sport women’s division.

Four of the seven athletes representing Canada at the Junior World Orienteering Championships in the Czech Republic were Yukoners with Kendra Murray, Jennifer MacKeigan and Pia Blake and Trevor Bray competing. Murray produced her team’s strongest results in every individual race.

Speedy sisters Cassis and Rennes Lindsay captured three medals and broke club records 10 times at the 2013 Swim B.C. AAA Long Course Championships in Vancouver.

Whitehorse’s Phil Mullin won his sixth men’s title and third in a row at the 2013 Yukon Golf Championships. Nicole Baldwin won the women’s title and James McGrath claimed his first junior title.

Yukon amassed 20 medals, a record for the territory, at the 2013 Special Olympics British Columbia Summer Games. That’s almost three times as many as the seven won by Yukon at the previous B.C. Games in 2009.

Whitehorse’s Jessica Frotten won two gold medals at the 2013 Canada Summer Games Western Challenge in Calgary.

August

The Canada Summer Games in Sherbrooke, Que., presented a lot of ups and downs and a couple historic firsts for Team Yukon in August.

Whitehorse’s Jessica Frotten, who was racing for Team Saskatchewan, won three bronze medals in para-wheelchair racing.

“I didn’t expect this at all,” said Frotten. “I’m pretty blown away that I came in third – that’s third in Canada. That’s pretty big.

“The sky’s the limit now. I’m going to get right back into training.”

The Yukon men’s volleyball team twice defeated Prince Edward Island, which was the first time a Yukon team produced two wins over a province at the Games in volleyball. The Yukon women’s team went winless.

Whitehorse’s Logan Roots became the first Yukoner to make a final in athletics at the Games. Roots placed 11th overall out of 22 runners in the A final of the 1,500-metre event. Also in athletics, Kieran Halliday became the first Yukoner to race the 3,000-metre steeplechase, placing 12th.

Team Yukon’s Jason Zrum and Andrew Crist became the first two paddlers from any of Canada’s three territories to compete in flatwater racing in Canada Games history.

Yukon’s Spencer Skerget, Massey Baker and Andrew Savard rode to a sixth-place finish out of 11 teams in the mountain bike relay race. Skerget also placed 15th in the eliminator event and teammate Veronica Huggard finished 13th in the women’s cross-country race.

Yukon road cyclist Melanie Tait twice finished in the top-20 at the Games.

The Yukon men’s soccer team defeated the Northwest Territories 2-0 to avoid last place at the Games. Yukon’s women’s team failed to pick up a win in Sherbrooke.

Whitehorse’s Pelly Vincent-Braun paddled to eight medals, including two gold, at the Canadian National Whitewater Championships in Alberta. He was the first Yukoner to compete in the downriver and slalom events at the championships.

Whitehorse’s Erin Light worked her way to 27th for women at the CrossFit Games – the world championships – in Carson, California.

“I feel incredibly proud of that result,” said Light. “I came into that competition being (ranked) 42nd and I moved up to 27th.”

Whitehorse handgun shooter John Simmons placed 17th in the open division at the IPSC Canadian Nationals. He went on to place seventh at the IPSC B.C. Provincial Championships the next month.

Whitehorse’s David Gonda and Tamara Goeppel were king and queen again following the King of the Canyon – Yukon’s mountain bike championship – at the end of the month. It was Gonda’s third time winning the men’s title and Goeppel’s fourth time winning the women’s title.

Whitehorse’s Jan Polivka won his fifth straight men’s singles title at the 2013 Yukon Tennis Championships. Polivka also captured the mixed doubles title with partner Anne Copland. Whitehorse’s Nicola Pritchett took the women’s singles title. Pritchett, and partner Fleur Marsella, went undefeated in the women’s doubles round-robin to capture that title as well.

September

Just two months after winning the national title in road racing, Watson Lake’s Zach Bell returned to the velodrome to win gold in the omnium at the 2013 Canadian Track Championships in Dieppe, N.B.,

“It was challenging for sure,” said Bell. “My form wasn’t actually too bad considering I haven’t really been on the track since the (London) Olympics.”

Team Canada, which included Whitehorse’s Aidan Love, reached the quarterfinals at the Men’s U23 World Wheelchair Basketball Championships in Adana, Turkey.

Whitehorse’s Scarecrow men’s team captured its fourth-consecutive open division win at the 31st annual Klondike Trail of ‘98 International Road Relay. Seven Whitehorse teams won a division in the 176.5-kilometre race from Skagway, Alaska, to Whitehorse. Whitehorse’s Ladies Worth Freezin’ For won the women’s division.

Logan Boehmer and Sue Bogle captured titles at the Yukon Cross-Country Running Championships.

October

The Peewee A Mustangs rallied from an opening loss to win four straight and claim gold at the 11th annual International Seafair Icebreaker Rep Tournament in Richmond. The Mustangs took gold with a 7-4 win over the South Delta Storm from Delta, B.C., in the Tier 2 tournament. Mustangs forward Dylan Cozens scored 21 of his team’s 30 goals.

Yukon’s Denise McHale was the fastest masters women runner at the 34th annual Victoria Marathon on Vancouver Island. McHale placed first for women 40-44 and was the third female overall in the marathon with a time of 2:56:39.

“I was happy,” said McHale. “I hadn’t done a road marathon since 2006 and that was a personal best for me.”

Yukon’s top male in the marathon was Whitehorse’s Joel Macht in 106th overall out of 1,726 runners and 19th for men 35-39. Whitehorse’s Logan Roots finished 12th overall and was third for men 20-24 in the half-distance division.

Yukon Strikers U12 rep soccer team was split in two to compete in U12 and U11 at the 27th annual North Shore Girls Soccer Club Thanksgiving Tournament.

The U11 half of the Strikers went undefeated to take gold and the U12 reached the final for silver in their respective age divisions.

The same weekend, Yukon’s Junior Selects boys soccer team went 3-1 in a four-match round robin, to capture silver in U12 boys at the second annual Mini Gobbler Soccer Fest in Burnaby, B.C.

Three Yukoners won hardware in every race at the Canadian Orienteering Championships in Hamilton, Ont., Juniors Kendra Murray, Trevor Bray and senior Nesta Leduc won medals in all three distances.

The Bantam A Mustangs went undefeated at the Revelstoke Bantam Rep Tournament in B.C. The Whitehorse rep team outscored the competition 37-9 in five games on their first road trip of the season.

Logan Roots placed 16th at the British Columbia Cross Country Championships in the open division (men 20-34) in Abbotsford.

“I didn’t really have any goals going into it,” he said. “I just wanted to run hard and see how I placed. I was happy with how it turned out.”

Whitehorse’s Kieran Halliday ran to 19th out of 242 runners in the senior boys division at the B.C. High School Cross Country Championships in Aldergrove.

November

Whitehorse’s Jackie Harrison finished her university soccer career with a Canada West bronze medal with her University of Victoria Vikes women’s team. Harrison logged a goal in what was her final match as a university player.

After three losses to the Mat-Su Eagles from Wasilla, Alaska., the Whitehorse Atom Mustangs squeaked out a 3-2 nail-biter win over the Alaskans in the final of the Whitehorse International Atom Hockey Tournament. Huss Breithaup scored the game-winner.

Arctic Edge skater Rachel Pettitt placed 12th in her short program and third in her long for sixth overall in novice women at the Skate Canada’s BC/YT Sectional Championships.

Whitehorse’s Thomas Scoffin and his University of Alberta Golden Bears made the final of the Original 16 World Curling Tour Bonspiel in Calgary.

“We’re definitely feeling pretty confident right now, especially going 7-0 into the final,” said Scoffin. “It shows a lot of good signs leading up to our goals here in the next couple of months.

“We’re happy with that performance for sure.”

Whitehorse’s Jeff Wiggins shot his way to his second top-30 finish in three years at the 2013 Canadian PGA Club Professional National Championship. The Mountain View club pro hit four over in three rounds to place 27th out of 85 pros at the championship in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

He qualified for the nationals with a third-place finish at the 2013 PGA of B.C. Club Pro Championship in September.

The Atom Jr. Mustangs got a lot of practice killing off penalties at the Adam Myers Memorial Tournament in Leduc, Alta. They struggled to stay out of the box, accruing more penalties than any other team, but still managed to take the bronze.

For the first time in the school’s history, the Hidden Valley Elementary School Huskies won gold in both the Grade 7 boys and girls divisions at the Yukon Elementary Volleyball Championships. Not only did both Hidden Valley teams go undefeated at the championships, neither team even dropped a set in any match.

The Vanier Crusaders senior boys team toppled the previously undefeated F.H. Collins Warriors in the final of the Pepsi Volleyball Yukon Championships.

Vanier defeated the Warriors, who won the Dawson Invitational and the Super Volley league, 25-23, 25-22 in the final for the title.

Rams defeated the Crusaders 26-24, 25-21 in the senior girls final.

The Crusaders took a 25-18, 25-23 win over the Porter Creek Rams junior girls final. Vanier also won in junior boys, defeating the Warriors 25-18, 25-21 in the final to take gold.

Two rinks representing the Whitehorse Curling Club made historic runs at the Dominion Curling Club Championships in Thunder Bay, Ont. Pat Paslawski’s men’s team and Nicole Baldwin’s women’s team both reached the playoffs, losing to Saskatchewan in the semifinals.

Whitehorse’s female rep hockey team gave goalies a good workout at the Wickenheiser Female World Hockey Festival in Calgary, Alta. The Great Canadian Dollar Store Female Mustangs outshot opposing teams 150-38 in their first three games. The Mustangs opened with three straight wins before ending with two losses to Alberta’s Stettler Storm, taking second place in the tournament’s Tier 3 midget division.

Whitehorse’s Roan Evans-Ehricht dominated in the ring to win gold in the 81-kilogram weight class at the Alberta Bronze Gloves in Stony Plain. He won two fights in just a total of four rounds for the gold.

“I’ve been training for three and a half years for this opportunity and that moment,” said Evans-Ehricht. “I went out and I just could not see myself losing. I prepared so much for it, tried as hard as I could and ended up winning just like I thought.”

December

The Peewee B Mustangs twice fought back from losing situations en route to a silver at the Wetaskiwin Peewee Challenge, a Tier 4 tournament.

“I’m very happy with the trip,” said head coach Ryan Hennings. “These boys only played three games as a group prior to going to this tournament and we were playing teams from Alberta that play two games a week and have practices.”

Whitehorse’s Lindsay Carson fought rain, mud and chilly temperatures to take fourth place in the senior women’s division at the Canadian National Cross Country Championship in Vancouver. Logan Roots ran to 46th in the senior men’s division.

Junior Dahria Beatty sprinted to gold and siblings Graham and Emily Nishikawa each collected a bronze at the first Haywood NorAm event of the ski season in Vernon, B.C.. This past weekend in a NorAm in Rossland, B.C. Emily won her first NorAm gold of the season in the senior women’s 1.4-kilometre free sprint on Saturday. She then won silver, and was the top Canadian, in the open women’s 10-kilometre classic on Sunday. Beatty also won silver in the junior women’s sprint on Saturday and bronze in junior women for the 10-kilometre classic Sunday, finishing 12th overall in open. Graham Nishikawa won his second and third NorAm bronzes of the season in Rossland.

Whitehorse speedskater Troy Henry is getting a shot at Sochi. The 24-year-old long-track skater qualified for the Team Canada’s Olympic trials, Speed Skating Canada announced last week.

“I was pretty happy about it,” said Henry. “Most of it was from a competition I had in October – the World Cup trials that I skated pretty well at. I got seventh there and that gave me a lot of points towards getting to the Olympic trials.”

Henry will vie for a spot on Canada’s Olympic team bound for the Sochi Games in two distances. He will race in the 5,000-metre trials Dec. 28 and the 10,000-metre on Jan. 3 at the Calgary Olympic Oval, where he trains in the Calgary Oval Program.

In curling, Team Baldwin and Team Koltun were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 going into January’s Yukon/N.W.T. playdowns after the Yukon Women’s Curling Championship on the weekend.

“I’m really pleased with the way we were curling and I’m glad we’ll have two great representatives for the Yukon in the territorial (playdowns) this year,” said skip Nicole Baldwin.

Contact Tom Patrick at

tomp@yukon-news.com