Rossland athletes led the way for the Zone 1 Kootenay Team, which finished in seventh place at the B.C. Winter Games last weekend.
The Kootenay contingent won a total of 24 medals (7 gold, 9 silver, 8 bronze) at the Games, that saw about 2,000 athletes, coaches, and support staff visit Mission and surrounding areas for the three-day event.
Rossland cross-country skier Remi Drolet won two of those gold in individual start and individual sprint in Midget Boys at Whistler on Saturday. Michaela McLean just missed the podium finishing fourth in the individual start and seventh in the sprint.
Kaysa Panska meanwhile flew to silver in alpine skiing’s Giant Slalom and bronze in Slalom at Hemlock Mountain. Figure skater Jacob Verhelst also just missed a medal with a fourth place finish in the Men’s Pre-novice short program and free skate.
The Kootenay female hockey representative finished in seventh overall after dropping an 8-0 decision to eventual Zone 3 gold-medalist in Fraser Valley. They skated to a close 3-1 loss to Zone 8 Cariboo North-East, Saturday, before rolling over Zone 7 North West 5-1 in their final game Sunday.
Fraser Valley topped the medal standings with 30 gold, 33 silver, and 41 bronze, followed by Vancouver-Squamish, Zone 5, with 33-26-22, and Thompson-Okanagan, Zone 2, with 18-24-26.