Elliott earns pair of medals at Games

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/02/2011 (5598 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon’s Hewson Elliott had a day to remember Wednesday at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax.

The 17-year-old Grade 11 student from Crocus Plains High School won a pair of medals in long track speedskating, capturing silver in the men’s 100-metre final and earning bronze in the team pursuit.

For Elliott, it was a moment he won’t soon forget.

"It’s really incredible and I’m really happy," Elliott said via telephone from the athletes village yesterday. "As soon as I crossed the finish line, it was like, ‘Darn, I could have been first.’ But after it sank in for a bit, it was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I’ve just won a national medal, that’s incredible!’ And then the other medal in the team pursuit, working as a team and actually achieving a medal, standing there with our team we were all excited and it was incredible."

Elliott, a member of the Brandon-based Westman Speed Skating Club, raced to a time of 10.250 seconds in the 100m final, finishing just .23 of a second behind gold medallist Laurent Dubreuil of Quebec. Elliott then teamed up with Brett Appleyard, Chris Daeninck and Milo Del Bigio to help Manitoba earn a surprising bronze medal in the team pursuit final with a time of 4:32.300, finishing behind second-place Saskatchewan (4:30.560) and the gold-medal winning Quebec team (4:23.650).

Elliott, who had his mother Carla, father Chuck and brother Lyndon in the stands celebrating yesterday, also raced in the 500 metres, 1,500m, 3,000m and 5,000m earlier this week.

"It still hasn’t quite sunk in yet," Elliott said. "It’s been a great experience and winning a medal in it is just kind of an addition to what has already been achieved … It gives you the feeling that you can compete with the best and anything’s possible."

MALE HOCKEY: Manitoba fell 4-2 to B.C. in Wednesday’s quarter-finals in Dartmouth, N.S., and will now play a relegation-round game today.

Curtis Lazar led B.C. with two goals, while Geordie Maguire and Remi Laurencelle scored for Manitoba.

The Manitoba team features 15-year-old forward Daylon Creasy of Carberry — who went pointless while picking up 15 minutes in penalties yesterday — and is coached by Southwest Midget AAA Cougars bench boss Troy Leslie.

FEMALE BIATHLON: Westman’s Rachel Koroscil cracked the top 20 in the 10-kilometre pursuit final on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old from Sandy Lake raced to a time of 46:38.5 to finish in 19th place out of 37 finishers in yesterday’s final. Quebec’s Audrey Vaillancourt won gold with a time of 34:44.5. Koroscil also raced in the 7.5-kilometre sprint and the 12.5km individual female final earlier this week.

TARGET SHOOTING: Westman’s Caroline Sims is scheduled to compete in the air pistol individual female final today to wrap up her Games experience.

The 17-year-old Grade 12 student from Minnedosa Collegiate earned a bronze medal in the female team target shooting air pistol final on Tuesday in Sackville, N.S., with her father Norm, mother Elizabeth and brother Norman there to watch.

"It’s hard to describe how amazing it was, standing in front of a group of people and having them cheer like crazy," Sims said.

 

» jshewaga@brandonsun.com