On the mountain and on the mat.
Those venues proved to be the strengths of Comox Valley competitors at the 2012 BC Winter Games, which ran Jan. 23-26 in Vernon.
On the mountain, Stewart Walker of Courtenay won gold in freestyle skiing in juvenile moguls male. On the mat, karate competitors collected a variety of medals as part of the Zone 6 (Vancouver Island-Central Coast) team.
Hitting the middle step of the podium with gold medals was the Zone 6 team kata female squad which included athletes Danielle Robertson and Ashlee Labbe along with head coach Todd Robertson and assistant coach Pam Ross.
Those two coaches also helped guide the Zone 6 team kata male entry to a silver medal, with local athletes Ryan Longacre and Adam Meyer joining them on the podium. Meyer was also a member of the silver-medal winning Zone 6 team kumite male squad. The Zone 6 team with athletes Robertson and Labbe won bronze in team kumite female.
Zone 6 finished fourth in medals at the eight-zone event, amassing 13 gold, 20 silver and 19 bronze for a total of 52. Zone 5 (Vancouver-Squamish) with 81 medals edged Zone 2 (Thompson-Okanagan) with 80 medals for top spot while Zone 3 (Fraser Valley) was third with 72.
Over 1,100 athletes participated in 15 sports at venues throughout Vernon. With an average athlete age of just over 13 years, the BC Games are an important step for athletes towards provincial and national team programs. Joining the 1,149 athletes were 231 coaches and 160 technical officials.
Individual results for Comox Valley athletes as listed on the BC Games website are:
Courtenay
Kylie Adebard 14th in cross-country skiing individual sprint juvenile girls 400m and 14th in cross-country skiing individual start juvenile girls 5km.
Calvin Cotton 44th in ski-cross, 39th giant slalom, 32nd slalom.
Taylor Nixon Smith 38th in ski-cross, 37th giant slalom, 34th slalom.
Stewart Walker 1st (gold) freestyle skiing juvenile moguls male, 7th freestyle skiing juvenile combined male, 9th freestyle skiing juvenile dual moguls male, 11th freestyle skiing juvenile big air male.
Comox
Oliver Barry 5th in cross-country skiing individual sprint midget boys 400m, 14th cross-country skiing individual start midget boys 3.5km.
Morgan Meckert 5th cross-country skiing individual sprint midget girls 400m, 12th cross-country skiing individual start midget girls 3.5km.
Sally Brown 16th cross-country skiing individual sprint midget girls 400m, 14th cross-country skiing individual start midget girls 3.5km.
Michel Benisky 6th freestyle skiing juvenile moguls male, 6th freestyle skiing juvenile dual moguls male, 9th freestyle skiing juvenile combined male, 10th freestyle skiing juvenile big air male.
Complete results are at www.bcgames.org.
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