TEAM ALBERTA DIVING AND ATHLETICS CONTRIBUTE TO MEDAL TALLY
Team Alberta – All but one Alberta teams advance to quarter-finals and semi-finals
(Winnipeg, MB) Team Alberta secured two medals on the fourth day of competition at the 2017 Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg with diving and athletics adding to Alberta’s medal tally. Alberta currently sits in fourth place in the medal standings with five medals (1-2-2).
The Alberta divers made another splash on Tuesday at the Pan-Am Pool, winning a silver medal in the women’s 3m springboard event, courtesy of Ashley McCool of Cochrane, AB. McCool earned her second medal of these Games, after winning the gold medal on Monday.
“I’m pretty excited about how my performance has been. I missed a couple of dives in the finals, but I can’t complain. I put up a solid list and got second place, which isn’t bad. I love the girls I am competing with. Whoever comes first, second or third, I do love them all,” said McCool after the competition, who has one more event on the calendar this week – the 1m springboard event.
Added McCool: “All four of us here work really hard. There are some other girls in Alberta that work just as hard. Just to be here is a great accomplishment.”
McCool, Margo Erlam (Calgary, AB), Brooklyn White (Edmonton) and Marti Erlam (Calgary, AB) all competed in the preliminary round of the event. All four of Alberta divers would have qualified for the finals. However, Canada Games regulations stipulate that only three divers per province can compete in the finals.
Along with the silver medal, teammates Margo Erlam took fourth place while Whyte finished 11th.
In men’s 1m springboard diving, Carlo Lopez (Edmonton, AB) and Yohan Eskrick-Parkinson (Calgary, AB) qualified for the finals and finished eighth and ninth respectively. Tazman Abramowicz (Calgary, AB) did not advance to the finals placing 16th of the preliminary round.
Athletics continued with a flurry of activities at the University of Manitoba Stadium. Last night, Sarah Mickey (Redcliff, AB) added to Alberta’s medal tally earning silver in the women’s para discuss throw with a distance of 16.40m.
Andreas Troschke (Olds, AB) secured a bronze medal for Alberta in the men’s hammer throw. Troschke, 18, was excited to represent the province, and add a medal to Alberta’s tally.
Troschke placed third in his first of six throws and remained seeded third in the fifth round when teammate Ben Ivanglsdon (Lethbridge, AB) surpassed him to take the provisional third place with one throw left. On his last throw, Troschke threw the hammer at a distance of 50.69m, to secure the bronze.
“I was pretty close to the silver medal, but I am still pretty happy with the bronze. A medal is a medal and to top it off it’s at the Canada Games,” said Troschke. “I worked with Matt Bain [Team Alberta sports psychologist] leading up to the Games at the preparation meet we had here in Winnipeg before the games. He pointed out some things to me on how I approach events, and how I deal with unneeded stress on myself. It helped me quite a bit today as it took me a little while calm down.”
In baseball, Alberta defeated their opponents from Quebec 9-5, ending their pool play in first place of the “SuperPool” with a 5-1 record. With the top place, Alberta secures a spot in the semi-finals and will face the top team from Pool B on Thursday at 4:00pm, facing Manitoba.
The women’s soccer squad played their quarterfinal match this evening against the home team from Manitoba. The Alberta ladies came away with a hard fought 2-0 victory, thanks to goals from Lauren Dluzeski (Edmonton, AB) and Tanya Boychuk (Edmonton, AB).Boychuk scored goals in all three games of the round robin. Alberta advances to the semifinals round, tomorrow evening against the winner of the Ontario/Saskatchewan quarter-finals matchup.
On the basketball court, Alberta’s men team defeated the home team from Manitoba 87-66 in their quarterfinals. Team Manitoba took an early lead in the first quarter, but Alberta bounced back in the second quarter and never looked back, gliding away with the victory. Pelumi Ajayi (Calgary, AB) led the team with 22 points. Alberta will face off against Team British Colombia in their semi-finals tomorrow at 7:45 pm.
The women’s basketball team faced off against Saskatchewan this morning in quarterfinal action and took a nail-biting 69-66 win against their opponents. Brynn Masikewich (Calgary, AB) scored a team-leading 19 points in the victory. Alberta will face either Quebec or Nova Scotia in semifinals action.
The men’s beach volleyball dropped their last match of round robin against Nova Scotia. Team AB, BC, and NS all shared the same 3-1 record and Alberta finished in first place in the standings. The beach boys will avoid the quarter-finals with straight birth to the semi-finals when they face the winner of the BC-Manitoba dual.
In women’s beach action, the Alberta duo finished its tournament with a perfect 3-0 record, defeating Saskatchewan in two straight sets (21-08, 21-09) and will jump straight to the semi-finals on Thursday. They will face the winner of the quarter-finals featuring BC and Manitoba.
The Alberta men’s softball team took a 12-4 win against Manitoba in morning play and suffered a 10-1 loss in the evening match to Ontario. Alberta has one remaining game before entering the placing matches at the tournament, a dual against New Brunswick tomorrow morning.
In mountain bike, the Cross-country team relay was featured at Bison Butte Mountain Bike Park. Team Alberta only fielded a team in the men’s race, finishing fourth behind BC taking first, Quebec and Ontario.
Up at Gimli for the sailing competition on Lake Winnipeg, standings have stabilized after three days of competition. Facing extremely difficult conditions with strong winds up large waves, many boats on the race capsized. Alberta’s Connor Weicht sits in fifth place in the single-handed Laser class. Wendy Frazier is sitting sixth in the mixed para-sailing. Rachel Kortbeek is seventh of the single-handed Laser Radial class. Alberta is seventh in the double-handed 29er women’s boat and 8th of the men’s boat in the same class.
The 2017 Canada Games in Winnipeg continue tomorrow.
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