Kamloops athletes showing well on Day 1 of B.C. Summer Games

Jul 20, 2018 | 4:45 PM

KAMLOOPS — At least two Kamloops-trained athletes finished atop the podium on Day 1 of the B.C. Summer Games in Cowichan. 

In track and field, Jaden Knight, who’s from 100 Mile House but trains in Kamloops with Dylan Armstrong, finished third in the men’s javelin with a best throw of 36.42 metres on his second attempt of the competition. Issa Diaou earned bronze in the final of the men’s pole vault, recording at 2.90 metre jump to finish third.

Kamloops athlete Lucas Heer was also in the pole vault competition and finished seventh with a best jump of 2.25 metres. Heer was also in the 300-metre hurdles but failed to make it to the final with a time of 54.35 seconds. Michelle Ritter from Kamloops is competing in the pentathlon on Saturday.

On the links, 16-year-old Adam Niles out of Rivershore, competing in the boys’ tournament at the Cowichan Golf and Country Club, finished his first round with a five-over 75, but that is good enough for fourth place going into the second round on Saturday. He’s seven shots back of the leader John Kahlert from Meadow Gardens in Pitt Meadows who was the only player under par with a two-under 68. On the girls’ side, Kate Hancock from the Kamloops Golf and Country Club shot a plus-51 in round one.

On the diamond, the Zone 2 team needed only three runs to defeat Vancouver Island 3-2 in their opening game. The team features seven players from Kamloops. They are playing Cariboo-North East on Friday evening. 

The girls’ Zone 2 rugby team, featuring four athletes and three coaches from Kamloops, got a wake-up call in their opener on Friday morning, dropping a 32-5 decision to Zone 4 Fraser River. They bounced back to win 25-10 in the afternoon against Cariboo-North East. The girls will play Vancouver-Coastal on Saturday to wrap up the round robin. 

Kamloops is well-represented in lacrosse, both box and field lacrosse, with 20 athletes and coaches down in Cowichan. The Zone 2 field lacrosse team won its opened pretty convincingly, 9-2 over Vancouver-Coastal. The box lacrosse team hammered the Kootenays 13-2.  

Not all the results were available during the first day on Friday. For the rest of the scores and results from Friday and throughout the weekend, you can visit the B.C. Games website.