N.S. Takes Two Medals in First Week of Canada Games
A gold, a silver, and a number of top-five finishes marked the first full week of competition for Team Nova Scotia at the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse, Yukon.
"I'm particularly proud of our medalists, but our entire team performed well this week," said chef de mission, Susan Beazley. "We had several fourth- and fifth-place finishes, and some personal bests. Finishes like these are very important to the development of our athletes."
Half-pipe snowboarder Alexandra Duckworth of Kingsburg, Lunenburg Co., won gold, while Matthew Vaughan of Halifax took silver in the under 60 kilogram judo event.
Four other judoka came close to medals. Colby MacNeil of Port Hawkesbury placed fifth in the under 73 kilogram class. Chrystal Penny of Sydney also placed fifth in the under 52 kilogram event. Bryan Campbell of New Glasgow placed fifth in the under 90 kilogram event, as did Scott MacAdam of East Bay in the over 100 kilogram class.
In archery, Nicole Theriault, 14, of Meteghan River, set a national record in the compound individual event for her age category.
In the women's air pistol team event, Sarah Ackermann of Sherbrooke and Tiffany Blaauwendraat of Truro placed fifth, while the men's air pistol team, Joey Selig of Halifax and Richard Macaulay of Dartmouth, placed fourth.
Nova Scotia's freestyle skiers, Stefan Strecko of Boutiliers Point and Foster Verge of Dartmouth posted a personal best in their race against the top ranked pair in Canada.
The men's hockey team finished eighth after a 6-3 loss to New Brunswick on the last day of the Games. Rounding out the Games, the women's curling team finished fifth after winning a placing match against New Brunswick 10-0.
The second week of the Games begins Sunday, March 4. Week two sports include:
- artistic gymnastics
- boxing
- men's curling
- fencing
- figure skating
- women's hockey
- alpine skiing
- cross country skiing
- squash
- table tennis
- National Artists Program
For complete results and daily team newsletters, visit the team's website at ns.canadagames.ca.
Team Nova Scotia 2007 has 290 members -- 213 athletes, 36 coaches, 23 managers, three artists and 15 mission staff.
The Canada Games is the country's largest amateur multi-sport event. More than 3,600 athletes, coaches and managers are gathering in Whitehorse to compete for 1,122 medals in 22 sports from Feb. 23 to March 10.