Following nine days of competition in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, the 2019 Western Canada Summer Games ended Aug. 18 with Team Manitoba placing third overall with 171 medals.
Northern athletes contributed six of these medals in wrestling, canoeing and track and field.
Thompson resident Sheldin Howard was the most decorated athlete for the north, winning a silver medal in shot put and a bronze medal in discus. He achieved new personal bests of 12.20 metres in shot put and 38.61 metres in discus.
This competition capped an impressive year for the recent R.D. Parker Collegiate graduate, who also won a gold and silver medal in discus and shot put, respectively, at the most recent high school track provincials.
Howard’s next big track event is the 2021 Canada Summer Games, which is taking place in Ontario’s Niagara Region.
Cross Lake wrestlers Heidi Halcrow, Kassia Ross and Michelle Omand also finished strong Aug. 17-18 by picking up medals in both individual and team competition.
All three athletes helped Team Manitoba’s wrestling squad achieve a 3-2 win-loss record, good for third overall in the team event.
Omand and Halcrow also captured bronze medals in their respective weight classes, while Ross just missed the podium in the 61-kilogram category with a fourth-place finish.
The Manitoba Amateur Wrestling Association said Team Manitoba had its best result in many years in this competition, with six gold, four silver and six bronze.
St. Theresa Point paddler Mario Flett rounded out the north’s medal count by helping Team Manitoba’s 500-metre mixed war canoe team place third Aug. 13.
Team Alberta claimed first place overall in this year’s Western Canada Summer Games with 299 medals, while Team Saskatchewan had 213.
Team Manitoba had more than 300 youth athletes aged 13-20 face off against competitors from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest Territories in 19 different sports over the nine days of the games.
