Aug 22, 2005 StarPhoenix articles

Sask. sets new standard
Provincial team wins 67 medals at 2005 Canada Summer Games

Ian Hamilton, Saskatchewan News Network

August 22, 2005 REGINA -- Ross Lynd didn't have time Saturday to celebrate Saskatchewan's best-ever showing at a Canada Summer Games.

Or perhaps he was smiling ear-to-ear while cleaning out dorm rooms.

"Looking at the one I just walked into, I think I'll be carrying out two garbage bags," a chuckling Lynd said via cell phone from the Athletes' Village at the University of Regina.

Lynd -- the chef de mission of Saskatchewan's Games team -- was ecstatic with his charges' performance at the event, which ended Saturday. Saskatchewan athletes won 67 medals, easily surpassing the team's previous high of 52 which was set in the 2001 Games in London, Ont.

"The team came through with flying colours," Lynd said. "When the team was introduced July 26, we challenged them to be the best they could be and do it with pride -- pride in themselves and pride in their province. They did both.

"It was a great show."

Saskatchewan won 20 medals in canoe/kayak, 18 in athletics, 17 in wrestling, eight in rowing, two in swimming and one each in basketball and cycling.

Lynd said he knew Team Sask had a shot at breaking its previous record in medals because women's wrestling wasn't on the schedule in London. Saskatchewan's women earned nine medals on the mat, meaning the host team still would have set a new medals standard.

Regina resident Cory Rublee won the most gold for the province, finishing first in all five of his canoe races. Corman Park's Stacey Nahachewsky took home a team-high six medals, with two gold, one silver and three bronze.

Athletes in the second half provided 43 medals. Among those who had a team-high three medals in Week 2 were Regina rowers Dawn Jorgensen and Steffa MacLintock, each of whom won three bronze.

Saskatchewan won just three team medals -- a gold in men's wrestling, a silver in women's wrestling and a bronze in men's basketball -- during the two-week competition, but Lynd wasn't despondent about that.

"The results were very encouraging," he said. "The team sports that didn't medal were right in there. Our teams stepped up to the plate."

After Week 1 of the Games, Lynd said he wasn't disappointed with any aspect of his team's performance. He repeated that sentiment after Week 2.

"The only thing is, I feel some of the athletes' pain," Lynd said. "They worked so hard. Like it or not, medals are still in most cases the end of the rainbow -- and we had a lot of fourth-place finishes.

"They were coming so close and I could see the emotion of not getting a medal on their faces. I felt that, too."

That said, he also felt excitement for the athletes who succeeded -- and also for what that could mean to the province in the future.

Whatever profits are generated from the Games could be earmarked for sport organizations around Saskatchewan for years to come, just as money derived from the 1989 Games in Saskatoon has been doled out since that event.

The '05 event also could have an impact in terms of future athletes. Young members of this team who are eligible for the '09 Games in Prince Edward Island could have some teammates who saw these Games in Regina.

"I saw a lot of young kids volunteering and you could just see the excitement in their eyes," Lynd said. "I think (the Games) probably captured a new wave of athletes. The sports will grow in that age group.

"The majority of (the young volunteers) were from Regina, but I'm sure parents everywhere in the province will support their kids' activities so that the legacy will continue."

Banner Performance

Rob Vanstone, Regina Leader-Post

PHOTO CREDIT: Don Healy, Regina Leader-Post: Wrestling gold medallist Mitch Bodnarchuk of Saskatoon carried Saskatchewan's flag in the closing ceremonies

REGINA -- Bob Ellard has yet to receive a gold medal despite celebrating a couple of firsts.

Ellard was the president of Regina's first-ever Grey Cup committee, which organized a landmark event in 1995.

Ten years later, Ellard has done it again (with ample assistance from more than 6,000 of his closest friends). The 2005 Canada Summer Games -- easily the largest event in Regina's rich sporting history -- were an unqualified success.

"When we say this has been the best Games ever, I truly mean it," Canada Games chair Larry Smith said Saturday, shortly before the conclusion of the two-week event.

Smith and Ellard go way back. In 1995, Smith was the commissioner of the CFL. He crossed paths with Ellard once again leading up to and during the 2005 multi-sport festival.

"It becomes a small world," Smith said. "Bob has been a very dedicated volunteer for a number of years in various sporting and community activities. I've been lucky enough to be a volunteer in my community, Montreal, and through the Canada Games.

"It is a small world in that you meet these people going around the circle a few times. To get to work with Bob and John Lee and Mo Bundon and the quality of people has been fantastic . . . From the organizational facilities and the actual set-up of the volunteer group, Saskatchewan is a very unique province. People should be very proud of what you've been able to accomplish."

Ellard should be especially proud, but the president of the 2005 Games' host society is quick to deflect the praise to Bundon, Lee, Diana Milenkovic, Jack Ritenburg and the army of 6,000 volunteers who played such an instrumental role in the staging of the Games.

"There were people who, because of their interest in major community events, they got involved," Ellard said. "They're the easy ones. There's no sell. They actually phone you and say, 'Hey, I hear we got the Canada Games. What can I do?' I've got a list of people who phoned me and said, 'What can I do?' "

What didn't they do?

Regina has become a haven for elite athletes of various descriptions.

The Queen City, which wasn't supposed to be able to stage a Grey Cup, has now played host to two immensely successful football festivals.

The 2001 Memorial Cup was also a first-class event. The Brandt Centre, formerly known as the Agridome, has also been the venue for several major curling events. The 2006 Brier is next on the agenda.

Regardless of the sport, the people of Regina keep coming through on a national stage.

"I've been coming to Regina since 1972, when I was a rookie (with the CFL's Montreal Alouettes), and as a volunteer in later years," said Smith, who is now the Alouettes' president. "There has been a tremendous change in the last 20 years in this city. This city had a stigma for many years of sort of being a small bastion in a province."

Look at it now.

The University of Regina's sparkling new Centre for Kinesiology, Health and Sport is a national-calibre facility.

Wascana Centre -- which was such a popular venue during the Games -- has never looked better. As an avid rower, Ellard was conspicuous at the park.

While there, he had the pleasure of watching his niece -- Saskatoon's Katy Haver -- capture three rowing medals.

That is as close as Ellard will get to a Canada Summer Games medal. But, honestly, he deserves one.

SASKATCHEWAN'S MEDALLISTS
Gold
Canoe/kayak (8) -- Cory Rublee, Regina, C1 200, C1 500, C1 1,000, C1 6,000; Sarah Wall, Saskatoon and Maria Cracogna, Saskatoon, C-2 500; Stacey Nachewsky, Corman Park and Trista Neilly, Loon Lake, K-2 6,000; Nahachewsky K-1 200; Rublee; Jacques de Jager, Regina; Nicholaas Smith, Regina and Lliam Folk, Regina, C-4 1,000m

Track and field (2) -- Brianne Theisen, Humboldt, heptathlon; Nicole McKell, Indian Head, long jump

Wrestling (5) -- Mitch Bodnarchuk, Saskatoon, 58 kg; Craig Albert, Saskatoon, 105 kg; Pamela Ewanishin, Saskatoon, 52 kg; Allysa Krahn, Saskatoon, 48 kg; Men's team: Bodnarchuk; Albert; Kirk Ackerman, Regina; Bryan Blackwell, Saskatoon; Ryan Myrfield; Saskatoon; Spencer Edwards, Saskatoon; Calvin Daum, Regina; Daniel Olver, Saskatoon; Chris Hobman, Saskatoon; Adam Kent, Saskatoon; Bradley Peters, Swift Current)

Silver
Canoe/kayak (8) -- Nicolaas Smith, Regina and Lliam Folk, Regina, C-2 500; Stacey Nahachewsky, Corman Park, K-1 500; Folk and Jacques de Jager; Regina; C-2 6,000; Folk and Jager, C-2 1,000; Trista Neilly, Loon Lake, K-1 6,000; Sarah Wall, Saskatoon, C-1 200; Wall and Maria Cracogna, Saskatoon, C-2 200; Henry Reis, Regina and Jared Berenbaum, Saskatoon, K-2 200

Cycling (1) -- Alexandra Wrubleski, Regina, criterium

Rowing (3) -- Morgan Kirzinger, Regina, single sculls; Kirzinger; Jean-Marc Lalonde, Prince Albert; Duncan Gilchrist, Saskatoon and Andrew Knorr, Saskatoon, men's quad; Steffa MacLintock, Regina; Morag Emslie, White City, women's pair

Track and field (8) -- Janine Polischuk, Regina, heptathlon; Chantel Spies, Portreeve, discus; Taylor Petrucha, Saskatoon, pole vault; Matt Scobie, Saskatoon, 1,500m; Andrea Vinet, Saskatoon, 100m hurdles; Megan Reid, Moose Jaw, hammer, shot put; Kiera Frie, Saskatoon, wheelchair 1,500m

Wrestling (6) -- Daniel Olver, Saskatoon, 74 kg; Adam Kent, Saskatoon, 90 kg; Jasmine Slinn, Regina, 44 kg; Beth Thompson, Saskatoon, 75 kg; Stephany Dergo, Saskatoon, 56 kg; Women's team: Slinn; Dergo; Thompson; Annie Quangtakoune, Regina; Alyssa Krahn, Saskatoon; Pamela Ewanishin, Saskatoon; Caileigh Beckman, Regina; Samantha McKay, Regina; Sarah Mercer, Regina)

Bronze
Basketball (1) -- Men: Lance Aldcorn, Regina; Chris Bodnar, Saskatoon; Zlatan Cilimdzic, Saskatoon; Rob Fry; Paul Gareau, Regina; Kris Heshka, Canora; Rory Kohlert, Regina; Tinashe Mutswangwa, Saskatoon; David Neufeld, Saskatoon; Kolten Solomon, Regina; Marc van Burck, Star City; Kai Williams, Regina)

Canoe/kayak (4) -- Sarah Wall, Saskatoon, C-1 500; Wall; Mariana Cracogna, Saskatoon, Stacey Nahachewsky, Corman Park and Natalie Schwartz, Regina, C-4 500; Nahachewsky and Trista Neilly, Loon Lake, K-2 500; Nahachewsky, Neilly, K-2 1,000

Rowing (5) -- Sarah Graham, Saskatoon, single sculls; Graham and Katy Haver, Saskatoon, women's doubles; Savannah Taylor, Saskatoon; Steffa MacLintock, Regina; Kendra Hamilton, Saskatoon and Dawn Jorgensen, Regina, women's fours; Hamilton; Taylor, MacLintock, Haver, Jorgensen, Stacey Beitel, Regina; Megan Kusisto, Regina; Morag Emslie, White City and Yardley Mitzel, Saskatoon, women's eights; Graham, Taylor, Jorgensen and Haver, women's quad

Swimming (2) -- Jacqueline Rennebohm, Regina, 200 IM, 50 free, swimmers with disability

Track and field (9) -- Justin Greif, Tisdale, discus; Angela Collinge, Lloydminster, high jump; Kiera Frie, Saskatoon, wheelchair 400m; Gerod Wiens, Wymark, long jump; Aaron Gullacher, Simpson, 110m hurdles; Gullacher; Sean Forsythe, Regina; Joshua Simair, Prince Albert and Graeme Rinholm, Saskatoon; 4x100; Kelsi Paul, Saskatoon, wheelchair 1,500m; Angela Collinge, Lloydminster, high jump; Marc Baron, Vanscoy, decathlon

Wrestling (5) -- Bryan Blackwell, Saskatoon, 50 kg; Spencer Edwards, Saskatoon, 63 kg; Calvin Daum, Regina, 68 kg; Bradley Peters, Swift Current, 105-plus kg; Annie Quangtakoune, Regina, 44 kg