Disponible en anglais seulement

Kamloops - BC has its first triple Gold medallist at the Games in wheelchair athletics rising star Tristan Smyth (Maple Ridge). Smyth won Gold in the 1500m wheelchair race today, giving him a sweep of Gold medals in all the events he was entered in at the WCSG including the previously won Gold in the 200m and 400m races.

"This sport is still pretty new to me," said Smyth who was injured in January, went through rehabilitation at G.F. Strong and started training iin athletics in March. "I'd like to see how far I can go though. These Games have been a very positive experience for me."

Another athlete who has the potential for three Gold medals is triathlete Hilary Wille (Victoria) who won Gold in the individual event earlir in the Games and anchored her team to a Gold medal today in the team relay. The team of Maya Munzar (Cobble Hill), Megan Kinghorn (Victoria) and Wille led from start to finish as Kinghorn was first out of the water and Munzar stretched the lead and then tagged off to Wille who gained another minute in the water. Team BC won in 1:46.50 followed by Alberta in 1:53.35 and Saskatchewan in 1:55.16.

"I knew the girls had the ability to win today," said coach and former Olympian Carolyn Murray (Victoria). "The goal was to win by a gap and go hard from start to finish. I am really proud of them. These girls work really hard...they definitely put in the training time to win this event."

"I love this discipline" said Wille about the team relay. "As soon as you start to get tired you get to switch to a different discipline and use different muscles."

"It makes it more exciting for sure," echoed Munzar. "It's just an all out sprint."

For more on Wille see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCPNj4EjIG4

BC's men also took the top of the podium in the triathlon sprint with Lehm Maguire (Victoria) also winning his second Gold medal with teammates Jordan Kinghorn (Victoria) and Connor Foreman (Victoria).

"The second leg was the key to the boys' win today," continued Montgomery. "Jordan came in 12th in the individual race so we didn't expect him to stay up with Manitoba. But he was neck and neck with him until the pass off to Lehm."

BC also got its first sweep of the Games in the 800m (athletics). John Pratt (Victoria) crossed the finish line in 1.52.83 to take the Gold medal, just edging out Sean Keane (White Rock) who had been leading for most of the race. Bronze was also claimed by Team BC as Thomas Riva (Victoria) completed the BC sweep.

Unofficial Canoe/Kakak results has David Nykl (Victoria) winning a Bronze in the men's K1 500m; Rebecca Alley (Burnaby) winning the Silver medal in the K1 500m final; Nykl and Nicholas Foellmer (West Vancouver) winning the Bronze medal in the K2 500m; Zachary Morgan (Kamloops) and Keiffer Johnson (Kamloops) won Bronze in the C2 500m; Alley and Tessa Nagai (Maple Ridge) won Silver in the K2 500m; Silver for Brook Mclean (Kamloops) and Elizabeth Kraft (Nanaimo) in the C2 500; Silver for Johnson in the C1 1000m final; Gold for Alley in the K1 1000m; Johnson and Morgan in the C2 1000m final; Silver for Alley and Nagai in the K2 1000m; Silver for McLean and Kraft in the C2 1000m; Silver for Sebastien Foellmer (West Vancouver) and Del Muench (Langley) in the K2 200m; Johnson and Morgan won a Silver medal in the C2 200m and Nagai and Olivia Cavasinni (Maple Ridge) won a Silver medal in the K2 200m.

Both men's and women's beach volleyball will be going for Gold tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. after the women defeated Alberta 21-16 21-16 and the men defeated Alberta 21-14 21-17. The women will play Manitoba for top spot on the podium while the men will compete against Alberta again.
For complete results visit http://www.teambc.org

Team BC has sent 345 athletes aged 12 to 22 and 72 coaches to the 2011 Western Canada Summer Games. BC has won the Western Canada Summer Games Cup every year since the Games’ inception in 1975.

The 2011 Western Canada Summer Games take place Aug. 5-14 in Kamloops and will bring together approximately 2,300 athletes competing in 19 sports, along with coaches, managers and officials from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavut, Northwest Territories and the Yukon Territory.

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For more information contact :

Judy Joseph-Black, Team BC Communications Manager at 250-217-4518
Jan Mansfield, Team BC Communications Coordinator at 250-320-6406

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