Sudbury athletes bring home hardware from Winter Games

The Megan Smith Sudbury Curling Club rink of Kira Brunton, Mikeala Cheslock and Emma Johnson saved the best for last at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, B.C., on Saturday.

Completing a flawless week that would see the Ontario reps post an undefeated record of 8-0, Smith and company overcame a 4-3 deficit late in the gold-medal encounter with Nova Scotia, scoring two key points in the ninth end, before finishing the contest with one in the extra end.

The 6-5 victory was the closest of any of the matchups that Team Smith faced in B.C., following up six straight wins in pool play with an impressive 8-3 victory over Saskatchewan in the semifinal encounter on Friday evening.

Team Smith earned the right to represent Ontario at the CWG when they emerged as gold-medal winners last March at the Ontario Winter Games. The team was joined on the podium by a pair of other local athletes.

Para-nordic skier Tanya Quesnel earned a total of three silver medals last week, placing second in the 800m, 2.5km and five-km sit-ski competitions. A Grade 12 student at École secondaire du Sacré-Coeur, Quesnel was fresh off her gold-medal performance at the OFSAA championships that were hosted in Sudbury.

Earlier this year, Quesnel was presented with the Craig T. Noble Award from ICAN (Independence Centre and Network) Sudbury. Born with cerebral palsy spastic diplegia and a past ICAN youth services participant, Quesnel received the recognition that honours a Greater Sudbury youth with a physical disability, between the age of 12 and 21, who demonstrates an ambition to be independent, a positive attitude, a strong work ethic towards independence, and an involvement in the community.

Quesnel is also an active member of the Walden Cross-Country Fitness Club, as well as Cross-Country Ontario's development team. In March 2013, she competed in the National Nordic Ski Championship held in Whistler (B.C), winning one silver and three bronze medals, and is hoping to represent Canada at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in South Korea.

“Tanya has demonstrated perseverance and determination and has earned the utmost respect from all students and staff,” stated Mr. Paul Henry, École secondaire du Sacré-Coeur principal. “Her drive to succeed in both her academic studies and in her athletics endeavors has helped her to become a role model whose impact within Sacré-Cœur and in the community has been huge.”

Rounding out the grouping of local medal winners is Special Olympian Nadia Bouillon, a figure skater with the Chelmsford Skating Club. Bouillon captured a gold medal in the Ice Dancing Level 2 event staged last Monday in Prince George.